Holistic sludge management through ozonation: A critical review

Galilee U Semblante; Faisal I Hai; Dionysios D Dionysiou; Kensuke Fukushi; William E Price; Long D Nghiem

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.10.022

Holistic sludge management through ozonation: A critical review

J Environ Manage. 2017 Jan 1:185:79-95. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.10.022. Epub 2016 Nov 1.

Authors

Galilee U Semblante¹, Faisal I Hai², Dionysios D Dionysiou³, Kensuke Fukushi⁴, William E Price⁵, Long D Nghiem¹

Affiliations

¹ Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia.
² Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia. Electronic address: faisal@uow.edu.au.
³ Environmental Engineering and Science Program, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 45221-0012, USA.
⁴ Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Tokyo, 113-8654, Japan.
⁵ Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Chemistry, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia.

PMID: 27815004
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.10.022

Abstract

This paper critically reviews the multidimensional benefits of ozonation in wastewater treatment plants. These benefits include sludge reduction, removal of emerging trace organic contaminants (TrOC) from wastewater and sludge, and resource recovery from sludge. Literature shows that ozonation leads to sludge solubilisation, reducing overall biomass yield. Sludge solubilisation is primarily influenced by ozone dosage, which, in turn, depends on the fraction of ozonated sludge, ozone concentration, and sludge concentration. Additionally, sludge ozonation facilitates the removal of TrOCs from wastewater. On the other hand, by inducing cell lysis, ozonation increases the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and nutrient concentration of the sludge supernatant, which deteriorates effluent quality. This issue can be resolved by implementing resource recovery. Thus far, successful retrieval of phosphorous from ozonated sludge supernatant has been performed. The recovery of phosphorous and other resources from sludge could help offset the operation cost of ozonation, and give greater incentive for wastewater treatment plants to adapt this approach.

Keywords: Cryptic growth; Effluent quality; Ozone; Phosphorous recovery; Sludge reduction.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis
Ozone*
Sewage*
Waste Disposal Facilities
Waste Disposal, Fluid / methods*
Wastewater / chemistry*

Substances

Sewage
Waste Water
Ozone