Treatment processes to eliminate potential environmental hazards and restore agronomic value of sewage sludge: A review

Son A Hoang; Nanthi Bolan; A M P Madhubashani; Meththika Vithanage; Vishma Perera; Hasintha Wijesekara; Hailong Wang; Prashant Srivastava; M B Kirkham; Bede S Mickan; Jörg Rinklebe; Kadambot H M Siddique

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118564

Treatment processes to eliminate potential environmental hazards and restore agronomic value of sewage sludge: A review

Environ Pollut. 2022 Jan 15:293:118564. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118564. Epub 2021 Nov 24.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Global Innovative Centre for Advanced Nanomaterials, College of Engineering, Science and Environment, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia; Division of Urban Infrastructural Engineering, Mientrung University of Civil Engineering, Phu Yen, 56000, Viet Nam.
² School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6001, Australia; The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6001, Australia. Electronic address: nanthi.bolan@uwa.edu.au.
³ Ecosphere Resilience Research Centre, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka; Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.
⁴ Ecosphere Resilience Research Centre, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka.
⁵ Department of Natural Resources, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Sabaragamuwa University, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka.
⁶ Biochar Engineering Technology Research Center of Guangdong Province, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Foshan University, Foshan, Guangdong, 528000, China.
⁷ CSIRO, The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Land and Water, PMB 2, Glen Osmond, South Australia, 5064, Australia.
⁸ Department of Agronomy, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA.
⁹ School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6001, Australia; The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6001, Australia.
¹⁰ Laboratory of Soil- and Groundwater-Management, Institute of Soil Engineering, Waste- and Water Science, Faculty of Architecture und Civil Engineering, University of Wuppertal, Germany; Department of Environment, Energy and Geoinformatics, Sejong University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
¹¹ The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6001, Australia.

PMID: 34838711
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118564

Abstract

Land application of sewage sludge is increasingly used as an alternative to landfilling and incineration owing to a considerable content of carbon and essential plant nutrients in sewage sludge. However, the presence of chemical and biological contaminants in sewage sludge poses potential dangers; therefore, sewage sludge must be suitably treated before being applied to soils. The most common methods include anaerobic digestion, aerobic composting, lime stabilization, incineration, and pyrolysis. These methods aim at stabilizing sewage sludge, to eliminate its potential environmental pollution and restore its agronomic value. To achieve best results on land, a comprehensive understanding of the transformation of organic matter, nutrients, and contaminants during these sewage-sludge treatments is essential; however, this information is still lacking. This review aims to fill this knowledge gap by presenting various approaches to treat sewage sludge, transformation processes of some major nutrients and pollutants during treatment, and potential impacts on soils. Despite these treatments, overtime there are still some potential risks of land application of treated sewage sludge. Potentially toxic substances remain the main concern regarding the reuse of treated sewage sludge on land. Therefore, further treatment may be applied, and long-term field studies are warranted, to prevent possible adverse effects of treated sewage sludge on the ecosystem and human health and enable its land application.

Keywords: Emerging environmental contaminants; Land application; Nutrients; Persistent organic pollutants; Potentially toxic elements; Sewage sludge stabilization.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Ecosystem*
Environmental Pollution
Humans
Incineration
Sewage*
Soil

Substances

Sewage
Soil