Correlation between dewatering and hydro-textural characteristics of sewage sludge during drying

The aim of this work consists in analysing the dewatering and the shrinkage of a residual urban sludge during convective drying with the objective to find correlations between dewatering and hydro-textural characteristics of the sludge. Laboratory drying experiments are performed in immobile atmosphere, at a temperature of 30 °C, with various relative humidities. Kinetics curves of dewatering and deformation are obtained. A coupled analysis of dewatering and induced volume shrinkage is proposed. This analysis allows: (i) to distinguish the respective parts played by the intrinsic characteristics of the sludge and the process parameter and (ii) to find correlations between the hydro-textural characteristics of the sludge, and its drying and shrinkage aptitudes. Attention is given to the fact that the process parameter, i.e. relative humidity, controls the first constant rate period of the dewatering and that the hydro-textural state of the sludge determine the transitions between the different dewatering periods. The relationships between the hydro-textural characteristics and the dewatering and shrinkage aptitude allow predicting the sludge behaviour during drying according to its characteristics, which is essential information in the choice of the drying strategy.     

ANALYSIS OF THE DRYING OF RESIDUAL SLUDGE: FROM THE EXPERIMENT TO THE SIMULATION OF A BELT DRYER

The drying of residual sludge is a current environmental problem not sufficiently described in the literature, hence research investigations on this dewatering process are required. This paper proposes a modelling of a conveyor dryer belt. However the study of residual sludges dewatering in order to design or simulate drying equipment requires some experimental investigations. An analysis in terms of drying kinetics is proposed in this paper. Specific experiments were also needed in order to better describe some particular aspects such as crusting, shrinkage, and particle size impact. According to these data some analytical expressions have been derived and integrated in a belt dryer model. The set of air operating conditions (T, RH, v) was reduced to a single parameter, the drying potential. The results of the simulations show that a conveyor belt dryer is not well adapted to activated sludge. This is essentially due to a crust phenomenon. For a PVC industrial sludge this kind of dryer is more efficient and allows drying with reasonable residence times. Several simulations were run in order to point out the relevant parameters of the process.     

ANALYSIS OF THE DRYING OF RESIDUAL SLUDGE: FROM THE EXPERIMENT TO THE SIMULATION OF A BELT DRYER

ABSTRACT

The drying of residual sludge is a current environmental problem not sufficiently described in the literature, hence research investigations on this dewatering process are required. This paper proposes a modelling of a conveyor dryer belt. However the study of residual sludges dewatering in order to design or simulate drying equipment requires some experimental investigations. An analysis in terms of drying kinetics is proposed in this paper. Specific experiments were also needed in order to better describe some particular aspects such as crusting, shrinkage, and particle size impact. According to these data some analytical expressions have been derived and integrated in a belt dryer model. The set of air operating conditions (T, RH, v) was reduced to a single parameter, the drying potential. The results of the simulations show that a conveyor belt dryer is not well adapted to activated sludge. This is essentially due to a crust phenomenon. For a PVC industrial sludge this kind of dryer is more efficient and allows drying with reasonable residence times. Several simulations were run in order to point out the relevant parameters of the process.     

石灰调质污泥恒温干燥特性及动力学模型研究

对添加石灰的市政污泥进行恒温干燥实验,研究在不同的石灰添加量和不同的温度条件下污泥干燥特性、有效水分扩散系数和干燥活化能。结果表明:高温干燥时,石灰添加量的增加对平均干燥速率以及有效扩散系数的提高影响显著,低温干燥时影响不显著;石灰的添加可以降低干燥活化能;基于Modified Page模型建立的通用干燥模型能准确地描述石灰调质污泥的干燥特性;模型方程预测值和实验值吻合,均方根误差为0.32%。     

Numerical Study on Moisture Transfer in Ultrasound-Assisted Convective Drying Process of Sludge

A coupled heat and moisture transfer model for ultrasound-assisted convective drying process of sludge was established. In this model, the permeable flow caused by acoustic pressure gradient in sludge was considered. The pore structure variety in sludge with ultrasonic irradiation was microscopically studied, and the pore size distribution of sludge was described by fractal geometry. Based on the fractal characterization, the physical properties of sludge including permeability, porosity, and tortuosity factor were determined, and the effective moisture diffusion coefficient of sludge under ultrasonic irradiation was also derived considering the effects of ultrasonic excitation energy and thermal effect on migration rate of water molecule. The effects of ultrasonic energy density and convective air temperature on convective drying process of sludge were numerically analyzed. The results showed that the ultrasonic irradiation changes the pore size distribution in sludge, the sludge flocs are dispersed, and the connectivity of pore structure is improved. Ultrasonic treatment is favorable to accelerating the moisture transport in the convective drying process of sludge, and the ultrasonic influence on moisture transport in sludge intensifies gradually with the increase of acoustic energy density from 0.2 to 0.6 W/ml. Furthermore, it can be also found that the enhancement effect of ultrasound on the average drying rate of sludge is more obvious at the connective air temperature of 65°C than that at 40°C under the uniform acoustic energy density and air velocity of 1.5 m/s.     

Analysis of the Shrinkage Effect on Mass Transfer During Convective Drying of Sawdust/Sludge Mixtures

Convective drying of wastewater sludges and sawdust/sludge mixtures was studied. The first part of this work was an experimental study performed in a cross-flow convective dryer using 500 g of wet material extruded through a disk with circular dies of 12 mm. The results showed that the sawdust addition has a positive impact on the drying process from a mass ratio of 2/8, on a dry basis, with observed drying rates higher than the original sludge. The second part of this work consisted of developing a drying model in order to identify the internal diffusion coefficient and convective mass transfer coefficient from the experimental data. A comparison was made between fitted drying curves, well represented by the Newton's model, and the analytical solutions of the diffusion equation applied to a finite cylinder. Variations of dimensional characteristics, such as the volume and exchange surface of the sample bed, were obtained by X-ray tomography. This technique allowed us to confirm that shrinkage, which is an important phenomenon occurring during sludge and sawdust/sludge mixture drying, must be taken into account. The results showed that both the internal diffusion coefficient and convective mass transfer coefficient were affected by mixing and sawdust addition. The internal diffusion coefficient changed from 7.77 × 10^?9 m²/s for the original sludge to 7.01 × 10^?9 m²/s for the mixed sludge and then increased to 8.35 × 10^?9 m²/s for the mixture of a mass ratio of 4/6. The convective mass transfer coefficient changed from 9.70 × 10^?8 m/s for the original sludge to 8.67 × 10^?8 m/s for the mixed sludge and then increased to 12.09 × 10^?8 m/s for the mixture of a mass ratio of 4/6. These results confirmed that sawdust addition was beneficial to the sludge drying process as the mass transfer efficiency between the air and material increased. Reinforcing the texture of sludge by adding sawdust can increase the drying rate and decrease the drying time, and then the heat energy supply will be reduced significantly. The study also showed that neglecting shrinkage phenomenon resulted in an overestimation for the internal diffusion coefficient for the convective drying of sludges and sawdust/sludge mixtures.     

Sewage Sludge Dewatering Process Using Liquefied Dimethyl Ether as Solid Fuel

This article describes the dewatering of sewage sludge using liquefied dimethyl ether (DME), which clarified the effect of sludge type and its particle size. Changes in the heating value of the dewatered sludge were also examined. In addition, the change in dewaterability upon reuse of the liquefied DME was investigated experimentally.

Regardless of the nature of the sludge, its dewatering behavior was similar. The amount of dewatered water could be increased by decreasing the diameter of the sludge cake. Complete drying of the sludge cake via DME dewatering resulted in retention of approximately 96% of the heating value (17.7 MJ/kg-sludge) of the original sludge cake dry base (18.4 MJ/kg db). The DME could be recovered after extraction, and reuse experiments showed that liquefied DME dewatering performance was unchanged after five reuses.     

Abatement of Organic Pollutant Concentrations in Residual Treatment Sludges: A Review of Selected Treatment Technologies Including Drying

As a result of increasing population, industrialization, and effluent quality, sludge production has increased worldwide. Organic micropollutants in sludge have become a more critical environmental health concern compared to heavy metals. New sludge disposal regulations limit persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in addition to conventional organic indicators like total and dissolved organic carbon. This study aims at providing a brief review on POP concentration in the sludge in different regions of the world, sludge regulations, assessment of conventional biological sludge stabilization methods according to their ability to remove POPs, and discussions on alternative sludge treatment methods. The impact of sludge treatment unit operations including conditioning, thickening, mechanical and thermal dewatering, and biological and thermal stabilization on sludge management is also discussed in the context of organics. The occurrence and removal of micropollutants such as absorbable organic halogen compounds (AOX), nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPE), di-2-(ethyl-hexyl)-phthalate (DEHP), dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PCDD/F), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are also evaluated specifically for sludge treatment unit operations. A concise discussion is also included on different drying technologies suitable for drying of sludge.     

Dewatering and Drying Methods for Microalgae

Microalgae can efficiently fix carbon dioxide through their phototropic metabolism, and have been recognized as a promising bioresource for animal feed, health food, fuel, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical products. However, since microalgae in cultivated medium have a low biomass concentration (0.1–1% w/w), both harvesting and concentration of microalgal biomass are often required prior to the production of commercial products. Efficient and cost-effective dewatering and drying methods for microalgae heavily affect the overall energy consumption and production cost of microalgal products. This review describes the characteristics of commonly used dewatering and drying technologies, and critically evaluates the feasibility for their use to treat microalgal biomass. No single dewatering or drying method can satisfactorily handle all types of microalgae. The suitability of each method depends on the properties of the microalgae suspension, the required process design, the quality of the end product, and the related capital and production costs.     

污泥深度脱水技术研究进展

随着经济的发展和国民生活水平的提高,污水污泥的排放量逐年增加,环境问题愈发严重,污泥的处理处置成为焦点问题,污泥脱水是制约污泥处置处理进一步发展的关键。本文针对目前污泥深度脱水技术开展,首先简述了不同来源污泥的分类及其基本特性,然后重点阐述了不同污泥预处理技术,分析了各污泥深度脱水技术作用机理,并对各自脱水效果及优缺点进行比较分析。结果表明,物理法中水热预处理对污泥的可脱水程度提升最大。较低声强、短时间的超声波处理对污泥脱水性能有着明显的改善。化学法在污泥过滤性能以及脱水速率方面有很大优势,酸碱处理后污泥zeta电位上升,污泥过滤性能及脱水速率得到改善。高级氧化法处理后污泥脱水效果高于酸碱处理,微生物细胞被溶解释放出有机物,可脱水程度改善。生物法处理污泥除改善污泥脱水性能外,还有对环境污染小等特点,但耗时较长。最后对污泥的后续脱水工艺进行综述,介绍了现存的主流脱水工艺,包括机械脱水、热干化技术、水热脱水工艺等;并针对不同的污泥后续利用方法,选取合适的预处理技术,提出相应优化的污泥处理工艺流程。     

Drying of water treatment process sludge in a fluidized bed dryer

The drying characteristics of water treatment process (WTP) sludge were investigated with a fluidized bed. The equilibrium moisture ratio of WTP sludge increased with relative humidity and decreased with temperature of drying air. However, equilibrium moisture ratio of WTP sludge was more sensitively dependent on relative humidity than temperature of drying air. When the sludge was dried in a batch fluidized bed, the drying rate of sludge decreased as the moisture ratio of sludge in the bed decreased. The periods of constant drying rates were apparently not observed on the drying rate curves. In addition, the maximum drying rates were increased with bed temperature and superficial air velocity. As the fluidized bed was operated continuously, the degree of drying of WTP sludge increased with bed temperature but was weakly dependent on superficial air velocity. However, the drying efficiency was decreased with bed temperature and relatively insensitive to superficial air velocity and increased with feed rate of sludge.     

Steam Dewatering of Filter Cakes in a Vertical Filter Press

Steam dewatering of filter cakes is recognized as a competitive alternative to conventional air drying and thermally assisted mechanical dewatering (TAMD). The main benefit of cake dewatering with high-pressure steam is that mechanical and thermal dewatering can be efficiently performed in a single process step. The target of this study was to determine the potential of a steam-dewatering technique for two industrial mineral suspensions. The first mineral, kaolin, was very difficult to dewater using conventional mechanical dewatering techniques, whereas the second one, ground calcium carbonate (GCC), represented only moderate resistance to filtration. The secondary objective was to compare the filterability of the original kaolin slurry with the same slurry treated with a coagulant (aluminum sulphate, Al₂(SO₄)₃ · 16H₂O). Four different kinds of experiments were performed: tests without any kind of cake dewatering, tests with air drying, tests with steam drying, and tests with both coagulation and steam drying. The obtained results show that steam dewatering is an efficient technique for achieving lower cake-moisture contents. Also, the positive influence of coagulation on the filtration capacity was found to be considerable in the case of kaolin. An approximate energy balance was created for the steam-drying process and the determined energy efficiencies were compared with those obtainable with an ideal thermal drier. The main conclusion from these comparisons is that steam drying can be effectively used instead of traditional thermal drying if the large energy losses can be reduced by proper insulation and heat recovery systems.     

NaHCO3-enhanced sewage sludge thin-layer drying: Drying characteristics and kinetics

Drying sewage sludge is a highly energy-extensive process. For this reason, this work seeks to identify a reagent that can enhance the effectiveness of the drying process. In this study, drying experiments of sewage sludge were conducted at drying temperatures ranging from 100 to 160°C. NaHCO₃ was selected as the drying reagent, which was added to the sludge before drying. The thin-layer drying characteristics of the sludge and sludge/NaHCO₃ mixtures were later investigated and compared. Various mathematical models were used to simulate the sludge drying curves. It was found that adding 2 and 6% (wet basis) of NaHCO₃ to the sludge was effective in improving the moisture diffusion during the drying process, whereas the drying rate of the sludge/NaHCO₃ mixtures decreased when the addition of NaHCO₃ was further increased to 10% (wet basis). When the addition ratio was 2%, the increase in the maximum drying rate was the largest. With coefficients of determination (R²) over 0.9999, the modified Midilli model proposed in this study was observed to be the most suitable model to describe thin-layer drying of sludge relative to the other models examined in terms of R², reduced χ², root mean square error, and residual sum of squares. The values of the diffusion coefficients at each temperature were obtained using Fick’s second law of diffusion, which varied from 3.700?×?10^?9 to 1.085?×?10^?8?m²/s over the temperature range (i.e., 100–160°C). The activation energy of moisture diffusion was determined to be 27.57?kJ/mol. Scanning electron microscope images of the dried sludge and sludge/NaHCO₃ mixtures indicated that the porosity of the sludge after drying increased with an increase in the NaHCO₃ addition ratio. Overall, the results suggested that NaHCO₃ is a suitable reagent to improve the drying efficiency of the sludge.     

Forced Convective Drying of Wastewater Sludge with the Presentation of Exergy Analysis of the Dryer

The main objective is studying the fundamental aspect, by means of drying kinetics and the application of forced convective drying of wastewater sludge with the determination of the optimum drying conditions. The drying system is composed of two units; small samples of 2.5 g are dried in the first unit and a bed of sludge weighing 250 g is dried in the second unit. The experiments are performed under air temperatures varying between 80°C and 200°C. The range of the air velocity and its humidity is 1–2 m/s and 0.005–0.05 kg_water/kg_{dry air}, respectively. The experiments are performed for two different sludges: activated sludge (AS) and thermalized and digested sludge (TDS). Usually, three main drying phases are observed during drying of bed of sludge. These phases are reduced to only two for small samples. Determination of the influent parameters shows that the temperature of the drying air and sludge origin can profoundly influence the drying kinetic of the sludge. The exergy analysis of the two units of the drying system allows selecting 140°C, 2 m/s, and 0.05 kg_water/kg_{dry air} as optimum drying conditions with an exergy efficiency reaching 90%.     

Liming Pretreatment Reduces Sludge Build-Up on the Dryer Wall during Thermal Drying

In the course of sludge thermal drying, the sludge that sticks to the heated surfaces of drying equipment causes deterioration of drying efficiency and safety. The ability of alkaline pretreatment to reduce sludge build-up on dryer walls during convective drying processes was investigated. The sludge build-up was measured as the residual mass on an iron plate after parts of the sludge were scraped off the plate; the device used simulated the scraping process in drying equipment. The results showed that the sludge build-up on the plate increased at first and then decreased as the sludge water content decreased during thermal drying. The maximum amount of sludge build-up occurred when the sludge water content was about 55–60%. Liming pretreatment enhanced sludge cohesion, hydrolyzed adhesive organic substances, increased the inorganic mineral content of the sludge and, accordingly, reduced sludge build-up. When the dose of Ca(OH)₂ was 5% of dry solids (5% DS), the sludge build-up was almost negligible and the average drying rate improved by about 30%. CaO pretreatment was also very effective in preventing sludge build-up, but its effect on the sludge drying rate was not obvious at the same dosage. Compared with Ca(OH)₂ and CaO, NaOH did not reduce sludge build-up effectively or improve the sludge drying rate.     

Involvement of Gypsum (CaSO4 · 2H2O) in Water Treatment Sludge Dewatering: A Potential Benefit in Disposal and Reuse

Abstract

This research assessed the use of gypsum (CaSO₄ · 2H₂O) as a skeleton builder for sludge dewatering since polymer conditioning of sludge affected only the rate of water release, not the extent of dewatering. The use of gypsum as a physical conditioner, in association with a polymer, could improve sludge filterability. More significantly, gypsum serves as a skeleton builder, forming a permeable and rigid lattice structure that can remain porous under high positive pressure during the compression step after the cake growth of the filtration, thereby maintaining the size of the micro‐passages through which water is expressed. Experiments using a high pressure cell apparatus showed that a further decrease of two to seven percent of the equilibrium moisture content of the sludge cake was achieved, for sludge thicknesses for dewatering of 1 to 10 cm, by the addition of gypsum with 60% of the original sludge solids when compared to the single polymer conditioning. The importance of the addition of gypsum in alum sludge dewatering is not only the improvement in the extent of dewatering, but also the potential application of transforming dewatered alum sludge from “waste” for landfill to useful “fertilizer” or to be used as a filter medium/adsorbent for wastewater treatment engineering.     

Energy Aspects in Electrohydrodynamic Drying

Acknowledging favorable quality of products obtained through electrohydrodynamic (EHD) drying, there is a lack of knowledge about energy aspects of this promising, yet not commercialized, technology. This article is a critical review of EHD research, which may be crucial for future studies and industrial applications. In particular, effects of electrodes configuration and operating parameters on drying kinetics, energy consumption, and energy efficiency of EHD as compared to conventional drying are examined. Some engineering considerations for using EHD in industrial dryers are also discussed.     

High‐Pressure Treatment of Wood – Combination of Mechanical and Thermal Drying in the “I/D Process”

Thermal drying of materials with internal pores is always a time‐consuming and energy‐intensive step within a production process. For chemical and pharmaceutical mass products and, in particular, for wood as an important raw material it is desirable to reduce the water content before thermal treatment by mechanical operations. The wood‐processing industry, facing a rising stress of competition, is forced more than ever to offer high‐quality products at lowest prices. Today, drying of timber is mostly done by air drying or by technical drying in kiln dryers. In any case, drying is necessary to prevent deterioration in quality by shrinkage, formation of cracks, discoloration or infestation. A new process of dewatering wood by combining mechanical and thermal means has been developed at the University of Karlsruhe. Compared to conventional drying processes, short drying times and a low residual moisture content can be achieved and, thus, energy consumption and costs can be reduced. In industrial wood drying only thermal processes (e.g., convective kiln drying, vacuum drying, etc.) have been established because so far no method has been known for removing liquid by mechanical force without significant change in wood structure. With the new I/D process chances for alternatives to conventional thermal drying or for mechanothermal applications are offered.     

Experimental Study on Thermal Hydrolysis and Dewatering Characteristics of Mechanically Dewatered Sewage Sludge

After mechanical dewatering, sewage sludge has a moisture content of around 80 wt% and further disposal is required. A new sewage sludge semi-drying (dewatering) process is proposed and verified. It combines thermal hydrolysis and subsequent mechanical dewatering, with less energy consumption than traditional thermal drying. Sludge treated using this new process satisfies further disposal requirements (e.g., landfill or autothermal incineration). In the present study, a high-pressure test reactor was used to study the thermal hydrolysis of dewatered sludge. Thermally hydrolyzed sludge was subsequently dewatered by centrifugal sedimentation or by pressure filtration. The amount of organic compounds returning to the water phase was also measured. According to the results from centrifugal settling tests, the optimal thermal hydrolysis treatment temperature was 180°C. The moisture content then dropped to 1.44 kg/kg dry solids (DS; 59 wt%) after dewatering under relative centrifugal force of 9,000 × g from 5.67 kg/kg DS (85 wt%). Pressure filtration further reduced the moisture content of filter cakes to only 0.5 kg/kg DS (33 wt%, hydrolysis temperature 180°C). After thermal hydrolysis, the heating value of sludge (moisture-free basis) was about 80% that of the untreated sludge.     

SLUDGE DEWATERING AND DRYING

The production of wastewater treatment sludge, the basic characteristics of the sludge and the state of the water in the sludge are described in this paper. The methods for the determination of bound water content are discussed. The literature (including patents) on sludge dewatering and drying is reviewed, including vacuum filters, belt presses, centrifuges, direct dryers, indirect dryers and combined mode drying systems. The issues related to drying are briefly discussed. Photographs or schematics of typical dewatering and drying systems are also included.