Thermogravimetric study for the co-combustion of coal and dried sewage sludge

The co-combustion of dried sewage sludge with coal is a promising method to dispose of and treat sewage sludge waste. Because sewage sludge has a different elemental composition than coal, the co-combustion of sewage sludge with coal may have different combustion characteristics than the single combustion of coal. In this study, the co-combustion of dried sewage sludge with coal was tested varying heating rates and mixing ratios of the dried sewage sludge. The results were analyzed using thermogravimetric (TG) and derivative thermogravimetric (DTG) curves and modeled using Ozawa-Flynn-Wall and Vyazovkin models. The mixed samples of coal and dried sewage sludge showed similar TG curves to the coal sample. The co-combustion showed activation energies close to that of the single coal combustion. This suggests that the co-combustion of coal and dried sewage sludge has similar combustion behavior to the single combustion of coal for mixing percentages of dried sewage sludge up to 20%.