Abstract
This innovative study makes use of a thermal hydrolysis process (THP) and the conditioner sodium persulfate (SPS) to improve the dewaterability of sewage sludge. The best-operating conditions were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM): 100 mg/g of dry solids (DS) of SPS, 101 min of reaction time of THP, and a temperature of 200 °C. Distribution of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), zeta potential, bound water, and solid characters were analyzed to reveal the mechanisms involved in the dewatering process. These results indicate that the sewage sludge after treatment (SPS combined with THP) had a superior dewaterability. The specific resistance to filtration (SRF) under the best conditions was 0.51 × 1011 m/kg, decreasing by 91.65% compared to the raw sludge (RS) (6.11 × 1011 m/kg). This mechanism could be explained as follows: (1) Aromaticity and hydrophobicity of sludge cake after SPS + THP treatment was increased; (2) sludge flocs were re-flocculated by charge neutralization, giving rise to a loose and porous structure; (3) the structure of extracellular polymeric substances and cells was destroyed, and the bound water was released. Overall, the conditioning by combination of SPS and THP is an effective mean to improve sewage sludge dewaterability.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- 3D-EEM:
-
Three-dimensional excitation–emission matrix
- ANOVA:
-
Analysis of variance
- AOPs:
-
Advanced oxidation processes
- BBD:
-
Box–Behnken design
- B-EPS:
-
Bound fraction of extracellular polymeric substances
- D50:
-
Average median particle size
- DS:
-
Dry solids
- DSC:
-
Differential scanning calorimeter
- EPS:
-
Extracellular polymeric substances
- PN:
-
Protein
- PS:
-
Polysaccharide
- RS:
-
Raw sludge
- RSM:
-
Response surface methodology
- SEM:
-
Scanning electron microscopy
- S-EPS:
-
Soluble fraction of extracellular polymeric substances
- SPS:
-
Sodium persulfate
- SPS/S:
-
Sludge conditioned by sodium persulfate pretreatment
- SPS + THP/S:
-
Sludge conditioned by sodium persulfate and thermal hydrolysis process
- SRF:
-
Specific resistance to filtration
- T-EPS:
-
Total extracellular polymeric substances
- THP:
-
Thermal hydrolysis process
- THP/S:
-
Sludge conditioned by thermal hydrolysis process
- W b :
-
Bound water content
- W t :
-
Water content
References
Aljerf L (2018) High-efficiency extraction of bromocresol purple dye and heavy metals as chromium from industrial effluent by adsorption onto a modified surface of zeolite: kinetics and equilibrium study. J Environ Manag 225:120–132
Cai M, Hu J, Lian G, **ao R, Song Z, ** M, Dong C, Wang Q, Luo D, Wei Z (2018) Synergetic pretreatment of waste activated sludge by hydrodynamic cavitation combined with Fenton reaction for enhanced dewatering. Ultrason Sonochem 42:609–618
Chen Y, Chen H, Li J, **ao L (2019) Rapid and efficient activated sludge treatment by electro-Fenton oxidation. Water Res 152:181–190
Choi JM, Han SK, Lee CY (2018) Enhancement of methane production in anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge by thermal hydrolysis pretreatment. Bioresour Technol 259:207–213
Chow CWK, Fabris R, Jv L, Wang D, Drikas M (2008) Assessing natural organic matter treatability using high performance size exclusion chromatography. Environmental Science & Technology 42:6683–6689
Conti R, Fabbri D, Vassura I, Ferroni L (2016) Comparison of chemical and physical indices of thermal stability of biochars from different biomass by analytical pyrolysis and thermogravimetry. J Anal Appl Pyrolysis 122:160–168
Deng W, Ma J, **ao J, Wang L, Su Y (2019) Orthogonal experimental study on hydrothermal treatment of municipal sewage sludge for mechanical dewatering followed by thermal drying. J Clean Prod 209:236–249
Ding Y, Zhu L, Wang N, Tang H (2013) Sulfate radicals induced degradation of tetrabromobisphenol A with nanoscaled magnetic CuFe2O4 as a heterogeneous catalyst of peroxymonosulfate. Appl Catal B Environ 129:153–162
Frølund B, Palmgren R, Keiding K, Nielsen PH (1996) Extraction of extracellular polymers from activated sludge using a cation exchange resin. Water Res 30:1749–1758
Gao N, Li Z, Quan C, Miskolczi N, Egedy A (2019) A new method combining hydrothermal carbonization and mechanical compression in-situ for sewage sludge dewatering: bench-scale verification. J Anal Appl Pyrolysis 139:187–195
Guo L, Lu M, Li Q, Zhang J, Zong Y, She Z (2014) Three-dimensional fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM) spectroscopy with regional integration analysis for assessing waste sludge hydrolysis treated with multi-enzyme and thermophilic bacteria. Bioresour Technol 171:22–28
Guo S, Liang H, Bai L, Qu F, Ding A, Ji B, Wang X, Li G (2019) Synergistic effects of wheat straw powder and persulfate/Fe(II) on enhancing sludge dewaterability. Chemosphere 215:333–341
He DQ, Zhang YJ, He CS, Yu HQ (2017) Changing profiles of bound water content and distribution in the activated sludge treatment by NaCl addition and pH modification. Chemosphere 186:702–708
Huang Q, Shen Y, Wang Y, **ao J, Yuan H, Lou Z, Zhu N (2020) Synergy between denitrification and calcium bridging improves dewaterability of waste activated sludge. J Clean Prod 242:118438
Katsiris N, Kouzeli-Katsiri A (1987) Bound water content of biological sludges in relation to filtration and dewatering. Water Res 21:1319–1327
Kim MS, Lee K-M, Kim H-E, Lee H-J, Lee C, Lee C (2016) Disintegration of waste activated sludge by thermally-activated persulfates for enhanced dewaterability. Environmental Science & Technology 50:7106–7115
Kordkandi SA, Forouzesh M (2014) Application of full factorial design for methylene blue dye removal using heat-activated persulfate oxidation. J Taiwan Inst Chem Eng 45:2597–2604
Lee K-M, Kim MS, Lee C (2016) Oxidative treatment of waste activated sludge by different activated persulfate systems for enhancing sludge dewaterability. Sustainable Environment Research 26:177–183
Li XY, Yang SF (2007) Influence of loosely bound extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) on the flocculation, sedimentation and dewaterability of activated sludge. Water Res 41:1022–1030
Li Y, Wang D, Xu Q, Liu X, Wang Y, Wu Y, Yang G, Yuan X, Wu Z, Guan R, **ong T, He D, Fu Q (2020) New insight into modification of extracellular polymeric substances extracted from waste activated sludge by homogeneous Fe(II)/persulfate process. Chemosphere 247:125804
Liang J, Huang J, Zhang S, Yang X, Huang S, Zheng L, Ye M, Sun S (2019) A highly efficient conditioning process to improve sludge dewaterability by combining calcium hypochlorite oxidation, ferric coagulant re-flocculation, and walnut shell skeleton construction. Chem Eng J 361:1462–1478
Liu F, Zhou L, Zhou J, Song X, Wang D (2012) Improvement of sludge dewaterability and removal of sludge-borne metals by bioleaching at optimum pH. J Hazard Mater 221-222:170–177
Liu J, Yang Q, Wang D, Li X, Zhong Y, Li X, Deng Y, Wang L, Yi K, Zeng G (2016) Enhanced dewaterability of waste activated sludge by Fe(II)-activated peroxymonosulfate oxidation. Bioresour Technol 206:134–140
Liu R, Yu X, Yu P, Guo X, Zhang B, **ao B (2019) New insights into the effect of thermal treatment on sludge dewaterability. Sci Total Environ 656:1082–1090
Mikkelsen LH, Keiding K (2002) Physico-chemical characteristics of full scale sewage sludges with implications to dewatering. Water Res 36:2451–2462
Neyens E, Baeyens J (2003) A review of thermal sludge pre-treatment processes to improve dewaterability. J Hazard Mater 98:51–67
Peeters B, Dewil R, Vernimmen L, Van den Bogaert B, Smets IY (2013) Addition of polyaluminiumchloride (PACl) to waste activated sludge to mitigate the negative effects of its sticky phase in dewatering-drying operations. Water Res 47:3600–3609
Raynaud M, Vaxelaire J, Olivier J, Dieude-Fauvel E, Baudez JC (2012) Compression dewatering of municipal activated sludge: effects of salt and pH. Water Res 46:4448–4456
Sang W, Li X, Feng Y, Zhang Q, Li D (2020) Improvement of the sludge flocculation dewatering efficient by electromagnetic wave loading: research based on removal of bound water. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 27:3413–3427
Shi Y, Yang J, Yu W, Zhang S, Liang S, Song J, Xu Q, Ye N, He S, Yang C, Hu J (2015) Synergetic conditioning of sewage sludge via Fe2+/persulfate and skeleton builder: effect on sludge characteristics and dewaterability. Chem Eng J 270:572–581
Skinner SJ, Studer LJ, Dixon DR, Hillis P, Rees CA, Wall RC, Cavalida RG, Usher SP, Stickland AD, Scales PJ (2015) Quantification of wastewater sludge dewatering. Water Res 82:2–13
To VH, Nguyen TV, Vigneswaran S, Ngo HH (2016) A review on sludge dewatering indices. Water Sci Technol 74:1–16
Wang L, Li A (2015) Hydrothermal treatment coupled with mechanical expression at increased temperature for excess sludge dewatering: the dewatering performance and the characteristics of products. Water Res 68:291–303
Wang L, Li A, Chang Y (2017a) Relationship between enhanced dewaterability and structural properties of hydrothermal sludge after hydrothermal treatment of excess sludge. Water Res 112:72–82
Wang L, Chang Y, Li A (2019a) Hydrothermal carbonization for energy-efficient processing of sewage sludge: a review. Renew Sust Energ Rev 108:423–440
Wang LF, Qian C, Jiang JK, Ye XD, Yu HQ (2017b) Response of extracellular polymeric substances to thermal treatment in sludge dewatering process. Environ Pollut 231:1388–1392
Wang T, Xue Y, Hao R, Hou H, Liu J, Li J (2019b) Mechanism investigations into the effect of rice husk and wood sawdust conditioning on sewage sludge thermal drying. J Environ Manag 239:316–323
Wang T, Xue Y, Hao R, Hou H, Liu J, Li J (2019c) Mechanism investigations into the effect of rice husk and wood sawdust conditioning on sewage sludge thermal drying. J Environ Manag 239:316–323
Wei H, Gao B, Ren J, Li A, Yang H (2018) Coagulation/flocculation in dewatering of sludge: a review. Water Res 143:608–631
**ao K, Seow WY, Chen Y, Lu D, Jiang X, Zhou Y (2017) Effects of thermal-Fe (II) activated oxone treatment on sludge dewaterability. Chem Eng J 322:463–471
**ong Q, Zhou M, Yang H, Liu M, Wang T, Dong Y, Hou H (2017) Improving the dewaterability of sewage sludge using rice husk and Fe2+-sodium persulfate oxidation. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 6:872–881
Xu ZX, Song H, Deng XQ, Zhang YY, Xue-Qin M, Tong SQ, He ZX, Wang Q, Shao YW, Hu X (2019) Dewatering of sewage sludge via thermal hydrolysis with ammonia-treated Fenton iron sludge as skeleton material. J Hazard Mater 379:120810
Yu W, Yang J, Shi Y, Song J, Shi Y, **ao J, Li C, Xu X, He S, Liang S, Wu X, Hu J (2016) Roles of iron species and pH optimization on sewage sludge conditioning with Fenton’s reagent and lime. Water Res 95:124–133
Yu W, Wen Q, Yang J, **ao K, Zhu Y, Tao S, Lv Y, Liang S, Fan W, Zhu S, Liu B, Hou H, Hu J (2019) Unraveling oxidation behaviors for intracellular and extracellular from different oxidants (HOCl vs. H2O2) catalyzed by ferrous iron in waste activated sludge dewatering. Water Res 148:60–69
Zhang H, Yang J, Yu W, Luo S, Peng L, Shen X, Shi Y, Zhang S, Song J, Ye N, Li Y, Yang C, Liang S (2014) Mechanism of red mud combined with Fenton's reagent in sewage sludge conditioning. Water Res 59:239–247
Zhao L, Sun Z, Ma J, Liu H (2009) Enhancement mechanism of heterogeneous catalytic ozonation by cordierite-supported copper for the degradation of nitrobenzene in aqueous solution. Environmental Science & Technology 43:2047–2053
Zhen G, Lu X, Wang B, Zhao Y, Chai X, Niu D, Zhao A, Li Y, Song Y, Cao X (2012) Synergetic pretreatment of waste activated sludge by Fe(II)-activated persulfate oxidation under mild temperature for enhanced dewaterability. Bioresour Technol 124:29–36
Zhen G, Lu X, Kato H, Zhao Y, Li Y-Y (2017) Overview of pretreatment strategies for enhancing sewage sludge disintegration and subsequent anaerobic digestion: current advances, full-scale application and future perspectives. Renew Sust Energ Rev 69:559–577
Zhen G, Wang J, Lu X, Su L, Zhu X, Zhou T, Zhao Y (2019) Effective gel-like floc matrix destruction and water seepage for enhancing waste activated sludge dewaterability under hybrid microwave-initiated Fe(II)-persulfate oxidation process. Chemosphere 221:141–153
Zhen GY, Lu XQ, Li YY, Zhao YC (2013) Innovative combination of electrolysis and Fe(II)-activated persulfate oxidation for improving the dewaterability of waste activated sludge. Bioresour Technol 136:654–663
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank reviewers for commenting on this paper.
Funding
This research was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51208393 and 51908433), Special fund project to guide the development of local science and technology by the central government (No. 109), and the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei province-China (No.2019CFB236).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Vítor Pais Vilar
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chen, K., Liu, J., Huang, S. et al. Evaluation of the combined effect of sodium persulfate and thermal hydrolysis on sludge dewatering performance. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 7586–7597 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11123-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11123-1