SLUDGE PROCESSING

Sudipta Sarkar
Pradeep Kumar

Bar
Screens

Grit
Removal

Screenin
gs
PRELIMINARY

Dewatere
d Sludge
to landfill

Filter
Press

Grit

Primary
Clarifier

O2

Secondar Nutrient
y
Removal
Clarifier

Aeration
tank
PRIMARY SECONDARY

Anaerobi
Gravity
c
Sludge
Digester
SLUDGE thickener
PROCESSING

Typical Process flow Diagram Different

Treatment Blocks

D
I
S
P
O
Advance S
d
A
Treatmen L
ts
TERTIAR
Y

Sludge Disposal
Thickening
Gravity, accelerated
gravity

Digestion

aerobic, anaerobic

Mechanical dewatering
Vacuum filtration, centrifugation,
filter press

Disposal
Land Application, burial, incineration

Energy in
the
substrate

Energy in
the
substrate

BIOLOGICAL SLUDGE
DIGESTION
Lost heat
Energy
Embedded in
end products
(such as
CHin
Energy
lost
4)
Energy
in cell
respiration
synthesis
Unused energy

Lost heat
Energy
Energy lost in
respiration
Energy in
cell
synthesis

ANAEROBIC
AEROBIC
DIGESTION
DIGESTION
Anaerobic digestion converts bulky, odorous, and putrescible raw sludge
to a well-digested material that can be rapidly dewatered without the
emission of obnoxious odors. Apart from stabilization and gasification of
organic sludge, the volume of residue is significantly reduced by
withdrawal of supernatant from digesters to thicken the sludge.
Aerobic digestion is only used when treating excess sludge from plants
without primary clarifiers. Stabilization of sludge is accomplished by the
extended period of aeration so that the organic material including the
synthesized cells gets destroyed as the digestion goes in to the
endogenous decay stage; however, thickening and dewatering of sludge
is troublesome due to bulky nature of over-aerated sludge.

Different Steps in Anaerobic Sludge

Digestion Process
HYDROL
YSIS

pH tolerant
and fast
ACIDOGENE process
SIS
pH sensitive
METHANOGEN
and slow
ESIS
Limited temperatureprocess
and pH range

(Temperature: 30 -35 deg C and pH

Activity of methane bacteria gets 6.7-7.4)
affected by excess concentration of
oxidized compounds, volatile acids, soluble salts and metal cations.
causes build up of organic
acids
further reduction of the metabolism of acid-splitting
methane formers
Process comes to an eventual halt. This is called
souring of reactor.

TYPES OF ANAEROBIC REACTOR

Single-Stage Floating Cover
Digesters
Raw
sludge is pumped into the reactor near the actively digesting zone at
the center or at the gas dome. Alternatively, pumping sludge into the gas
dome helps break the scum developed on the surface.
Floating
Weight of the cover is supported by sludge;
liquid forced up between the tank wall andLandin
the side of the cover works as a gas-seal. Gas
g
bracke
collects at the gas dome.
The cover can float on the surface of the t Inlet
sludge between the landing brackets and
overflo
the height of the overflow pipe.
w

cover gas
dome
Supernat
ant
Active
digestion
zone

Scum
layer
Outlet
Sludge
heater

Stabilized
thickened sludge

Detention time is typically 30-90

days.
Functions: 1) Digestion of volatile solids; 2) gravity thickening and 3)
Storage of digested sludge and gas produced
The rate of digestion is dependent on the mixing. But mixing cannot be
done as a good mixing would prevent supernatant formation. Thus, the
efficiency is compromised to allow both digestion and thickening to occur
in
sameoftank.
Asthe
a result
the stratification and the lack of mixing, not more than 50%
of the volume of a standard-rate single-stage digester is used. Because of
these limitations, the standard-rate process is used in small installations.

High-Rate Completely Mixed

Digesters
Fixed
cover
Raw
sludge
inlet

Activel
y
digesti
ng
sludge
Stage-I (completely
mixed)

Floating
Gas
dome

Ga
s
Supernata
nt
Stabilize
d
thickene
d sludge

Supernata
nt drawoff

Digested
Sludge drawoff
Stage-II (thickening and
storage)

Completely mixed systems, with fixed or a floating cover dome, are very
efficient in digesting the sludge because of uncompromised anaerobic
biological process promoted by complete mixing. The tanks are often
heated for increasing the rate of digestion. The feeding of sludge is
continuous.
The required
time forsludge
high-rate
typically
The homogeneous
naturedetention
of the digesting
doesdigestion
not allowisfor
15
days or of
less
.
formation
supernatant.
Thickening has to be done in a second reactor
put in a series. It accomplishes thickening and storage of the digested
sludge.

The volume capacity required for a single-stage floating-cover

digester can be determined by the formula

V f Va
2

* Td Va * Ts

V= Total Digester capacity

Vf= Volume of average daily raw-sludge feed,
V
Volume of daily sludge accumulation in
ma3=/day
tank,
m3/day
Td= Period
required for digestion, days
[approximately 20-30 days at 25Ts= Period required for digested sludge
35 deg C)[normally 30-120
days)
storage, days
For high rate digesters, volatile solids loadings rate is usually
between 3-5 kg/m3.d for adequate volatile solid destruction and gas
production and corresponding detention time is 10 day at the
minimum.
The volume capacity required for a high-rate digester can be
determined by the following equations:

V fd Va

Tth= Thickening
2
time, days
V1 and V2 are volumes of first and second stage digester,
respectively.
V
fd= Volume of digested sludge feed = volume of average daily raw

V1 V f * Td

And,

V2

* Tth Va * Ts

Dewatering of Digested Sludge

VEHICLE OPENINGS

Open Air Drying

Beds
Suitable for small
communities
Simple
to design and
operate
Poor drying in damp
weather
Potential odor problems
Large land area
requirement

SLOP
E

Area required : 0.1 to 0.25

m2/capita
Avg. drying time: 2-7 days up to 6
wks

SLOP
E

Sludge
inlet
P L A N

LO N G .

Mechanical
Dewatering
Vacuum Filtration
Pressure Filtration
Centrifugatio
n

S E C T I O N

SLUDGE DEWATERING PROCESSES BELT

FILTER
PRESS is to compress the sludge
Basic Principle
between two endless porous belts tensioned
over a series of pulleys to squeeze out the water.
Often it is pre-conditioned with a polymer to
aggregate
the solids.
Initial dewatering
takes place in the gravity
drainage zone, where there is almost free draining
of water through a highly porous belt . About half of
the water content is
removed.
Gravity
drainage
The rollers have gradually
zone
diminishing diameter to increase
the pressure on the filter cakes
as it gets dewatered.

Rollers are perforated stainless steel or carbon steel cylinders with

corrosion-resistant
coating
Belts are made of woven
cloths of polyester or polypropylene fiber with

Vacuum
Filtration

Filter Press

Operational Details of Filter

Press

Courtesy: www.asmfab.com

Sludge Dewatering Centrifuge

Solids are subjected to the influence of centrifugal field of 100-600 times force
of gravity
Two main components are:
a) rotating solid bowl and, b)interior rotating screw conveyor

Feed slurry is fed at the center and is spun against the bowl wall. Settled solids
are moved by the conveyor to one end of the bowl for discharge. The liquid is
discharged at the opposite end.

SLUDGE DISPOSAL

Weight and Volume Relationships of

Sludge
Specific gravity of solid matter in a
sludge / slurry

Wf
Ws
W

v
S s S f S v

= Unit weight of water

Wv=weight of volatile
Ssolids
=Specific gravity of
v

Ws=weight of dry
solids
Ss=Specific gravity of volatile
dry
solids
solids(inorganic) Wf=weight of fixed (inorganic)
Sf=Specific gravity of fixed
solids
solids
Specific gravity of organic matter (volatile solids) is 1.2-1.4; Specific
gravity of inorganic/ fixed solids is 1.8-2.5.
Specific gravity of wet sludge/slurry is calculated from:

Ww Ws
S
(Ww / 1.0) (Ws / S s )

Ww=weight of water
S=Specific gravity of sludge

The volume of waste sludge for a given amount of dry matter and
concentration of solids is found by,
Ws=weight of dry
S=Specific gravity of
Ws
V
sludge
solids
(m / 100)S
m= solids
=
Unit weight of
content, %
water

Example 1.
Consider a waste biological sludge with 10% solids with a volatile
fraction of 70%. Find the specific gravity of sludge considering that sp.
Gr. of fixed solids and volatile solids as 2.5 and 1.0 respectively.

Wf
Ws
Wv

S s S f S v
Ww Ws
S
(Ww / 1.0) (Ws / S s )

1.0 0.30 0.70

0.82
Ss
2.5 1.0
S

Ws
(m / 100)S

1
1.22
0.82

90 10
1.02
(90 / 1.0) (10 / 1.22)

Example 2.
Find out the volume of the above sludge weighing
40,000 kg/day.

Ss

40,000 kg/day
392 m 3 / day
kg
(10 / 100) *1000 3 *1.02
m

Example 3. The water content of wastewater sludge is reduced from 98%

to 95% using mechanical dewatering. The slurry contains 70% organic
matter of specific gravity 1.0 and 30% inorganic solids of specific gravity
2.0. What is the reduction in sludge volume due to dewatering? What are
the specific gravities of 98 and 95% slurry?

Wf
Ws
Wv

S s S f S v

1.0 0.30 0.70

0.85
Ss
2.0 1.0

Ss

1
1.17
0.85

CASE-I

CASE-II
Ww Ws
S
(Ww / 1.0) (Ws / S s )
98 2
95 5
S
1.003
S

1.008
(98 / 1.0) (2 / 1.17)
(95 / 1.0) (5 / 1.18)
Ws
V
(m / 100)S

For 1kg of
slurry,
1 kg

V1

(2 / 100) *1000 *1.003

0.0498 m 3

Reduction in volume due to

dewatering=

V2

1 kg
0.0198 m 3
(5 / 100) *1000 *1.008

V1 V2
0.0498 0.0198
*100
*100 60%
V1
0.0498