Premium
Experiences of Digested Sludge Thickening by Aercon
Author(s) -
LYNCH M.,
STEPHENSON T.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-6593.1994.tb01155.x
Subject(s) - consolidation (business) , aeration , waste management , environmental science , sewage sludge , sewage sludge treatment , sewage treatment , sludge bulking , activated sludge , biogas , environmental engineering , engineering , business , accounting
Increasing restrictions on sewage sludge disposal routes and the tightening of treatment requirements have led to an escalation of sludge‐disposal costs which are out of proportion to other sewage‐treatment costs: consequently reducing sludge volume is becoming increasingly cost‐effective. Consolidation of anaerobically digested sludge has traditionally been difficult and takes many weeks in secondary digesters or deep storage tanks. Pre‐aeration of the sludge using the Aercon process can enable consolidation to take place in days instead of weeks. This paper reports the results of a pilot‐scale plant designed to investigate further the mechanism by which aeration speeds up consolidation. It was concluded that the rate of consolidation depended on aeration intensity and cooling of the sludge. Inhibition of anaerobiosis was more important than gas stripping in enhancing consolidation.