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Environmental Implications of Incineration and Other Advanced Sludge‐Treatment Processes
Author(s) -
Davis R. D.,
Glennie E. B.,
Hobson J. A.,
Sivil D.
Publication year - 2002
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.1747-6593.2002.tb00388.x
Subject(s) - biosolids , incineration , anaerobic digestion , environmental science , waste management , sewage sludge , sewage sludge treatment , lime , biogas , thermal hydrolysis , sewage treatment , waste treatment , energy recovery , environmental engineering , methane , engineering , chemistry , materials science , organic chemistry , metallurgy , statistics , mathematics , energy (signal processing)
In the UK, there is a strong trend towards more thermal processing of sludge with energy recovery or advanced treatment of sludge, in preparation for use in agriculture or other outlets. This has resulted from (a) the loss of the sea‐disposal outlet and (b) pressure to improve the microbiological quality of recycled biosolids to land. In 1996–97, incineration accounted for 8% of sludge, and this figure is expected to increase to 21% by the year 2005. During this period, the annual production of sludge is expected to increase from 1.12 million tDS to 1.47 million tDS. More sludge will be treated by processes such as thermal drying, thermophilic digestion, prepasteurisation and mesophilic anaerobic digestion, lime treatment and other advanced options such as gasification. These developments apply across the EU and are likely to be driven forward by the impending revision of the ‘sludge to land’Directive. The paper considers the environmental implications of these developments in terms of energy usage and recovery, air and water quality, greenhouse‐gas emissions, effects on contaminants, and the quality of products or residues.