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Variable Nature of Chemical Composition of Sewage Sludges
Author(s) -
Sommers L. E.,
Nelson D. W.,
Yost K. J.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq1976.00472425000500030017x
Subject(s) - sewage sludge , sewage , organic matter , environmental chemistry , chemistry , composition (language) , chemical composition , metal , environmental science , environmental engineering , organic chemistry , linguistics , philosophy
Sewage sludge samples were collected over a 2‐year period from eight Indiana cities and analyzed for C, N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Cd, Zn, Cu, Ni, and Pb. The sludges contained approximately 50% organic matter and 1–4% inorganic C. Organic and inorganic C, organic N, inorganic P, and Ca and Mg were found to be present in a given sludge at a relatively constant concentration with respect to sampling time. Inorganic N, organic P, K, and all metals were found to be quite variable with time for sewage sludge produced by a given city. In general, organic N and inorganic P constituted the majority of total N and P, respectively, in sludges. The largest deviations between the mean and median were found for Cd, Zn, Cu, Ni, and Pb. Variable nature of inorganic N and metal contents of sludges indicates that a sound sampling and analysis program is essential prior to formulating recommendations for rates of sewage sludge applications on soils used for crop production.