Optimizing chemical conditioning for odour removal of undigested sewage sludge in drying processes

Esther Vega, Hèctor Monclús, Rafael Gonzalez-Olmos, Maria J. Martin

Research output: Indexed journal article Articlepeer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Emission of odours during the thermal drying in sludge handling processes is one of the main sources of odour problems in wastewater treatment plants. The objective of this work was to assess the use of the response surface methodology as a technique to optimize the chemical conditioning process of undigested sewage sludges, in order to improve the dewaterability, and to reduce the odour emissions during the thermal drying of the sludge. Synergistic effects between inorganic conditioners (iron chloride and calcium oxide) were observed in terms of sulphur emissions and odour reduction. The developed quadratic models indicated that optimizing the conditioners dosage is possible to increase a 70% the dewaterability, reducing a 50% and 54% the emission of odour and volatile sulphur compounds respectively. The optimization of the conditioning process was validated experimentally.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)111-119
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Environmental Management
Volume150
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2015

Keywords

  • Dewaterability
  • Olfactometry
  • Response surface methodology
  • Sulphur compound
  • Undigested sewage sludge

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