Ozone treatment of organic micro-pollutants in sewage sludge

Organic micro-pollutants accumulate to a certain extent in sewage sludge and are therefore ecologically relevant if the sludge is to be reused in both agriculture and landscaping applications. This paper describes the degradation of endocrine-disrupting compounds and other micro-contaminants by means of ozone and ultrasonic treatment. One of the findings is that, as expected, aromatic compounds such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons can be degraded easily by ozone. Thus it could be shown that, apart from enhanced VSS reduction and increased biogas production, sludge disintegration processes using ozone provide an additional benefit, i.e. the degradation of micro-pollutants, which is practically unattainable with ultrasonic treatment.