Treatment of 14 sludge types from wastewater treatment plants using bench and pilot thermal hydrolysis

A total of 14 types of sludge from household sewage, mixture of domestic and industrial wastewater, and industrial and oil wastewater treatment plants were selected to evaluate the effectiveness and adaptability of thermal hydrolysis pre-treatment. Organic solubilization, dewatering improvement, volume reduction, high-strength filtrate biodegradation, and dewatered sludge incineration were investigated using bench and pilot thermal hydrolysis experiments (170 °C/60 min). Results showed that sludge types significantly affected the treatment effects. Organic content has a primary influence on thermal effects. The relationship between suspended solid (SS) solubilization and raw sludge organic content was linear with an R² of 0.73. The relationship between raw sludge organic content and treated sludge dewatering was linear with an R² of 0.86 and 0.65 for pilot and bench pre-treatments, respectively. Household and oil sludge possessed incineration possibilities with high heat value. Industrial and oil sludge filtrate was unsuitable for digestion to recover bioenergy.