Dewatering of sludge from sewage treatment plants is proving to be a significant challenge due to the large amounts of residual sludges generated annually. In recent years, research and development have focused on improving the dewatering process in order to reduce subsequent costs of sludge management and transport. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to establish reliable indices that reflect the efficiency of sludge dewatering. However, the evaluation of sludge dewaterability is not an easy task due to the highly complex nature of sewage sludge and variations in solid–liquid separation methods. Most traditional dewatering indices fail to predict the maximum cake solids content achievable during full-scale dewatering. This paper reviews the difficulties in assessing sludge dewatering performance, and the main techniques used to evaluate dewatering performance are compared and discussed in detail. Finally, the paper suggests a new dewatering index, namely the modified centrifugal index, which is demonstrated to be an appropriate indicator for estimating the final cake solids content as well as simulating the prototype dewatering process.
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Research Article|
March 07 2016
A review on sludge dewatering indices
Vu Hien Phuong To;
Vu Hien Phuong To
1Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia
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Tien Vinh Nguyen;
Tien Vinh Nguyen
1Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia
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Saravanamuth Vigneswaran;
1Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia
E-mail: s.vigneswaran@uts.edu.au
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Huu Hao Ngo
Huu Hao Ngo
1Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia
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Water Sci Technol (2016) 74 (1): 1–16.
Article history
Received:
August 30 2015
Accepted:
February 08 2016
Citation
Vu Hien Phuong To, Tien Vinh Nguyen, Saravanamuth Vigneswaran, Huu Hao Ngo; A review on sludge dewatering indices. Water Sci Technol 7 July 2016; 74 (1): 1–16. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2016.102
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