Hydrothermal treatment coupled with mechanical expression at increased temperature for excess sludge dewatering: influence of operating conditions and the process energetics.

Dewatering is very important for excess sludge treatment and disposal. Hydrothermal treatment coupled with mechanical expression is a novel technology, in which a conventional pressure dewatering is combined with hydrothermal effect to realize an improved liquid/solids separation with low energy consumption. In this study, the process was performed by way of that the excess sludge was hydrothermally treated first and then the mechanical expression was employed immediately at increased temperature in two separate cells respectively. The results demonstrated that the mechanical expression employed at increased temperature showed a significant advantage than that at room temperature, given a further reduction of 19-47% of the moisture content. The dewatering process at room temperature was mostly depended on the effect of mechanical expression. Hydrothermal process, more importantly than mechanical effect at increased temperatures, seemed to govern the extent to which the dewatering process occurred. The dewatering began to show a positive effect when the temperature was exceeded the threshold temperature (between 120 and 150 °C). The residence time of 30 min promoted a substantial conversion in the sludge surface properties. After dewatering at temperatures of 180-210 °C, the moisture content decreased from 52 to 20% and the corresponding total water removal as filtrate was between 81 and 93%. It was observed that the moisture content of filter cake correlated with surface charge (Rp = -0.93, p < 0.05) and relative hydrophobicity (Rp = -0.99, p < 0.05). The calculated energy balance suggested that no additional external energy input is needed to support the dewatering process for excess sludge. The dewatering process needs an obviously lower energy input compared to thermal drying and electro-dewatering to produce a higher solids content cake.