• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.608-618
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• 2004

Since polyelectrolytes have been used as conditioners, conventionally only a single polyelectrolyte has been added for sludge conditioning. However, the amount of polyelectrolyte needed for optimal conditioning of sludge is very critical. Overdosing reduces the sludge dewaterbility. In this experimental study, sludge conditioning with single or dual polyelectrolyte was conducted to avoid problems associated with overdosing. Single polyelectrolyte conditioning was conducted by one of cationic, nonionic, and anionic polyelectrolytes. The dual polyelectrolyte conditioning was performed by adding one polyelectrolyte and another one in sequence. The dewaterbility of sludges were measured by SRF(specific resistance to filtration), TTF(time to filter), CST(capillary suction time) respectively. Additionally, parameters such as turbidity, zeta potential, viscosity of conditioned sludges or supematant were measured to evaluate the changed characteristics of sludge by addition of polyelectrolytes. From the experiment results, it was concluded that single polyelectrolyte conditioning had a high probability of overdosing, whereas dual polyelectrolyte conditioning resulted in a better dewaterbility and less chance of overdosing. But, it was also found that dosing sequence in dual conditioning was very important according to the characteristics of sludge. Parameters such as viscosity, turbidity, zeta potential were found to be useful as a means of evaluating sludge dewaterbility.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.467-473
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• 2011

Objectives: Wastewater treatment plants typically produce a large volume of waste sludge. In this study, the conditioning and dewatering properties of a digested and thickened sludge from an industrial wastewater treatment plant were investigated in order to improve the dewaterbility of the sludge. Methods: Jar-tests and Buchner funnel tests were carried out to assess the conditioning and dewatering properties of a waste sludge. TTF (Time to Filter Test) and SRF (Specific Resistance to Filtration) were adopted as the indices of sludge dewaterbility. Results: The valuation indices influencing the dewaterbility of the waste sludge, including TTF, SRF, water contents, VS/TS ratio and turbidity, were measured. The TTF and SRF of the digested and thickened sludge were decreased to 40 sec, $3.43{\times}10^{12}$ m/kg, and 39 sec, $1.09{\times}10^{12}$ m/kg, respectively. Conclusions: The conditioner composed of natural inorganic materials turned out to be effective in the reduction of sludge water contents.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.349-355
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• 2010

Electroflotation (EF) was conducted for activated sludge thickening to investigate the effects of sludge SVI (sludge volume index) and chemical conditioning. Return sludge samples were used for the experiment, which were collected from municipal wastewater treatment plants. The performance of sludge thickening was significantly dependent on sludge SVI. For the sludges with SVI values in a range from 50 to about 150 mL/g, the maximum float content decreased rapidly from 8.4 to 3.5% and flotation compressibility followed the same pattern. In cases of sludges with SVI higher than 150 mL/g, those results showed low content levels without large changes. Gas/solids ratio tended to increase with an increase in SVI. When polyelectrolyte was added into sludges for the conditioning, compressibility increased up to 75% and gas/solids ratio was reduced up to about 35% under the condition of microbubble production rate of 530 mL/h, however, there was no consistent effect of chemical conditioning on the maximum float solids content; some cases were positive but the others negative. It was expected that the optimum dose of electrolyte depends on sludge SVI and an excessive chemical dose causes a performance deterioration of flotation thickening.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.370-375
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• 2004

Synthetic organic polyelectrolytes can be used to condition sludges to enhance their dewaterability. When conditioning biological sludges, the charge on the polymer has a significant impact on the effectiveness of the polymer as a conditioner. The objectives of this investigation were to determine the most effective type and dosage of polymer for conditioning digested sludge prior to dewatering, and to investigate the relationship between dewaterability and particle size. 3 types of digested sludge were used under the different digestion processes like anaerobic digestion, aerobic digestion and intermittent aerobic digestion. CST(capillary suction time), TTF(time-to-filter) and SRF(specific resistance to filtration) were tested as a dewaterability index and the number of particle distribution was analyzed using particle size analyzer. The results indicate that cationic polymer appears to be required for effective conditioning of these 3 types digested sludge and the optimal polymer dosage is about 0.6% of SS. CST and TTF are well correlated with mean particle diameter of which the dimension order is 1.7.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.253-258
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• 2004

Synthetic organic polyelectrolytes can be used to condition sludges to enhance their dewaterability. Intermittent aerobic digestion is an useful digestion technology and has many advantages like neutral pH, low installation cost and easiness to operation. The objectives of this study were to investigate the dewaterability of intemittent aerobic digestion sludge and to find the relationship between dewaterability and particle size distribution change under the conditioning of intermittent aerobic digestion sludge by cationic polyelectrolyte. Digested sludge from intermittent aerobic digestion was used and cationic polyacrylamide polymer was added as a conditioner. CST(capillary suction time), TTF(time-to-filtration) were tested as a dewaterability index and the number of particle distribution was analyzed using particle size analyzer. The results indicate that cationic polyelectrolytes is useful to enhance dewaterability of intermittent aerobic digestion sludge. Mean particle diameter was increased as polymer dosage increased and its value was reached up to 100 mm on the condition of optimal cationic polymer dosage. CST and TTF are well correlated with mean particle diameter when the weighting order is 1.7. By the optimal conditioning with cationic polymer, particles in the filtrate are also reduced significantly and this means that conditioning is helpful to main stream by reducing SS loading from return flow.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.30-33
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• 2000

The objective of this study is to examine the subsitiution effect of the waste oyster shell powder as the conditioning agent in municipal wasterwater sludge dewatering process. Beacuse the oyster shells have a large amount(about 38% by weight) of alkaline minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, they are thought to have the potential as a good conditioning agent. In this study, the physico-chemical properties of powdered oyster shells (75${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ or 200 mesh) and the dewatering characteristics of municipal waste water sludge using powdered oyster shells and CaCO3 are investigated. The conclusions are as follows, 1. Oyster shell could produce calcium ions up to 14ppm at pH-7.0, and this represents that oyster shell is a potential properties as a good conditioner. 2. 100ml of wastewater sludges, conditioned with pretreated oyster shell, are dewatered to the level of 25% solid concentration. 3. Wasterwater sludges, conditioned with oyster shell and CaCO3 are dewatered to the level of 32% solid concentration. And this shows that two-stage combined conditioning process is desirable than the one-stage conditioning process.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 1994

Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of digestion temperature on the settleability and dewaterability of anaerobically digested sludge. The digesters were operated at a hydraulic retention time of 20 days with a loading rate of 0.63~0.66kg volatile solids per cubic meter per day at the temperature of $35^{\circ}C$ and $55^{\circ}C$. A mixed primary and secondary municipal sludge was used as a feed. The interface height of the sludge during settling test was recorded to identify settleability. As a measure of dewaterability of the sludge, specific resistance and capillary suction time were also measured with and without chemical conditioning. Higher digestion efficiency was obtained at $55^{\circ}C$ than $35^{\circ}C$. However, the settleability and dewaterability of the sludge at $35^{\circ}C$ were quite higher than those of the sludge digested at $55^{\circ}C$. The optimum dosages of ferric chloride for sludge conditioning were 0.4% and 0.6% at $35^{\circ}C$ and $55^{\circ}C$, respectively. The filtrate COD of the sludge digested at $55^{\circ}C$ was higher than at $35^{\circ}C$, which means that poor dewaterability of the sludge result in high filtrate COD.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.775-780
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• 2008

Sludge conditioning is widely used to improve aggregation and dewaterability of waste sludge in sludge treatment processes. The study aims to examine quantitative correlations between coagulant dosage and sludge cake dewaterability using three kinds of coagulants, such as an aluminum sulfate, a ferric chloride, and a poly aluminum chloride(PAC). When an aluminum sulfate, a ferric chloride, and a PAC were injected with 0.79$\sim$1.19 mmol/g, 0.61$\sim$1.25 mmol/g TSS, and 0.21$\sim$0.39 mmol/g TSS, respectively, specific resistances to filtration of the sludge were decreased at 95.0% or more. This study shows that the correlation between coagulant dosage per g sludge(D) and normalized specific resistance to filtration(R) could be expressed by the exponential functions.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.743-748
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• 2009

Chemical sludge conditioning is widely used to improve the dewatering efficiency. It is treated with commonly used conditioners, and then thickened and dewatered with a mechanical device. This paper aims to examine the flotation and thickening efficiencies of sewage sludge for conditioning conditions, such as unaerobic storage time, kinds of coagulant and dosages, and flotation conditions, such as sludge concentration and A/S ratio, using an dissolved air flotation apparatus. Experimental results showed that the specific surface area and specific resistance to filtration (SRF) were significantly increased and the flotation and thickening efficiencies were decreased with anaerobic storage time. However, the flotation and thickening efficiencies faintly decreased in sewage sludges conditioned as $Al_2(SO_4)_3$, $Fe_2(SO_4)_3$, and PSO-M. Flotation and thickening efficiencies in conditioned sewage sludge could be sustained up to 96% at A/S ratio of 0.01 mL/mg or over.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.38-46
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• 2001

The purposes of this study were to examine applicability of waste egg shells as conditioning agent, to determine the optimum conditions for improving digested sludge dewaterability and to compare with before and after adding them. It estimated that the optimum conditions were dosage 30 g/L, particle size 10mesh, temp. $30^{\circ}C$, pH 7 and dewatering pressure $2.66{\pm}10^4{\;}N/m^2$. On the basis of induced optimum conditions, if adding waste egg shells in digested sludge, its specific resistance was $1.13{\pm}10^{12}{\;}m/kg$ and was low about 3 times than raw digested sludge $3.5{\pm}10^{12}{\;}m/kg $. Therefore, in view of waste recycling, it seemed that we could utilize waste egg shells as conditioning assent for improving dewaterability of digested sludge.