• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.93-100
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• 2005

Comparative thickening and dewatering characteristics of municipal wastewater sludge were investigated in terms of separated and combined treatment of primary and secondary BNR sludge. Also, various conditioning methods such as cation polymer addition, steam and ultrasonication treatment were examined to improve dewaterability of sludge. The dewaterability was measured by using specific resistant test, wedge zone simulator and centrifuge. The result of the sludge thickening test revealed that separated thickening was better in terms of solids recovery and supernatant quality. Particularly, the thickening of primary sludge with high solids (about 3.5% TS) showed very poor solid separation. The addition of cation polymer showed better conditioning characteristic for dewatering and the optimal polymer dosage was 0.26% for primary sludge, 0.43% for secondary sludge and 0.38% for combined sludge. Contrary to the result of the thickening, the dewatering test revealed that dewatering of the combined sludge is better than that of separated sludge, representing better solids separation and filtrate quality. The polymer addition was essential to improve dewaterability in filter (belt) press type dewatering but it was inefficient for the dewatering of secondary sludge only. The centrifuge type dewatering showed better performance and the dewaterability was slightly improved when the polymer was added. Based on the results of this research a sustainable sludge treatment process, particularly in terms of the recycle water quality and solids recovery, was proposed.