What is Sludge Treatment? What are the main treatment stages in sludge management?

Sludge Treatment: The range of processes used to reduce or remove potential health risks, remove water from sludge & reduce its weight and volume, thus reducing disposal costs. Furthermore, it attempts to discuss the main stages involved in the sludge treatment process in sludge management.

Whenever the wastewater is treated, essentially two products are released as a by-product. The first one is the effluent i.e. the treated wastewater and the second one is the sludge that means the settled particles in the different wastewater systems. The wastewater treatment process mainly involves four stages:

                1. Primary Wastewater treatment stage

                2. Secondary Wastewater treatment stage

                3. Tertiary Wastewater treatment stage

                4. Sludge Treatment

In the above-mentioned stages, the first three stages leave some settled solid particles that are known as sludge. The essential feature of sludge is that it contains a high amount of organic matter and moisture content. Because of the high amount of organic matter present, it is highly offensive and if disposed of untreated into the environment may cause damage to it.

What are the different stages involved in sludge treatment?

The stages involved in sludge management are discussed below in brief. But before that, we need to understand the main aim of the treatment stages. The general aim of these treatment techniques are described here as follows:

• To reduce the moisture content.
• To decompose the organic matter.

Now let us understand the stages involved in sludge treatment:

• Sludge Thickening: The main aim of this stage is to reduce the moisture content in the sludge. The sludge contains a high amount of moisture content. Therefore it becomes really necessary to reduce the amount of water content in sludge and thicken it.  
• Sludge Digestion: The main aim of this stage is to decompose the organic matter present inside the sludge. It can be done through either aerobic process or anaerobic processes. The treatment system used for sludge digestion is known as sludge digester.
• Conditioning: Conditioning means preparing the sludge for the next step i.e.sludge dewatering. It enables to enhance the drainability of sludge or to make sludge capable of dewatering. It is done with the help of chemical conditioners.
• Sludge Dewatering: In the first step of the sludge treatment process i.e. the sludge thickening process, the moisture content will reduce up to 90%. The moisture content left needs to be reduced which will be done using the sludge dewatering process. The system used in this process is known as a sludge drying bed. In the dewatering process, both the volume of sludge and moisture content is reduced.
• Heat Drying: In a furnace, the sludge thereafter produced is treated. The purpose of heat drying is to reduce the moisture content that is released in the form of gas. This gas produced is helpful in maintaining the wastewater treatment plants. The heat given during this process is 350 degrees Celsius.
• Incineration: Incineration means that we will burn out the sludge at a temperature of 650 degrees Celsius to 750 degrees celsius i.e. at a really high temperature. At the present process, the sludge is having very little moisture content and organic matter, therefore it will be very easy to incinerate.

These were all the steps needed to treat the sludge for safe disposal in the environment. 

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