Ultrasonic pre-treatment of biological sludge: consequences for disintegration, anaerobic biodegradability, and filterability

作者：Erden G^*; Filibeli A

来源：Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, 2010, 85(1): 145-150.

DOI：10.1002/jctb.2298

• anaerobic biodegradability
• biological sludge
• filterability
• floc disintegration

BACKGROUND: Disintegration was developed as a pretreatment process for sludge to accelerate the digestion processes. Ultrasonic treatment may be a good alternative for sludge disintegration. In this study, different specific energy inputs ranged between 0 and 15 880 kJ kg(-1) and very low ultrasonic densities ranged between 0.04 and 0.1 W mL(-1) were applied to biological sludge for disintegration purposes. The potential for improving anaerobic digestion through ultrasonic pre-treatment and the effect of ultrasonic pre-treatment on the filterability characteristics of sludge were also investigated.
RESULTS: 9690 W kg(-1) TS of supplied energy and very low power density of 0.09 Wm L-1 are efficient for floc disintegration. For 9690 kJ kg(-1) TS, 44% higher methane production was achieved than with raw sludge as a result of biochemical methane potential assay. The supernatant characteristics of the sludge were also affected by the ultrasonic pre-treatment. For 9690 kJ kg-1 TS, the soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP) in the sludge supernatant increased by 340%, 860%, 716%, and 207.5%, respectively.
CONCLUSION: Ultrasonic pre-treatment is an effective method for biological sludge disintegration even at very low ultrasonic density levels. It leads to increased anaerobic biodegradability but deteriorates the filterability characteristics of biological sludge.

• 出版日期2010-1