Patent ID: 9738554
Date: 2017-08-22
CPC Classifications: C02F,Y02W

Claim:
1. A method for conditioning CEPT sludge comprising: a. mixing a volume of sludge with a conditioning agent to form a sludge mixture; b. incubating the sludge mixture for at least 1 hour at about 30° C. for flocculation and settling to form a conditioned sludge, and dewatering the conditioned sludge using mechanical filtering through capillary suction, vacuum or pressure filtration methods, wherein the conditioning agent comprises at least one of: a) a first flocculant component which comprises at least one acidophilic auto-trophic iron-oxidizing bacterium and at least one species of acid tolerant organotrophic microbes which are grown in medium containing iron (II) salt as an energy substrate or organic waste hydrolyzate as a growth medium, at a concentration between 3 and 7% (v/v); b) a second flocculant component which comprises a consortium of sulfur oxidizing bacterium in a mineral medium or in sludge filtrate with sulfur as an energy substrate, at a concentration between 0.1 and 1.0% (v/v); and c) a third flocculant component which comprises an organotrophic consortium comprising of at least three different organotrophic microbes using sludge or food waste hydrolyzate as a cultivation medium, at a concentration between 1 and 10% (v/v).