TREATMENT OF ACTIVATED OR HUMUS SLUDGE

Abstract: Activated or humus sludge which has been thickened (for example, by air flotation) to a solids content of at least 2% is caused to spontaneously flocculate by treatment with a base to raise the pH of the thickened sludge to more than 8 and then acidified, preferably to a pH of 1 to 4. The sludge is generally allowed to gel by standing for one to five hours after base treatment and before acidification; heat treatment is unnecessary and the sludge can be at ambient temperature throughout, The flocculated sludge can be readily dewatered and further processed to produce a sterile high protein dried product of low heavy metal content, for use as a fish or animal feed or organic fertilizer.

Description: Treatment of activated or humus sludge The present invention is concerned with the treatment of activated or humus sludge. A conventional method for the treatment of sewage and other waste waters is the activated sludge process , in which the biological oxygen demand of the waste water is reduced by the growth of micro¬ organisms therein under aerated conditions. Another widely used system is the trickling filter in which sewage or waste water is percolated through a bed of stone or clinker under aerobic conditions. Micro-organisms grow in the filter and produce what is called humus sludge which has a composition similar to activated sludge and which contains a high percentage of protein. The resulting activated or humus sludge solids are then concentrated, for example by settlement, and dewatered and are then disposed of by dumping or by anaerobic digestion. This procedure is complicated by the fact that activated or humus sludge is difficult to de- « water to a readily disposable material of high solids content because the solids in the sludge retain large volumes of water. Various method of facilitating dewatering of activated sludge have been proposed. For example, British Specifications 1521207 and 1521672 disclose a method of facilitating dewatering of activated sludge, which comprises heating an acidified activated sludge of pH not greater than 2.2 to a temperature of 150 to 210°F. A similar method of facilitating the dewatering of activated sludge is described in French Specificatio 232796 ; in this method, activated sludge having a solids content of 2 to % is acidified to a pH of 2 to 3 and then heated to 70°C to 100°C. The de¬ watered . solids obtained from the thus-treated sludge, like the dewatered solids obtained from sludge treated according to the method of British Specification 152167 is said to be suitable for use as an animal feed or fertiliser. The acidi ication of activated sludge so as to facilitate dewatering thereof is also disclosed in • USSR Patent 597648; like the methods disclosed in the above-mentioned British Specifications 1521207 and 1521672 and French Specification 23279 5, this method involves heat treatment of the acidified sludge. The acidification of other types of sludge so as to facilit dewatering thereof is disclosed in German Offenlegung- sschrift 2317673, British Speci ications 1287249, 13 5781 and< 1577036, U.S. Patent 4208282, French Specification 24l4θ26 and European Patent Application Serial No. 0005011. These methods all involve heat treatment of acidified sludge (like the methods of trea ment of activated sludge described above) or the addition of another material such as a rubber latex (British Specification 1287249) , calcium oxide or hydroxide (British Specification 134578,1) , starch (U.S. Patent 4208282) , a silicon compound (French Specificati 2 l4θ26) or a flocculating agent (European Application OOO5OII) after acidification. None of these documents have any disclosure of the addition of a base to the sludge prior to acidi ication. The addition of a base to sludge has been known per se for a very long time : or example , it is described in British Specification 445395, which was published as long ago as 1936. The addition of a base to sludge is also disclosed in the above- mentioned USSR Patent 597648, British Speci ication 1345781 and French Specification 24l4θ26; in each case, the base is added after acidification. We have now found unexpectedly that if thickened activated or humus sludge having a solids content of at least 2% by weight is treated (before acidi ication) with a base so as to raise the pH thereof to more than 8, then the treated sludge can be made to spontaneously flocculate by subsequent addition of acid. • The resulting treated sludge can be readily dewatered by conventional means, such as a filter press, centrifuge or vacuum filter. The process according to the invention has some resemblance to the process described in British Speci ication I381306, which describes a method for flocculating bacterial cells in an aqueous medium by raising the pH to 8 to 11 by treatment with an alkali and/or heating the medium to 0 to 200 C, followed by lowering the pH to 2 to 5- The above-mentioned British Specification I381306 is, however, concerned with the flocculation of single cell protein bacterial cultures (not activated sludge) ; typical concentrations for such cultures are 0.25% (Example 2) to 0.8% (Example 1). An embodiment of the process described in British Specification 1381306 ' involves alkali treatment without heat treatment followed by acidification; we have attempted to repeat this process for activated sludge having a similar concentration to the bacterial culture media disclosed in the British specification. However, we have found that satisfactory flocculation cannot be achieved even with an activated sludge having a concentration as high as 0.8% (the maximum con¬ centration disclosed in the British speci ication) . We have found that satisfactory flocculation can only be achieved if the activated sludge is first thickened to a solids content of at least 2% by weight; the same is true for humus sludge. The sludge may be-thickened (concentrated) to make i . suitable for use in the method according to the invention by settling, centrifuging, air flotation or other suitable means; air flotation is preferred, particularly air flotation in the presence of a polyelectrolyte. The thickened sludge preferably has a solids content of at least 4% by weight, more preferably 4 to 5% by weight. Referring once again to the above-mentioned British Speci ication I381306, this teaches that heat¬ ing is desirable in order to ensure satisfactory flocculation (compare Sample A with Samples B to F in Table 1 thereof) ; it is an advantage of the method according to the invention that the sludge can be at ambient temperature throughout (that is, there is no need for heat treatment of the sludge in order to ensure satisfactory dewatering properties) . However, it may sometimes be desired to heat the sludge during and/or after base treatment and/or acidification; when the sludge is heat-treated, it may be heated, for example, during acidification, to a temperature of 50 to 100 C for a period of up to several hours (for example,heat treatment at 100 C for about one hour) . The base used in the base treatment stage may be, for example, caustic soda, caustic potash, ammonia, sodium carbonate or lime; caustic soda is preferred. The pH of the sludge following base treatment is preferably 10 to 13, more preferably 11 to 12; sufficient base should be added such that the base- treated sludge will gel, or assume the appearance of a gel, on standing. The optimum quantity of base will, of course, depend on the nature thereof and on the composition of the sludge being treated. While* we do not wish to be bound by any theory,it it believed that the base attacks mucopolysaccharxde coat¬ ings on ςells present in the sludge,to allow flocculation on subsequent acidification. Following the base treatment, the sludge is allowed to gel, or assume the appearance of a gel, before acidification. The optimum time for addition of acid may be determined by acidifying small aliquots of base-treated sludge at intervals and adding acid to the bulk of the sludge when satisfactory flocculation of the respective aliquot is achieved. The base-treated sludge is generally allowed to stand prior to acidification for a relatively short time, such as one to five hours (for example, about one hour) , without agitation or .with only gentle agitation. The acid used in the acidification stage may be, for example, sulphuric acid or hydrochloric acid; the optimum pH of the sludge after acidification depends on the particular sludge, but is preferably between 1 and 4. It is a particular advantage of the present invention that the dewatered sludge, which may have a solids content of about 30% by weight , obtained from the treated sludge may be readily processed to form a sterile dried product having a high protein content and a low heavy metal content. The dried product is accord¬ ingly suitable for use as an animal or fish feed or an organic fertilizer. If desired, the heavy metal content can bo further reduced by adding a chelating agent, such as ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid to the sludge. An ash content as low as 10% by weight can be achieved by this means . The rate of filtration of the treated sludge can be improved if some previously produced dried material (in powdered form) or a filter aid is added to the treating sludge. hen the resulting filtered material is to be used for producing an animal feed any filter aid used should, of course, be non-toxic. -An example of a suitable non-toxic filter aid is soya flour. . • The dewatered sludge may, if desired, be treated with an organic solvent to remove fats and/or any other organic impurities, for example,when it is a filter cake, while the latter is still in the filter* press. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, protein material may be dissolved out of the filter cake by means of an alkaline solution, the alkaline solution then being filtered and protein material precipitated out by acid treatment. This acid treatment may be effected by extruding the alkaline solution into an acid coagulant to precipitate protein material in fibrous form, which is then dried. The dewatered sludge, or the precipitated protein material mentioned above, is preferably neutra- lized before drying, for example, by mixing with causti soda, ammonia or hydrated lime. The use of hydrated lime is advantageous as this enables neutralisation to be carried out without addition of liquid. Drying is preferably carried out under con- ditions which will inactivate bacterial spores and worm ova, if present, without destruction of proteins. The temperature is preferably from 100 to 120 C and drying is preferably effected with air circulation. The resulting dried material may be ground to a powder, mixed with other feed ingredients, such as maize and vitamins, and pelletized to produce a commercially useful animal or fish feed. - - The method according to the invention is well adapted for continuous operation and docs not require large capital investments. In order that the present invention may be 5 more fully understood, the following Examples are given by way of illustration only. EXAMPLE 1 Surplus activated sludge from a sewage treat¬ ment plant was thickoned by moans of dissolved air flotation in a pilot plant at a throughput of 3 gallons per minute. The thickoned sludge was scraped into a receiving vessel at half-hourly intervals and the average solids content of the thickened sludge was found to be -j% by weight. -; ^ The pH of the thickened sludge was adjusted to li.5 by addition of caustic soda solution ( 40% W/V) with stirring and the alkaline sludge allowed to stand for 2 hours at ambient temperature. The pll of the sludge was then lowered to pH 1.5 by addition of sulphuric acid 0 (75ό W/W) and the acidified sludge allowed to stand overnight ( 17 hours) at ambient temperature during which time the sludge flocculated and partially separated from the liquid. The subnatent liquid was drawn off and replaced by clean water. The resulting mixture was then 5 dewatered in a conventional plate and frame filter press over a period of six hours to yield a filter cake of 2 cm thickness having a total solids content of 25T-S. The filter cake was removed, mashed and neutralised by the addition of calcium hydroxide powder with thorough 0 mixing. ho neutralised cake which then had a solids content of 25% by eight as dried in a tray dryer with air circulation at a temperaturo of 110°C. Tho compo- uition of the dry product was as followa:- 5 Nitrogen 8.0% Trotcin 53.5% Fat i .5% Ash l l i .9% Carbohydrate k .0% K 0. 3% (an K ? 0) P l . h% ( a V 2 0-- ) Non-protoin N 0.5% Cd 0.5 p.p.m. Trials showed that tho product was useful 10 .as a replacement for fish meal in trout feed and equivalent to dried blood as an organic fertilizer. The trials were as follows: Fertiliser trial . Dried activated sludge protein (prepared as 15 indicated above) was compared with dried blood (12u N) as a natural organic nitrogen source, Control plots with no added nitrogen were included and red beet (C.Boltardy) was grown (red beet is very sensitive to nitrogen supply and has a high nitrogen requirement). 20 There were thus three treatments, there were threo replicates and the design was randomized. Nitrogen was applied at the rate of 100 kg /ha. When the beets wore harvested, tho fresh weight of roots (tonnes/ha) was 15. for the control • 25 plots (no added nitrogen) and 'ii.2 and ; i0.6 for the plots for which activated sludge protei and dried blood respectively, were used. The corresponding weights of harvested foliage (in tonnes/ha) were lδ.6, 22.1 and 25.7, respectively. 30 Feeding trial .Two batches of rainbow trout wore maintained for period of approximately 10 weeks o * n artificial rations. Λ control group (G'i fish) wore fed a standard COtn-.-jiorc al trout diot (1'ilwoocia No. Pellet) whilnt an 35 experimental group ( 129 fi^h) were fe l a diot in which approximately 50% of the fish meal content had been replaced by activated sludge protein, prepared as indicated above. The fish were kept in small concrete raceλvays adequately supplied with borehole water at temperature within the range 11 - 12°C. The fish were fed 2-3% of their body weight in food per day in accordance with appetite. Diet Ingredients A. Experimental Diet - Crude Protein 63g/kg diet. Oil 83 » - Fibre 29.4 " B. Control Diet - Crude Protein 46θg/kg diet. Oil 76.3 " Fibre 30.0 " 17% of the total experimental diet was activated sludge protein. This replaced 50% of the fish meal content. At the start, the control trout had a mean weight of 69.6g. while those fed on the experimental diet had a mean weight of 71.4g. The mean weights of the control trout after 20, 5 and 72 days were 92. g. , 100.Og. and 123.0g., respectively, while the correspond¬ ing mean weights of trout fed on the experimental diet were 86.8g. , lll.-ig. and 127-lg., respectively. This indicates that the growth of fish on the experimental diet was slightly better than that of fish on the control diet. Example 2 Humus sludge from a sewage works was thickened by air flotation as described in Example 1. The thickened hu us sludge had an average solids content of 4.5% by weight. The pH of the thickened sludge was adjusted to 11.5 by the addition of sodium hydroxide solution (40% W /v) with stirring and the alkaline sludge allowed to stand for 1 hour at ambient temperature. The pH of the sludge was then lowered to 2 by the addition of sulphuric acid (75% /v) and the acidified sludge allowed to stand overnight at ambient temperature durin which time the mixture flocculated. The flocculated sludge was passed through a filter press having recessed plates over a period of five hours. When the cake was removed from the filter it had a solids content of 26% by weight. The filter cake was mashed and neutralised with calcium hydroxide powder with thorough mixing; the neutralised cake had a solids content of 27%. The neutralised material was dried in a tray dryer with air circulation at a temperature of 110 C. The composition of the product was as follows:- Protein 49.5% Ash 21.0% Fat 8.8% Carbohydrate 5.0% K 0.4% (as K £ 0) P 2.5% (as P 2 5 ) Non-protein nitrogen 0.6%.

Claims: CLAIMS : 1. A method of separating solids from thickened activated or humus sludge having a solids content of at least 2% by. acidi ication of said sludge and dewatering the acidified sludge, characterised in that, prior to acidification, the sludge is treated with a base so as to raise the pH thereof to more than 8. 2. A method according to claim 1, characterised in that the pH is raised by the base treatment to 11 to 12. 3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the sludge is allowed to stand between base treatment and acidification for one to five hours. 4. A method according to any of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the sludge is at ambient temperature throughou . . 5« A method according to any of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the sludge is at a temperature of 50 to 100 C during acidi ication.

Inventors: GRANT R
Applicants: GRANT R, OXFAM
Application year: 1981
Main classification: C02F11
IPC codes: A23K1, C02F11, C05F7