Patent ID: 8726538

Claim:
A method for treatment of sewage sludge containing a pathogen, comprising: cascading sewage sludge containing water and at least one pathogen between a plurality of vertically spaced apart supports within a processing chamber; heating the sewage sludge while cascading within the processing chamber to remove a portion of the water within the sewage sludge thereby forming a reduced water content sewage sludge; heating the reduced water content sewage sludge for a sufficient time and at a sufficient temperature to reduce the amount of the at least one pathogen within the sewage sludge thereby forming a treated sewage sludge; supplying heated gas to the processing chamber for heating the sewage sludge for removing a portion of the contained water therein and for reducing the amount of the at least one pathogen with the sewage sludge; and controlling the temperature of the heated gas within the processing chamber below the ignition temperature of the sewage sludge to prevent the formation of embers therefrom.