Biodrying of dewatered secondary sludge: behavior of dynamic respiration index (DRI) and energy release under different operating conditions

César Huiliñir*, Estefanía Leiva, Francisco Stegmaier, Antonio Castillo, Luis Cottet, Silvio Montalvo

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Biological activity monitored through the dynamic respiration index (DRI) and the calculation of biological heat generation (Qbio) through O2 consumption has been reported only scarcely in the case of biodrying. Therefore, the present work studies the DRI and Qbio for a dewatered secondary sewage sludge biodrying process under different operating conditions: airflow rate (AFR) and initial moisture content (IMC). RESULTS: It was found that AFR has an important effect on oxygen consumption, with higher DRI (≤6 gO2 kgVS–1 h–1) at higher AFR for different studied IMCs. IMC also affects the DRI, with higher values of DRI at higher IMC. Determination of the Qbio indicated that its calculation through O2 consumption provided better explanations of the water removal of the process. AFR also affects water removal and volatile solids (VS) degradation, with greater water removal (c. 30%) and lower VS degradation (c. 3.6%) at lower AFR. CONCLUSIONS: AFR strongly affects the DRI, with higher DRI at low AFR. The calculation of Qbio through O2 consumption is recommended.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)94-101
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology
Volume95
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2020
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Society of Chemical Industry

Keywords

  • biodrying
  • DRI
  • energy release
  • O consumption
  • secondary sludge

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