ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Characterization and Performance of Sludge
Derived Biochar as Conditioner in Textile
Wastewater Sludge Dewatering
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School of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Geography Science Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
Submission date: 2023-09-08
Final revision date: 2023-10-22
Acceptance date: 2023-11-08
Online publication date: 2024-02-06
Publication date: 2024-03-18
Corresponding author
Min Yao
School of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Geography Science Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
Bing Li
School of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Geography Science Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2024;33(3):2923-2931
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ABSTRACT
Dewatering is a crucial stage in the treatment of sludge since it directly increases capacity and
lowers the cost of subsequent handling. Enhanced dewatering of printing and dyeing sludge was
experimentally investigated with combined conditioners of sludge-derived biochar and ferric chloride
(FeCl3) in this study. Results showed that the optimal conditioner dosages were: FeCl3 of 3% dry sludge
(DS) and biochar of 60% DS. Compared with raw sludge, the sludge specific resistance to filtration
(SRF) decreased by 77.14%, and the moisture content of sludge decreased from 85.38% to 67.08%.
In addition, the chemical oxygen demand (COD), turbidity and chromaticity of supernatant decreased by 32.50%, 89.20% and 77.50%, respectively. It was found that the synergistic effect existed between
the two conditioners. The possible mechanism was that FeCl3 aggregated small sludge particles to
form large flocs and improved the dewatering performance of sludge, while biochar helped to build
an incompressible and permeable sludge cake to further improve the sludge dewaterability due to its
relatively hydrophobicity and large specific surface area. Therefore, combined addition of FeCl3 and
biochar might be a promising conditioning method to enhance textile sludge dewaterability.