Title
Release of phosphorus through pretreatment of waste activated sludge differs essentially from that of carbon and nitrogen resources: Comparative analysis across four wastewater treatment facilities
Author
Deng, Shaoyu (Beijing Forestry University)
Liu, J. (Beijing Forestry University)
Yang, Xiaofan (Beijing Forestry University)
Sun, Dezhi (Beijing Forestry University)
Wang, Aijie (Harbin Institute of Technology)
van Loosdrecht, Mark C.M. (TU Delft BT/Environmental Biotechnology) 
Cheng, Xiang (Beijing Forestry University)
Date
2024
Abstract
The accumulation of phosphorus in activated sludge in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) provides potential for phosphorus recovery from sewage. This study delves into the potential for releasing phosphorus from waste activated sludge through two distinct treatment methods—thermal hydrolysis and pH adjustment. The investigation was conducted with activated sludge sourced from four WWTPs, each employing distinct phosphorus removal strategies. The findings underscore the notably superior efficacy of pH adjustment in solubilizing sludge phosphorus compared to the prevailing practice of thermal hydrolysis, widely adopted to enhance sludge digestion. The reversibility of phosphorus release within pH fluctuations spanning 2 to 12 implies that the release of sludge phosphorus can be attributed to the dissolution of phosphate precipitates. Alkaline sludge treatment induced the concurrent liberation of COD, nitrogen, and phosphorus through alkaline hydrolysis of sludge biomass and the dissolution of iron or aluminium phosphates, offering potential gains in resource recovery and energy efficiency.
Subject
Activated sludge
Alkaline treatment
Resource recovery
Thermal hydrolysis
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:a29c1fb2-05f7-4560-a053-9e02163a7560
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2024.130423
Embargo date
2024-08-09
ISSN
0960-8524
Source
Bioresource Technology, 396
Bibliographical note
Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.
Part of collection
Institutional Repository
Document type
journal article
Rights
© 2024 Shaoyu Deng, J. Liu, Xiaofan Yang, Dezhi Sun, Aijie Wang, Mark C.M. van Loosdrecht, Xiang Cheng