SEWAGE TREATMENT WORKS

SLUDGE TREATMENT
2- SLUDGE DIGESTION

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FLOW LINE OF SLUDGE TREATMENT IN ACTIVATED SLUDGE PROCESS
Sewage Treatment Components:
1. Rising Main. 5. Grit Removal Chamber. 9. Aeration Tank.
2. Deceleration Tank. 6. Distribution Chamber. 10. Final Settling Tank.
3. Approach Channel. 7. Primary Settling Tank. 11. Disinfection.
4. Screens. 8. Returned Sludge Pump Station.12. Contact Tank.
PRIMARY TREATMENT BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT

11
9 10
7
1 2 3 4 6 12
5 6 6
screening

Final Effluent
Grit

17 Primary Sludge
8
13
Secondary Excess Sludge
Final Effluent

Sludge Treatment Components :

16 15 14
13. Sludge Pump Station.
14. Thickener.
Gas

15. Digester.
SLUDGE TREATMENT 16. Drying Beds.
17. Supernatant Pump Station.

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1. OBJECTIVES
 Anaerobic decomposition of organic material to reduce
the number of bacteria, minimize odor and reduce the
offensive characteristics of raw sewage solids.
 Liquefaction, gasification and compaction of organic
bulky solids to reduce the sludge volume.
 Conditioning to facilitate dewatering and drying thus
reducing costs of chemicals and equipment required to
prepare sludge for disposal.
 Production and utilization of combustible gas of
decomposition for heating digesters or providing power
for other planet uses.

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 2. Ultimate products of sludge digestion:
 Stable humus-like solid matter.
 Sludge liquor (supernatant) containing colloidal solids.
 Sludge gases.

Organic Matter anaerobic

  bacteria
 Stable Organic Matter  CO 2  CH 4  H 2 O


3. Types of Sludge:
 Primary raw (pre-sedimentation) sludge
 Activated sludge.
 Trickling filter sludge.
 Chemical precipitation sludge.

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4. Comparison between Average Properties of
Raw Sludge and Digested Sludge:
Item Raw Sludge Digested Sludge

Percent Solids 6 10

Specific Gravity 1.008 1.040

% Volatile Solids 60 50

pH 6.60 7.20

Alkalinity, ppm 1000 3000

Not more than 2000
Volatile Acids, ppm 300-1000 during Digestion and low
in Digested Sludge.

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5. Stages of Digestion of Sewage Solids:
 Stage of acid fermentation in which organic acids, gases chiefly CO2 and
N2 are produced. Materials attacked are sugars, soluble starches,
cellulose, soluble nitrogenous compounds. Fats are converted to volatile
acids.
 Stage of acid regression in which the organic acids and nitrogenous
compounds are attacked producing a relatively small volume of CO2, N2
and H2. CH4 (Methane) begins to increase in a later stage. Also ammonia
compounds and acid carbonates are produced. pH increases.
 Stage of alkaline fermentation (methane formation), Materials attacked
are nitrogenous matter and lignocelluloses producing large volumes of
gases high in ammonia compounds are produced.
 Digested sludge is black with a tarry odor, easily drained and dewatered,
and stable enough for disposal, dried into a dark brown porous cake
which has a slight earthy or musty odor.

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6. Factors Influencing Digestion:
a) Temperature:
1) The rate of gas production and the total quantity of gas is
proportional to the temperature at which digestion is carried
out. Also the lag period is reduced as the temperature
increases.
2) The time required for complete digestion (i.e. for reaching
90% of ultimate gas production) is reduced by increasing
the temperature. In the Mesophilic range (low temperature)
the optimum temperature for digestion is in the range
between 45–100ºF with an optimum of 58ºF and about 30–
50 days digestion period. Digestion at higher temperature
by heat loving (Thermophilic) bacteria is applied at the
range between 125-135ºF and about 11 days digestion
period.
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b) Seeding:
Seeding is the inoculation of sewage solids with fully
digested sludge (in alkaline fermentation stage).
Seeding shortens the time required to develop maximum
gas production by as much as one tenth.
Also the presence of seed provides a buffer against volatile
acids and the onset of acid fermentation.
Usually, an empty starting digester is seeded with a volume
of sludge equal to 10–25 percent at tank capacity.

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c) Mixing:
If no mixing were oven though seeding was employed, local
zones of acid fermentation might develop and the digester
may become stuck.
Mixing generally makes seeding more effective, and
minimizes lag in gas production after smarting the digester.
In adequate mixing also results in loss of effective digestion
capacity which decreases the overall tank efficiency.

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d) pH and volatile acid concentration:
An alkaline pH must be established for rapid digestion. Addition of
raw sludge be made and so that pH does not fall below 7.20-7.40.
Proper daily additions of raw sludge are:
% by Weight of added Sludge Digester Temperature (F)

2.0 60
2.5 – 3.0 70
3.5 – 4.0 80
The pH of sludge in digesters is not uniform. Raw material near the top
will be acid, and well digested sludge at the bottom will be alkaline. In
a stuck tank, the whole mass of sludge is acid.
The volatile acid content is more important in the control of digestion
than the conventional pH determination. Important changes can be
noticed at an earlier time by volatile acid cone, and not pH.
Addition of lime proves advantageous in restoring acid stuck digesters,
and in acceleration gas production in starting a digester.
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7. Design of Digestion Tank Capacity:
 on the basis of contribution population: this basis way is
not a rational approach and fails to consider volatile
matter as the important criterion in digester design. It
usually results In higher capacities
TYPE OF PLANT DIGESTION TANK CAPACITY
(cu. ft. per capita)
Heated Unheated
Imhoff tank ----- 3-4
Primary treatment 2-3 4-6
Primary treatment with standard filter 3-4 6-8
Primary treatment with high rate filter 4-5 8 - 10
Activated sludge treatment 4-6 8 - 10
+ 3 ft. additional depth for supernatant liquor
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b) On the basis of weight of volatile matter added :
The parameter for digester loading in this technique is
pounds of volatile matter added per cubic foot of digestion
capacity per day.
Current practice tends towards loadings of 0.10 lb volatile
matter (Vm) per cu. ft. of digester volume per day or higher.
With satisfactory mixing and heating it should be possible to
produce a satisfactory sludge with loadings up to 0.15 lb
volatile matter (Vm) per cu. ft. of digester volume per day at
90°F and 0.40 lb volatile matter (Vm) per cu. ft. of digester
volume per day at 140°F.

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c) On the Basis of Volume Reduction:
1. Calculate the volume of raw sludge (V1) produced per day.
Approximate method is to assume the specific gravity of sludge as unity (water),
Then:
100 1
Volume of Sludge  Weight of DrySolids  
% Solids unit weight of water

Accurate methods call for obtaining the actual specific gravity of sludge in view of
its solid content and the percent volatile and mineral matter in the solids.
Assume that:
Sv = specific gravity of volatile matter
Sm = specific gravity of mineral mater
Vm = percentage of volatile matter
Mm = percentage of mineral matter = 100 -Vm
St = specific gravity of total solids
100 Vm M m Vm (100  Vm )
   
St S v Sm Sv Sm
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 100  Sv  Sm
St 
100  Sv  Vm (Sm  Sv )

S v  Sm
St 
Sm  Vm  Sv  M m

In the same manner, the specific gravity of sludge (Ss) can be calculated
knowing the % moisture "p" and the % of dry solids (100 - p) by weight,
then:
100  St
Ss 
p  St  (100  p)

Knowing the total weight of sludge (Ws) produced per day, sludge volume
is obtained as:

Ws
V1(volume of raw sludge per day) 
Ss

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2. Calculate the ultimate volume of digested sludge (V2) resulting from the raw
sludge (V1).
This is obtained from the knowledge of:
a. % volatile matter destroyed in digestion
b. % moisture in digested sludge.

3. Calculate the average volume of (V1) and (V2)

When a parabolic decrease in volume is assumed, then :

Average Volume (V) = V1 - ⅔ (V1 – V2)

and for a straight-line volume reduction:

Average Volume (V) = V1 - ½ (V1 – V2)

The total digester capacity is equal to:

Average Volume (V) × Detention time T (days) + 10 to 15 % for Seeding.

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8. Digestion Tank Details:
 The tank proper shape is circular and hopper bottomed with
a slope of about two horizontal to one vertical,
 The roof or cover is either fixed or floating to retain heat
and odors and to allow for gas collection.
 Gas collecting system.
 Tank heating system is external or by internal hot water
coils.
 Sludge stirring or scum breaking system.
 The piping system includes raw sludge inlet, outlets for gas,
supernatant and digested sludge, unvalved overflow piping.

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9. Sludge Gas:
In normal digester operation, sludge gas contains 60-70%
methane or more and 20-30% carbon dioxide, in addition of
occasional hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen sulfide.
The produced gas has a fuel value of from 600-700 B.t.u. per
cubic foot principally due to the proportion of methane.
The amount of produced gas is usually from 0.80-1.0
ft3/day/capita, or about 12 ft3/lb of volatile matter (Vm)
destroyed in the digestion tank.
The gas is used for heating the digesters and the excess is
burnt or used in heating buildings.

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10. Supernatant Liquor
Generally the supernatant liquor is offensive in odor, high in
suspended solids (500-1000 ppm), high in total solids (1000-
12000 ppm), and high in BOD sometimes as much as 1800
ppm.
The supernatant liquor amount can be computed from the
characteristics and amount of the sludge before and after
digestion, but it is usually between 200-400 gallons/day/1000
persons.
When the total solid content of supernatant liquor is less than
5000 ppm it can be disposed of by discharge into the influent
of the primary sedimentation tanks.
For higher solid content, it should be treated separately by
liming and aeration with activated sludge or by sand filtration.
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11. High Rate Digestion
Laboratory experiments have demonstrated that loading
digesters at high rates and short detention periods, say 8 to 10
days (instead of the usual 40 to 50 days) will bring about 50 to
58 percent destruction of volatile matter.
High rate digestion is accomplished by keeping the digester
contents thoroughly mixed, thus preventing stratification of the
sludge into scum, supernatant liquor, and sludge.
Continuous mixing will bring food (organic matter) in contact
with the methane formers, and digestion will proceed more
rapidly. Mixing is done mechanically or by recirculation of gas.

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12. Multiple Stage Digestion
Two or more digestion tanks are arranged in series namely;
acidification digesters (primary stage) and methanogenation
digesters (secondary stage).
Since the most heat-dependent steps during digestion are
involved in the first phases of stabilization, it is usually only
necessary to heat the primary digester which is more
economical.
Frequently greater digestion efficiency is reported for multiple
stage digestion than for conventional single stage stabilization.
Usually sludge and supernatant are withdrawn from the
secondary unit which must be unmixed and covered.

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13. Sludge Pumps and Piping:
Centrifugal pumps handle digested and secondary sludge
satisfactorily. For raw primary sludge, plunger or screw-feed
pumps are better
Pipes for withdrawal of sludge from digesters should be at least 8
inches (200 mm) in diameter for gravity flow, and 4-6 inches
(100-150 mm) in diameter for pumped flow.
The hydrostatic head on gravity withdrawal should be at least 4
feet with minimum grade of 3 %.
Sludge sampling pipes are generally 1.50 inches in diameter, and
supernatant piping is normally at least 6 inches in diameter. It
should be possible to flush out all sludge piping with clean water
or with sewage. However there should be no cross-connections
between the water supply used for this purpose and the general
municipal or plant supply.
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