Hydrate Process for Waste Water Treatment Plant Sludge Dewatering: Commercialization Assessment

摘要

More attention is being paid to innovative technologies for sludge dewatering as larger proportions of wastewater treatment plant budgets are going toward the handling, processing, and disposing of sludge. One such process, the clathrate process, has significant attractiveness as an upcoming alternative to conventional sludge dewatering. The clathrate process, utilizing a natural phenomenon, allows crystalline hydrates of water to form in wastewater treatment plant sludge, thereby allowing the water to be removed from the sludge. Higher degrees of water removal are achieved as the hydrating agent (in this case propane) causes lysing of bacterial cell walls, releasing additional water. Total sludge production can be reduced by as much as 50% resulting in an equal amount of cost savings. The clathrate process could save in excess of one-half billion dollars annually if utilized nationwide to reduce sludge production by 50%. This report presents the results from a bench scale, hydrate forming unit. With propane as the hydrating agent and operating in a batch mode, water molecules were removed from sludge as they became bound in the hydrate crystals. This report also gives information on projected cost savings at the Back River Waste Water Treatment Plant, if this process were implemented there, conceptual commercial plant design, and suggestion for further research and application. 4 figs., 7 tabs.