Abstract

Sewage sludge is the material which is generated upon conventional wastewater treatment processes and it is must be treated to reduce the hazards and environmental impact. Wet oxidation (WO) is applied to treat industrial and municipal sewage sludge (3000- 6000mg/L total organic carbon). Experiments were carried out to investigate the effects of temperature, H₂O₂ excess (HE), the initial TOC, residence time and concentration of catalyst on oxidation of the municipal sewage sludge. The results showed that greater than 90% TOC removal from sewage sludge was achieved using catalytic wet oxidation (CWO). Homogenous catalyst, FeSO4 and CuSO4 showed effective removal for sewage sludge. It was concluded that CWO was an effective process for removing organic compounds from sewage sludge.

Keywords: Sewage sludge, soluble catalysts, wastewater treatment, wet oxidation.

Graphical Abstract