Conditioning of aluminium-based water treatment sludge with Fenton’s reagent : effectiveness and optimising study to improve dewaterability

Alternative conditioning of aluminium-based drinking water treatment sludge using Fenton reagent (Fe2+/H2O2) was examined in this study. Focuses were placed on effectiveness and factors to affect such novel application of Fenton process. Experiments have demonstrated that considerable improvement of alum sludge dewaterability evaluated by capillary suction time (CST) can be obtained at the relative low concentrations of Fenton reagent. A Box-Behnken experimental design based on the response surface methodology was applied to evaluate the optimum of the influencing variables, i.e. iron concentration, hydrogen peroxide concentration and pH. The optimal values for Fe2+, H2O2, and pH are 21 mg g-1 DS-1(dry solids), 105 mg g-1 DS-1 and 6, respectively, at which the CST reduction efficiency of 48±3 % can be achieved, this agreed with that predicted by an established polynomial model in this study.Not applicabl

Exploitation of Fenton and Fenton-like reagents as alternative conditioners for alum sludge conditioning

The use of Fenton’s reagent (Fe2+/H2O2) and Fenton-like reagents containing transition metals of Cu(II), Zn(II), Co(II) and Mn(II) for an alum sludge conditioning to improve its dewaterability was investigated in this study. The results obtained were compared with those obtained from conditioning the same alum sludge using cationic and anionic polymers. Experimental results show that Fenton’s reagent was the best among the Fenton and Fenton-like reagents for the alum sludge conditioning. A considerable effectiveness of capillary suction time (CST) reduction efficiency of 47% can be achieved under test conditions of Fe2+/H2O2 = 20/125 mg/gDS (Dry Solids) and pH = 6.0. The observation of floc-like particles after Fenton’s reagent conditioning of alum sludge suggests that the mechanism of Fenton’s reagent conditioning was different with that of polymer conditioning. In spite of the less efficiency in CST reduction of Fenton’s reagent in alum sludge conditioning compared with that of polymer conditioning, is less than that of polymer conditioning. This study provided an example of proactive treatment engineering which is aimed at seeking a safe alternative to the use of polymers in sludge conditioning towards achieving a more sustainable sludge management strategy.Not applicabl

Fenton and Fenton-like AOPs for alum sludge conditioning : effectiveness comparison with different Fe2+ and Fe3+ salts

Currently, organic polymers are adopted in alum sludge (aluminium-coagulated drinking water treatment sludge) conditioning. However, there are important concerns regarding the use of these polymers because of the unknown and long-term effects of the potential release of excess polymer to the surrounding environment when the sludge is landfilled. Therefore, as an initiative action, this study aimed at investigating alternative chemical conditioning methods and focused mainly on exploiting Fenton (Fe2+/H2O2) and Fenton-like (Fe3+/H2O2) reagents as the conditioner. Experiments have been conducted to test the effectiveness of Fenton’s reagent (containing the ferrous salts of chloride, sulphate or oxalate), Fenton-like reagent (containing ferric salts of chloride and sulphate) and the coagulation method using FeCl3 for an alum sludge conditioning at a constant hydrogen peroxide and iron salt concentrations of 125 and 20 mg/g DS (dry solids), respectively. The effectiveness on dewaterability of the alum sludge demonstrated that the maximum reduction (%) of SRF (specific resistance to filtration) and CST (capillary suction time) of 74 % and 47 %, respectively, can be obtained when Fenton’s reagent was adopted for sludge conditioning. Such reduction of 64% for SRF and 38% for CST can be achieved when Fenton-like reagents were applied.Not applicable12M embargo@ release after 25/11/2011 - AV 25/8/201