Leaching of ashes from co-combustion of sewage sludge and wood—Part I: Recovery of phosphorus
Journal article, 2008

Combustion of sewage sludge with subsequent recovery of phosphorus is a relatively new sludge treatment option. In the work described in this paper, recovery of phosphorus by acid leaching of fly ashes from co-combustion of sewage sludge with wood in a circulating fluidized bed combustor was investigated. The results showed that it is possible to find a pH range (0.5-1) in which one can extract a significant fraction of the phosphorus from these ashes without precipitation of secondary phosphates. The type of flocculation agent used in the waste water treatment plant where the sludge is formed has a significant effect on the phosphorus recovery. Ashes from combustion of sewage sludge that was formed using aluminium sulphate as flocculating agent released nearly all phosphorus at a pH value of 1. When iron sulphate was used as flocculating agent, this affected the chemistry of the resulting ashes, making phosphorus recovery more difficult. The yield of phosphorus from those ashes was 50-80%. In Part II of the project [Pettersson et al. Leaching of ashes from co-combustion of sewage sludge and wood. Part II: The mobility of metals during phosphorus extraction. Biomass and Bioenergy 2007 in press, doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2007.09.006 [1].] focus is on the trace element release to the leachate. This determines if the leachate can be used directly as a fertilizer or if further removal of trace elements is necessary. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Phosphorus

Sludge

Co-combustion and fluidized bed

Biofuel

Leaching

Author

Anita Pettersson

University of Borås

Lars-Erik Åmand

Chalmers, Energy and Environment, Energy Technology

Britt-Marie Steenari

Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Environmental Inorganic Chemistry

Biomass and Bioenergy

0961-9534 (ISSN) 18732909 (eISSN)

Vol. 32 3 224-235

Subject Categories

Mechanical Engineering

DOI

10.1016/j.biombioe.2007.09.016

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