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Helena Snurer
Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund Institute of Technology
Abstract
The sludge production when adding coagulants to tap water, tap water containing orthophosphate and
municipal wastewater was studied. The sludge weight was thereafter compared with calculations based on
stoichiometric relationships. A model for estimating the sludge production that a coagulant contributes for a
given coagulant dose and given phosphorus and suspended solids removal was developed. Results showed
that the sludge production from chemical treatment of municipal wastewater was considerably higher than
theoretical calculations. The higher sludge mass mainly depended on the amount of agglomerated colloidal
particles. The study of sludge production when adding aluminium or iron based coagulants to wastewater
resulted in two mathematical models for estimating sludge production. These models gave higher results
compared to the models based on stoichiometric relationships. However, two published models gave
similar results when the molar ration between the amount of metal salt added and total phosphorus
concentration was above 1.5.
Keywords: sludge production, chemical precipitation, wastewater, coagulants, modelling sludge production
Introduction
Chemical treatment by addition of a metal salt,
usually aluminium or iron based, is widely used
in wastewater treatment. These metal salts,
called coagulants, play a vital role in the removal
of phosphorus and particles in polluted water.
The addition of a coagulant for removal of
impurities in wastewater results in a large
amount of sludge. The cost of sludge treatment
and disposal, represent a large amount of the
total operating costs for wastewater treatment
plants. Therefore, estimating the sludge
production for a given coagulant and coagulant
dose is of great interest. This is unfortunately
very complex since the amount of sludge
depends on several factors such as; general
wastewater characteristic as well as type of
chemicals, chemical dosage and the point at
which the chemicals are added in the wastewater
treatment.
3+
3+
S Al = 1.42 (Pin Pout ) + 2.89 Aladded
Aldis
.
3+
3+
S Fe = 1.42 (Pin Pout ) + 1.91 Feadded
Fedis
.
(1)
(2)
S Al = 5.3
(3)
S Fe = 6.8
(4)
S Fe = 4.14 1.01 ln
(6)
S Al = 4.85 0.35 ln
S Fe = 3.15 0.55 ln
(7)
(Pin Pout )
BOD5
1. 5
1.5
(10)
(11)
(8)
S = (SS in SS out ) + K c D
BOD5
S Al = 6.21 1.05 ln
(Pin Pout )
(9)
% of theoretical value
% of theoretical value
160
140
120
100
Al2(SO4)3
80
60
Al(OH)1.2Cl1.8
40
20
0
0
(mole Me/mole P)
100
FeCl3
Fe2(SO4)3
Al2(SO4)3
40
Al(OH)1.2Cl1.8
20
0
300
Fe2(SO4)3
(mole Me/mole P)
120
60
FeCl3
80
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
400
500
600
700
800
500
% of theoretical value
sludge production
(mg/mg Me)
6
5
FeCl3
Fe2(SO4)3
Al2(SO4)3
Al(OH)1.2Cl1.8
1
0
0
400
300
Al2(SO4)3
200
Al(OH)1.2Cl1.8
100
0
(mole Me/mole P)
% of theoretical value
300
FeCl3
200
Fe2(SO4)3
100
0
3
400
500
(mole Me/mole P)
(mole Me/mole P)
25
20
FeCl3
15
Fe2(SO4)3
10
Al2(SO4)3
Al(OH)1.2Cl1.8
5
0
0
(mole Me/mole P)
(12)
3+
S Fe = 27.41 + 2.65 (Pin Pout ) + 1.78 Feadded
(13)
sludge production
(mg/mg Me)
10
8
6
=1.5
=1.75
2
0
1
9*
9**
10
12
equation
160
sludge production
(mg/l)
120
=1.5
80
=1.75
40
0
2
9*
9**
11
13
equation
sludge production
(mg/mg Me)
10
8
6
=1.5
=1.75
2
0
sludge production
(mg/l)
=1.75
40
0
5
9*
9**
10
9*
9**
11
13
Conclusions
The study showed that the sludge production
from chemical treatment of municipal
wastewater was considerably higher than
calculations
based
on
stoichiometric
relationships. The higher sludge mass mainly
depended on the amount of agglomerated
colloidal particles. These particles were filtered
when measuring the SS due to their small
particles size. The filters used in this study had a
pore size of 1.2 m, hence particles with a
smaller diameter passed through the filter.
However, these colloidal particles were
=1.5
120
equation
160
80
12
equation
Kc
SS
SSin
SSout
S
SAl
SFe
3+
S Al = 21.34 + 2.77 (Pin Pout ) + 3.07 Al added
+ (SS in SS out )
3+
S Fe = 27.41 + 2.65 (Pin Pout ) + 1.78 Feadded
+ (SS in SS out )
References
[1] Veldkamp R.G., Modelling phosphate sludge
production, Water Science and Technology 17
(2-3): 107-119, 1985
Acknowledgement
This article is based on a Master Thesis that has
been carried out at Kemira Kemi AB with Lars
Gillberg as supervisor, who is gratefully
acknowledged along with the examiner, Jes la
Cour Jansen, Water and Environmental
Engineering at the Department of Chemical
Engineering, Lund Institute of Technology.
Table of Symbols
P
phosphorus
Pin
phosphorus content in the
influent (mg/l )
Pout
phosphorus content in the
effluent (mg/l)
Al
aluminium
+
amount of aluminium added (mg/l)
Al3added
+
Al3dis.
Fe
+
Fe3added
+
Fe3dis.
Me
+
Me3added
+
Me3dis.
DS
D