The thickening and treatment of sewage sludges to minimize phosphorus release

The Johannesburg City Council has operated biological and chemical nutrient removal wastewater treatment plants for the past 15–16 years. With the advent of more sophisticated sludge handling techniques, problems have been experienced with the recycle of phosphorus-rich sludge processing liquors to the liquid phase. These problems are expected to increase in the future. This paper describes laboratory and pilot scale experiments to determine viable methods for phosphorus removal from sludge liquors and ways of obviating phosphorus release from phosphorus-rich activated sludges. The design of new full-scale plants being constructed to pretreat phosphorus-rich sludges prior to dewatering are also discussed. The paper also describes innovative process layouts for sludge treatment keeping in mind various options for final sludge disposal. Emphasis is placed on the pre-aeration and phosphate precipitation from anaerobically digested and raw primary sludges and techniques for the thickening and dewatering of primary and waste activated sludges to minimize phosphate release into the liquors so produced. The technique of sludge thickening on linear screens is described and the coupling of linear screens to belt presses to complete the dewatering operation.