Combustion characteristics of biodried sewage sludge

•49.78% of water and 23.17% of VS were removed during biodrying of sewage sludge.•BDSS was characterized by granulated and multi-porous micro-structure.•Combustibility index (S) of BDSS (8.67 × 10−8 min−2 K−3) was higher than TDSS.•BDSS had lower nitrogenous gas yields then TDSS during non-isothermal combustion.•BDSS emitted less CO and NO then TDSS at combustion temperatures ≤800 °C. In this study, effects of biodrying on the characteristics of sewage sludge and the subsequent combustion behavior were investigated. 7-Day of biodrying removed 49.78% of water and 23.17% of VS initially contained in the sewage sludge and increased lower heating value (LHV) by 37.87%. Meanwhile, mass contents of C and N decreased from 36.25% and 6.12% to 32.06% and 4.82%, respectively. Surface of the biodried sewage sludge (BDSS) appeared granulated and multi-porous, which was thought to facilitate air transfer during combustion. According to thermogravimetric (TG) analysis coupled with mass spectrometer (MS) with a heating rate of 10 °C/min from 35 °C to 1000 °C, thermally-dried sewage sludge (TDSS) and BDSS lost 74.39% and 67.04% of the initial mass, respectively. In addition, combustibility index (S) of BDSS (8.67 × 10−8 min−2 K−3) was higher than TDSS. TG-MS analyses also showed that less nitrogenous gases were generated from BDSS than TDSS. It was again showed that the average CO and NO concentrations in exit gas from isothermal combustion of BDSS were lower than those from TDSS, especially at low temperatures (≤800 °C). Based on these results, it was concluded that biodrying of sewage sludge was an energy-efficient water-removal method with less emission of air pollutants when BDSS was combusted.