HYDROTHERMAL PROCESSES APPLIED TO WASTE

WATER TREATMENT PLANTS

Fabio

a
MERZARI* ,

aDepartment

Gianni

a
ANDREOTTOLA ,

Luca

a
FIORI

of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, via Mesiano, 77 38123 Trento, Italy
*Corresponding author: fabio.merzari@unitn.it; Tel: +39 0461 281974

HYDROTHERMAL CARBONISATION OF
SLUDGE

HTC REACTOR

sludge

Conventional Activated Sludge systems have

been widely implemented to treat wastewater
producing huge amounts of waste sludge.

Present Work

HydroThermal Carbonisation (HTC) is a

promising technology to allow sludge reduction
producing a solid enriched in carbon for possible
energy exploitation

Future Work

180<T<250 C

It consists in heating wet biomass, like sludge, up

to 180-250 C at water vapor pressure (10-40 bar)

Stainless steel lab batch reactor (50mL) capable to withstand high

pressure (140 bar) and temperature (300 C) was used.

10<P<40 bar

Temperature and pressure were measured with a thermocouple and a

pressure transmitter, respectively.
A copper gasket was used to ensure perfect sealing

Solid: hydrochar yield and HHV were investigated

Liquid: COD, pH, N and P compounds were measured
Gas: gas yield was measured

Reactor loading
and closing

hydrochar

Reaction:
fixed temp
& res time

Quenching
and
opening

Sampling
and
analyzing

EXPERIMENTAL TESTS WITH THICKENED, DIGESTED AND DEWATERED SLUDGE

Three temperatures and two residence times were chosen for the
experimental tests: 190, 220 and 250 C at 30 minutes and 60 minutes.
Three different kinds of sludge were studied: thickened, digested and
dewatered sludge (dry biomass to water ratio 0.03-0.17).

190 C
220 C
250 C

30 min
60 min

Hydrochar Yield

HHV of Hydrochar

100

10-40 bar

3-25 wt%

P in the liquid phase

25

0,25

20

0,20

15

0,15

90

60
50
40

Pfin/Pin

70

HHV [MJ/kg]

Hydrochar Yield [%]

80

10

0,10

30
20

0,05

0,00

10
0
30 min
30 min digested
30 min
thickened sl.
sl.
dewatered sl.

250C

220C

60 min
60 min digested
60 min
thickened sl.
sl.
dewatered sl.

30 min
30 min
30 min
60 min
60 min
60 min
thickened sl. digested sl. dewatered sl. thickened sl. digested sl. dewatered sl.

190C

250C

220C

190C

dry sludge

30 min
30 min
30 min
60 min
60 min
60 min
thickened sl. digested sl. dewatered sl. thickened sl. digested sl. dewatered sl.

250C

220C

190C

HTC allows sludge reduction: yield of hydrochars

were 49-89% in function of temperature,
residence time and kind of sludge

HTC typically increases the energy content in the

hydrochar but, probably, due to an increment in
ash content, the HHV of hydrochar from sludge
can slightly decrease (HHVs of hydrochars were
0.74-1.02 times of initial feedstocks)

HTC of sludge allows the transfer of phosphorous

from the liquid phase to the solid phase:
phosphorous concentrations in liquid phase were
2-22% of initial phosphorous concentrations.

N in the liquid phase

Gas Yield

CONCLUSION

0,9

0,8

0,7

Gas Yield [%]

1,0

0,6
0,5
0,4
0,3

HydroThermal Carbonisation is a potential

promising technology to process sludge and to
obtain a valuable product from it.
HHV of hydrochar can slightly decrease, probably
due to an increment of ash content, more
investigation is required

5
4
3

Tests on liquid phase revealed that HTC allows

the transfer of phosphorous from the liquid phase
to the solid phase .

0,2

0,1

0,0
30 min
thickened sl.

30 min
digested sl.

30 min
dewatered sl.

250C

220C

60 min
thickened sl.

60 min
digested sl.

60 min
dewatered sl.

190C

Nitrogen, as ammonium, increases in the liquid

phase due to a high degree of solubilisation
affected by temperature.

UNIVERSITY of TRENTO
Italy
Department of Civil, Environmental and
Mechanical Engineering

30 min
thickened sl.

30 min digested
30 min
sl.
dewatered sl.

250C

220C

60 min
thickened sl.

60 min digested
60 min
sl.
dewatered sl.

190C

HTC gas yield is low; it can vary between the 2 and

8% as a function of the kind of sludge and
increasing with temperature and residence time.

Tests on liquid phase revealed that some nitrogen

is transferred from liquid phase in function of
temperature and kind of sludge.
Gas yield is 2-8%.