Experiences of Digested Sludge Thickening by Aercon

Increasing restrictions on sewage sludge disposal routes and the tightening of treatment requirements have led to an escalation of sludge-disposal costs which are out of proportion to other sewage-treatment costs: consequently reducing sludge volume is becoming increasingly cost-effective. Consolidation of anaerobically digested sludge has traditionally been difficult and takes many weeks in secondary digesters or deep storage tanks. Pre-aeration of the sludge using the Aercon process can enable consolidation to take place in days instead of weeks.
This paper reports the results of a pilot-scale plant designed to investigate further the mechanism by which aeration speeds up consolidation. It was concluded that the rate of consolidation depended on aeration intensity and cooling of the sludge. Inhibition of anaerobiosis was more important than gas stripping in enhancing consolidation.