Isolation and analysis of wax esters from activated sludge

► The presence of valuable wax esters in activated sludge provides a new feasibility in its utilization. ► Pretreatment and bleaching were employed to isolate wax ester from activated sludge. ► The wax esters are mixtures of C37-C46 in which the predominant ones are C48 and C50. ► The fatty acids and fatty alcohols of wax esters are C14-C28 and C24-C37, respectively.