Enhancing the sludge dewaterability by electrolysis/electrocoagulation combined with zero-valent iron activated persulfate process

• EL/EC and ZVI activated persulfate had synergetic effect on sludge dewatering.
• EZP conditioning effectively enhanced different types of sludge dewaterability.
• EZP oxidation destroyed the EPS and cells, releasing bound water in sludge flocs.
• Degradation of protein-like substances contributed to sludge dewatering.
• Cost of EZP conditioning saving up to 41.9% in comparison with Fenton method.

Waste activated sludge (WAS) is difficult to be dewatered due to the highly water bounded in sludge flocs, and the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) was the major factor affecting sludge dewatering performance. In this study, the hybrid process of electrolysis/electrocoagulation and zero-valent iron activated persulfate oxidation (EZP) showed a significant synergetic effect in enhancing municipal sludge dewaterability, and has the potential for enhancing industrial sludge dewaterability. The optimal dewatering conditions for municipal sludge were voltage 40 V and 4.15 g/L Na2S2O8 when zero-valent iron induced electrodes were applied. After EZP pretreatment, the municipal sludge specific resistance to filtration (SRF) and capillary suction time (CST) decreased by 87.4% and 49.1% respectively. The effects of EZP pretreatment on zeta potential, EPS property, viscosity and dewaterability of different sludge were analyzed to unravel the underlying mechanism of sludge conditioning. Results showed that the EZP oxidation was capable to effectively disrupt the EPS, crack the entrapped cells, and degrade the protein-like substances, reducing the viscosity and negative zeta potential, releasing bound water inside EPS and cells and thus improving sludge dewaterability. According to the analysis of Three-dimensional excitation emission matrix (3D-EEM), the EZP technology greatly decomposed tryptophan and aromatic protein-like substances in EPS. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis further revealed that the disrupted EPS and cells were coagulated after EZP conditioning and reinforced sludge dewatering. The preliminary economic analysis showed that the optimized EZP was economically favorable.

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