Ultrasonication of wastewater sludge-Consequences on biodegradability and flowability

The present study deals with pre-treatment of wastewater sludge by ultrasonic waves at frequency of 20 kHz using fully automated lab-scale ultrasonication equipment. Different wastewater sludge solids concentrations, ultrasonication intensities, and exposure times of pre-treatment were investigated for the optimization of ultrasonication treatment process. The parameters of pre-treatment process were optimized by using response surface methodology. A 23 central composite design was performed for optimization. The screening experiment step comprised steepest ascent methodology to determine optimal domain. The effect of ultrasonication treatment was assessed in terms of increase in soluble solids and the biodegradability of the wastewater sludge. In addition, rheological parameter of wastewater sludge, namely, viscosity was also measured to ascertain the suitability of wastewater sludge for conventional treatment processes as well as submerged fermentation, a major step for the production of value-added products from sludge. It was observed that the ultrasonication intensity and pre-treatment exposure time significantly affected the efficiency of the ultrasonication process followed by the solids concentration. The optimal conditions of ultrasonic pre-treatment were 0.75 W/cm2 ultrasonication intensity, 60 min, and 23 g/L total solids concentration. The increases in soluble chemical oxygen demand and biodegradability, by aerobic sludge digestion process, in terms of total solids consumption increased by 45.5% and 56%, respectively. The flowability of ultrasonicated sludge in terms of viscosity showed exponential behaviour at different total solids concentrations, and pseudoplastic and thixotropic behaviour similar to raw sludge. Nevertheless, the magnitude of viscosity values of ultrasonicated sludge was always lower than the raw sludge.