ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Slow pyrolysis of pre-dried sewage sludge

Marek Staf and Petr Buryan

University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, Technická 5, 166 28 Prague 6 – Dejvice, Czech Republic

E-mail: marek.staf@vscht.cz

Abstract: This study focuses on the use of slow pyrolysis with controlled temperature increase for the thermal decomposition of pre-dried wastewater sludge. A combination of two significantly different methods was applied to investigate the pyrolysis process. The first of the experimental approaches was based on laboratory apparatus with a vertical batch retort equipped with external electrical heating. Samples of the liquid and gaseous products of the pyrolysis were taken at defined intervals throughout the pyrolysis process and were subsequently analysed. The second method involved the application of thermal analysis to the identical sludge, completed by online analysis of the pyrolysis products generated. This second method included thermogravimetry (TG), differential thermal analysis (DTA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results obtained by both methods demonstrate that waste water sludge can be effectively converted into pyrolysis gas and oil with good combustion properties.

Keywords: sewage sludge – pyrolysis – batch retort – thermogravimetric analysis – biofuel

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1515/chempap-2016-0089

Chemical Papers 70 (11) 1479–1492 (2016)