Enhancing the Dewatering Ability of Sludge by Locally Available Biomass

Abstract

In this study, the effect of modified coconut shell biochar is analyzed for its efficacy achievable in sludge dewatering properties. Initially the coconut shell biochar is modified at different molar concentrations of FeCl<inf>3</inf>, i.e., 1, 2, and up to 5 mol/L, and it is analyzed with different dosages at 0.1, 0.2, and up to 0.4 (g/g of dry solids (DS)) for the improvement in capillary suction time (CST) (s), moisture content reduction (%), filterability (min), and settleability (SV<inf>30</inf>%) of the sludge. It is found that there is significant decrease in each of these parameters. The optimization study is carried out to optimize the process of sludge conditioning, considering independent regression parameters as dosage (g/g of DS), molarity (M), mixing time (min), and response taken as moisture content (%), the optimum values for the dosage, molarity, mixing time is found to be 0.4 (g/g of DS), 2.5 M and 24.72 min, respectively, with optimized moisture content value of 78% was achieved. Hence, the modified coconut shell biochar can be used as a potential candidate to increase the dewatering ability of the sludge. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.