ANR - Next generation sludge treatment: optimization of treatment performance through online monitoring of holistic sludge properties

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Sludge treatment and management is a growing challenge for municipalities around the world. The cost of biosolids treatment constitutes to approximately half of the cost of wastewater treatment, and the quantities continue to increase as new wastewater treatment facilities are built and the existing ones are upgraded to keep up with the growing population and stricter regulations. Sludge treatment and management is going to be a major challenge in the next decade. The goal of this research is to investigate the in-line and real-time use of novel holistic sludge descriptors to monitor, determine, model and predict sludge behavior through sludge treatment processes and use this knowledge for the optimization of design and operation of treatment processes. Based on the knowledge generated from this research, our ultimate goal is to develop in-line and real-time optimization and automation systems for sludge treatment processes with support from our industrial partners. The research will help to optimize sludge treatment processes, improve their performance while reducing the operational costs and the environmental impacts. This will result in important savings for treatment plants. Sludge rheology, far UV (FUV), near infrared (NIR) and electrical impedance (EIS) spectroscopies, and water activity will be used as holistic descriptors to capture the changes in sludge characteristics, flow, and behavior. These descriptors can be measured in-line and real-time, and they are non-destructive to sludge matrix. Therefore, they can be successfully used for optimization and automation of treatment processes. Both lab-scale and full-scale tests will be carried out in this study. The team will also complete an evaluation of environmental and economic impacts of the changes to the treatment processes.