Use of spray-dryer for drying sludge from water treatment plants

• Grant number: 21/06961-9
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: March 01, 2022
• End date: February 29, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering - Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment
• Principal Investigator: Arnaldo Sarti
• Grantee: Arnaldo Sarti
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil
• City of the host institution: Araraquara
• Associated researchers: Rodrigo Braga Moruzzi ; Samuel Conceição de Oliveira

Abstract

The research project proposed to study, in a broad way, the sludge (water treatment by-product) spray-dryer on a laboratory scale for direct application in any conventional water treatment plants. The proposal of the scientific and technological process aims to use a drying unit (spray-dryer) for by-products (sludge) continuously generated in conventional water treatment plants. This drying equipment has a wide application in many industrial processes, but specifically, in the sanitation area, a few applications have been investigated. The main goal of this project is to minimize the sludge produced environmental impacts by adapting the powdered spray-dryer product for the final disposal of this by-product in greater quantities than the volume currently obtained after dehydration, complying with the solid waste standard (NBR 10.004). It is worth mentioning that the development of this new process technology will allow its employability in the water treatment plants that use coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation and filtration processes, as well as it will provide fundamentals for the improvement of sludge dewatering and disposal logistics systems. Based on the results, the development of this spray-dryer process will define the starting point for "process parameters" and "quantitative targets" to be achieved in this innovative sludge drying process presented in the proposal. (AU)