Recovering humic substances from the dewatering effluent of thermally treated sludge and its performance as an organic fertilizer

doi:10.1007/s11783-015-0827-5

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2016, Vol. 10

Issue (3) : 578-584 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-015-0827-5

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Recovering humic substances from the dewatering effluent of thermally treated sludge and its performance as an organic fertilizer

Yuning YANG,Huan LI(

)

Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China

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Abstract

The biologic treatment of the dewatering effluent from thermally treated sludge is difficult due to the high concentration of refractory humic substances. On the other hand, humic substances are an important source of organic fertilizer. In this study, a novel process using ferric coagulant was developed to recover humic substances from dewatering effluent for use as an organic fertilizer. When ferric coagulant was applied to raw dewatering effluent, up to 70% of humic substances were enmeshed by hydrolyzed ferric ions at an optimum pH of 4.5. The proper mass ratio of iron ions to humic substances was 0.6. In the recovered material, humic substances accounted for 24.2% of the total dry solids, and the amount of phosphorus (equivalent phosphorus pentoxide) was 6.2%. Heavy metals and other components all met the legal requirements for organic fertilizer. When the recovered material was applied to soybeans, the germination and growth of the seeds was significantly improved.

Keywords sewage sludge humic substances recovery phosphorus fertilizer

Corresponding Author(s): Huan LI

Online First Date: 16 December 2015 Issue Date: 05 April 2016

Cite this article:

Yuning YANG,Huan LI. Recovering humic substances from the dewatering effluent of thermally treated sludge and its performance as an organic fertilizer[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2016, 10(3): 578-584.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-015-0827-5
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2016/V10/I3/578

Tab.1 ?Characteristics of the raw wastewater

Fig.1 Recovery rate of humic substances from raw wastewater at different pHs and doses of FeCl₃ (Fe/HS indicates the mass ratio of iron ions to humic substances)

Fig.2 ?Recovery rate of humic acids (HAs), fulvic acids (FAs) and total humic substances by FeCl₃ at different pHs and doses of FeCl₃ (Fe/HS indicates the mass ratio of iron ions to humic substances): (a) Fe/HS=0.55; (b) Fe/HS=0.90

Tab.2 Components of the recovered material and the standard of organic fertilizer

Fig.3 ?FTIR of the precipitate at different pH values

Fig.4 ?Precipitation rate of iron ions in raw wastewater when the mass ratio of iron ions to humic substances was 1.00

Fig.5 Effect of the FeCl₃ dose on the humic recovery rate from raw wastewater and the humic content in the precipitate at pH 4.5 (Fe/HS indicates the mass ratio of iron ions to humic substances)

Fig.6 Effect of the recovered material for an application of 87.5 kg·hm^-² on the germination of soybeans

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