Effect of Modified Sludge on the Particles Flocculation and Slurry Stability in the Co-slurry of Sludge and Petroleum Coke

Sewage sludge modified by Ca(OH)2 and Fe2(SO4)3 were used as make the slurry with petroleum coke, and changes in the size distribution and a total number of particles in the slurry were determined by Focused Beam Reflectance Measurement (FBRM) to explore the particles flocculation mechanism. In addition, the structural strength of petroleum coke sludge slurry (PCSS) was calculated by two mathematic models to illustrate the how the sludge improves the stability of PCSS. The results indicated that the absolute value of the Zeta potential of PCSS increased with the sludge addition and that PCSS stability improved. However, the absolute value of the Zeta potential decreased and the stability declined after the sludge was modified by Fe2(SO4)3 and Ca(OH)2. Petroleum coke particles were wrapped by sludge flocs, and small particles flocculated during their co-slurry process to form a spatial network structure, effectively prevented the settlement of petroleum coke particles and ultimately improved the stability of slurry. The calculation results obtained by the two mathematic models reveal that the shearing energy consumption per-unit-quality of PCSS using raw sludge is twice or thrice than that of PCWS. However, energy consumption was reduced after the sludge was modified by Fe2(SO4)3.

Effect of Surface Chemistry and Structure of Sludge Particles on Their Co-slurrying Ability with Petroleum Coke

Gasification and combustion performance of petroleum coke–water slurry (PCWS) can be enhanced by the addition of sludge. In this study, we have mixed three types of sludge with petroleum coke to form petroleum coke–sludge slurry (PCSS) and analyzed the effects of surface chemistry and structure of the sludge samples on the rheological properties of PCSS. Results show that the surface of petroleum coke particles is strongly hydrophobic, while the surface of sludge particles is hydrophilic. The sludge particles primarily consist of oxide and mineral salts, while petroleum coke particles mainly consist of organic carbon. Modification of the sludge changes the distribution of mineral components on the surface of sludge. In addition, the surface area, pore structure, and size of sludge tend to increase after modification. Sludge shows strong shear-thinning behavior, while the rheological properties of PCWS change from shear-thickening to shear-thinning behavior with excessive addition of sludge more than 6 wt.%. The suitable mass concentration for industrial application of PCSS is determined to be 62–64 wt.% for the sludge addition of 10–15 wt.%. Increasing the amount of sludge may enhance the yield stress and improve the static stability of PCSS, and sludge might be the most effective stabilizer used in PCWS.

Rheological and fractal characteristics of unconditioned and conditioned water treatment residuals

The rheological and fractal characteristics of raw (unconditioned) and conditioned water treatment residuals (WTRs) were investigated in this study. Variations in morphology, size, and image fractal dimensions of the flocs/aggregates in these WTR systems with increasing polymer doses were analyzed. The results showed that when the raw WTRs were conditioned with the polymer CZ8688, the optimum polymer dosage was observed at 24 kg/ton dry sludge. The average diameter of irregularly shaped flocs/aggregates in the WTR suspensions increased from 42.54 μm to several hundred micrometers with increasing polymer doses. Furthermore, the aggregates in the conditioned WTR system displayed boundary/surface and mass fractals. At the optimum polymer dosage, the aggregates formed had a volumetric average diameter of about 820.7 μm, with a one-dimensional fractal dimension of 1.01 and a mass fractal dimension of 2.74 on the basis of the image analysis. Rheological tests indicated that the conditioned WTRs at the optimum polymer dosage showed higher levels of shear-thinning behavior than the raw WTRs. Variations in the limiting viscosity (η(∞)) of conditioned WTRs with sludge content could be described by a linear equation, which were different from the often-observed empirical exponential relationship for most municipal sludge. With increasing temperature, the η(∞) of the raw WTRs decreased more rapidly than that of the raw WTRs. Good fitting results for the relationships between lgη(∞)∼T using the Arrhenius equation indicate that the WTRs had a much higher activation energy for viscosity of about 17.86-26.91 J/mol compared with that of anaerobic granular sludge (2.51 J/mol) (Mu and Yu, 2006). In addition, the Bingham plastic model adequately described the rheological behavior of the conditioned WTRs, whereas the rheology of the raw WTRs fit the Herschel-Bulkley model well at only certain sludge contents. Considering the good power-law relationships between the limiting viscosity and sludge content of the conditioned WTRs, their mass fractal dimensions were calculated through the models proposed by Shih et al. (1990), which were 2.48 for these conditioned WTR aggregates. The results demonstrate that conditioned WTRs behave like weak-link flocs/aggregates.

The effect of high speed mixing and polymer dosing rates on the geometric and rheological characteristics of conditioned anaerobic digested sludge (ADS)

Wastewater sludges are non-Newtonian fluids because their shear rates change with shear stress and no linear relationship is observed between their shear stress and shear rate. Therefore, it is necessary to condition sludges with polyelectrolytes prior to dewatering to increase in the dewaterability. Since 1978, researchers have observed that the yield strength of conditioned sludge increased with the addition of polymer up to the optimum dose. Then sludge rheogram was used as a control parameter to optimize the addition of polymers, and the peak height in the shear stress vs. shear rate curve was an indication of sludge conditionablity, where the optimum polymer conditioning corresponding to the highest peak was obtained. However, few studies have addressed the effects of distinct conditioning factors on the appearance of peaks in such rheograms. In this study, the impact of factors such as high speed mixing and polymer dosing rates on the geometric and rheological characteristics of conditioned anaerobic digested sludge (ADS) with the polymer zetag7557 were investigated through the jar test method. The results showed that both the high speed mixing time and polymer dosing time had important effects on the emergence of the initial peak in test curves obtained using the Haake RV20 and Flokky rheometers for evaluation of conditioned ADS. A high speed mixing time within 60 s or a polymer dosing time of 5 s was sufficient for observation of the initial peak in flow curves, and both peak height and area decreased as the high speed mixing times were prolonged in most cases in this study. As same as the high speed mixing time, the extension of zetag7557 dosing time can also lead to the gradual decrease in the initial peak size of test curves, and form small aggregates with a decrease in two-dimensional fractal dimensions (D(2)). Although the initial peak in the test curves was observed when high speed mixing intensities increased up to 300 rpm, there were several differences in the peak height and area observed on the Haake RV20 test rheograms and Floccky test curves. In addition, a high speed mixing intensity of 300 rpm was found to lead to the formation of smaller and less compact aggregates than other mixing intensities. All of the rheological and geometric parameters were somewhat correlated with fractal dimension-D(2P) (based on regression analysis of the logarithmics of area and perimeter). However, D(2L)(based on regression analysis of the logarithmics of area and maximum diameter) did not show good correlation with any other parameters. The median diameters of the aggregates were well correlated with one-dimensional fractal dimensions (D(1)).