Improvement of Co-Composting by a combined pretreatment Ozonation/Ultrasonic process in stabilization of raw activated sludge

• Published in: Scientific reports 2020-01, Vol.10 (1), p.1070, Article 1070
• Main Authors: Dastpak, Hamideh, Pasalari, Hasan, Jafari, Ahmad Jonidi, Gholami, Mitra, Farzadkia, Mahdi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/1647; 704/172; Activated sludge; Bioreactors; Carbon/nitrogen ratio; Cell walls; Composting; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Nutrients; Ozonation; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sludge; Total organic carbon; Ultrasonics
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-58054-y

The enhancement of composting technology to stabilize sludge pretreated by ozonation and ultrasonic was tested for 35 days. Secondary sludge produced by biological process are characterized with endogenous residue and inert solid matter which inhibit fully degrade bacterial cell walls. The composting process was performed with sludge pretreated with ozonatian and ultrasonics and green waste in a ratio of 2:1. The composting characteristics was evaluated for different physico-chemical and microbiological parameters in five different reactors. A high degree of composting quality was achieved with respect to significant reduction in volatile solids (VS) (32%), total organic carbon (TOC) (35.0%), C/N ratio (23.74), total coliform (TC) (168) along with the substantial increase in availability of nutrients like N (1.2%) and P (8.77%). High removal efficiency of TC and Fecal Coliform (FC) were observed in composting results, where simultaneous ultrasonic and ozonation were considered as primary-stabilization process. Therefore, applying integrated ultrasonic/ozonation with composting system for sludge stabilization is potentially useful technology in sustainable land restoration practices to meet standards and produce soil conditioner.