Title: Comparative Study on Sludge Dewatering Based on Mass Balance Model
Authors: Arimieari, L. W., Ibiang, I. E. and Egop, S. E.
Volume: 8
Issue: 10
Pages: 21-35
Publication Date: 2024/10/28
Abstract:
The purpose of this work was to use mass balance analysis to develop a model for sludge drying bed filtration. With the use of the new model equation of mass balance analysis, which incorporates the input variable, concentration of sludge (CO); the state variable, specific resistance (R); and the output variables, solid content (C) and concentration of evaporation (CEV), the filtration experiments with conditioned sludge for agricultural and industrial sludge have demonstrated that specific resistance, R values decreased as the concentration of conditioner (FeCl3) increases. The R values for agricultural sludge created at intervals of 20 minutes with varying conditioner concentrations are 1.63 ×107, 1.51 ×107, 1.42 ×107, 1.20 ×107, 1.03 ×107, 1.02 ×107, 1.01 ×107and 1.00 ×107 for 10g, 20g, 30g, 40g, 50g, 60g, 70g and 80g respectively. It was discovered that the rate of filtrate increased with the conditioner concentration. It is significant to observe that sludge concentration, solid content, and evaporation concentration all increased as conditioner concentration did, suggesting that conditioners are important for sludge's filterability. The new model equation agreed with the plot of linear relationships for Carman's equation and Ademiluyi and Arimieari's equation for agricultural sludge generated on a 20-minute interval for different conditioner concentrations, according to a comparison using experimental data from agricultural sludge. There is a significant variation in the correlation coefficient, ranging from 0.8857, 0.0491 and 0.0473 respectively. This discrepancy can be explained by the fact that the new model equation includes variables that weren't present in the equations developed by Carman, Ademiluyi, and Arimieari, such as the volume of sludge (m3), time taken to obtain the filtrate in seconds, and concentration of evaporation (kg/m3). This study enhanced the previous models by adding more filtering variables based on the sludge drying bed using mass balance analysis.