Improving dewaterability of waste activated sludge by combined conditioning with zero-valent iron and hydrogen peroxide

Improvement of sludge dewaterability is crucial for reducing the costs of sludge disposal in wastewater treatment plants. This study presents a novel method based on combined conditioning with zero-valent iron (ZVI) and hydrogen peroxide (HP) at pH 2.0 to improve dewaterability of a full-scale waste activated sludge (WAS). The combination of ZVI (0–750 mg/L) and HP (0–750 mg/L) at pH 2.0 substantially improved the WAS dewaterability due to Fenton-like reactions. The highest improvement in WAS dewaterability was attained at 500 mg ZVI/L and 250 mg HP/L, when the capillary suction time of the WAS was reduced by approximately 50%. Particle size distribution indicated that the sludge flocs were decomposed after conditioning. Economic analysis showed that combined conditioning with ZVI and HP was a more economically favorable method for improving WAS dewaterability than the classical Fenton reaction based method initiated by ferrous salts and HP.