Good - Co-Pelletization of Sewage Sludge and Agricultural Wastes
Good - Co-Pelletization of Sewage Sludge and Agricultural Wastes
Research article
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: This paper concerns the process of production and properties of pellets based on biomass wastes. Co-
Received 31 January 2017 pelletization was performed for sewage sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plant and other
Received in revised form biomass material such as animal and olive wastes.
22 June 2017
The aim of the present study was to identify the key factors affecting on the sewage sludge and
Accepted 4 September 2017
Available online 21 September 2017
agricultural residues co-pelletization processes conditions. The impact of raw material type, pellet
length, moisture content and particle size on the physical properties was investigated. The technic and
technological aspects of co-pelletization were discussed in detail.
Keywords:
Sewage sludge
The physical parameters of pellets, i.e.: drop strength, absorbability and water resistance were
Agricultural residues determined. Among others, also energy parameters: low and high heat value, content of ash and volatiles
Co-pelletization were presented.
Fuel from waste Results showed the range of raw materials moisture, which is necessary to obtain good quality biofuels
Energy parameters and also ratio of sewage sludge in pelletizing materials.
Mechanical parameters The analysis of the energetic properties has indicated that the pellet generated on the basis of the
sewage sludge and another biomass materials can be applied in the processes of co-combustion with
coal. Those biofuels are characterised with properties making them suitable for use in thermal processes
and enabling their transport and storage.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction liquid biofuels that can be more easily handled. While biomass
characteristics influence the resulting biofuel properties
Biofuels, defined as those produced through contemporary, (Capodaglio and Callegari, 2017), underlying regulations and in-
renewable biological processes rather than by geological ones, will centives are paramount for their expanding diffusion and economic
be crucial to the future of global power supply together with other sustainability (Capodaglio et al., 2016c). The EU in fact estimates to
renewable energy sources, such as solar and eolic. All these are achieve a 14% share of biofuels by 2020, with the objectives to
expected to significantly contribute to the decrease of air pollutants reduce oil dependency and GHGs emissions (Raboni et al., 2015).
and GHG emissions in the atmosphere. Overall, biomass is foreseen This paper deals with the process of production and properties
to contribute to half of the EU renewable energy targets, as laid out of pellets from biomass wastes, a topic often neglected but that has
in the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) (EU, 2009). Sources of a significant market, especially in rural areas in Turkey.
biofuels can be, among the others, agricultural residues, sewage
sludge, waste from vegetable and animal origin. Biofuels generation
can be at the local level, by direct onsite digestion/co-digestion of 1.1. Agricultural residues
organic matter, with biogas production (Capodaglio et al., 2016a;
Callegari et al., 2013), or in more complex facilities offsite, where By-products from agricultural production may be e.g. straw,
biomass can be processed, for example, by pyrolytic or other pro- seed and cereal shells, remains of fruit processing and animal
cesses (Tan czuk et al., 2017; Capodaglio et al., 2016b) to generate excrements.
It is estimated that over three billion tonnes of agricultural
residues were generated world-wide (Werther et al., 2000). The
* Corresponding author.
types of agricultural by-products depend on the location of the site
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (E. Yilmaz), [email protected] in the world. For instance, Europe takes the first place in the pro-
(M. Wzorek), [email protected] (S. Akçay). duction of straw from cereals (wheat and barley) while the highest
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.09.012
0301-4797/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
170 E. Yilmaz et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 216 (2018) 169e175
share in the global agricultural discard balance belongs to rice per person was 0.182 m3 per day. The State Statistical Institute has
husks (around 43%), which are produced by Asian countries estimated that the population will reach to 90 million by 2025. It is
(Werther et al., 2000). expected that the amount of annually usable water per person may
Turkey is a country that has great agricultural potential with decrease to 1.222 m3 by the year 2025 (Turkstate, 2012).
23.07 million ha arable land. Total amount of agricultural solid According to the results of Municipal Wastewater Statistics
waste is about of 50e65 million tonnes (Acaroglu and Aydogan, Survey in 2012 (Turkstate, 2012), out of 4.1 billion m3 of wastewater
2012). Agricultural activities are concentrated on the production was discharged via sewerage, 3.3 billion m3 was treated in waste-
of industrial plants used for example for the production of indus- water treatment plants.
trial products such as wheat, barley, maize, cotton, olive and sun- The properties of municipal sewage sludge result in the fact that
flower oils, hazelnut, etc. These food-processing industries produce it is technically difficult to manage it. The fundamental parameter
residues, which could be utilized for energy production. that has an impact on it is high content of moisture. After me-
Table 1 illustrates selected types of agricultural by-products and chanical dehydration sewage sludge moisture can be reduced down
their composition and energy values. to 65%, only after drying process to 10% (Tan czuk et al., 2016).
The breeding and agricultural activity, especially livestock pro- The organic compound content in sewage sludge allows for
duction on an industrial scale, is seen as one of the main sources of using it in energy production processes. The influence of organic
natural environment pollution. Depending on the farming system, compound content on the calorific value of sewage sludge is widely
animal farms generate solid (dung) and liquid (liquid manure) discussed in the literature (Khan et al., 1995; Thipkhunthod et al.,
animal excrements. 2006; Stasta et al., 2006; Wherter and Ogada, 1999), where corre-
It is estimated that the available agricultural and animal resi- lations may be found of change of sewage calorific value depending
dues in Turkey can be roughly equal to 22e27% of energy con- on the degree of fermentation and water content.
sumption in Turkey (Demirbas, 2008). Several ranges of calorific values for various types of sewage
Table 2 presents total amount of animal wastes production in sludge may be defined: and so for raw sludge the calorific value is
Turkey. 16e20 MJ/kg d.m. (dry mass) and for fermented sludge it drops to
In terms of energy production, agricultural products made 10e15 MJ/kg d.m. and in the case of very well performed fermen-
particularly for that purpose may be used (maize, sugar beetroots, tation even to 6.3e10.5 MJ/kg d.m. (Wherter and Ogada, 1999;
rape, oat and other) as well as unclassified assortments of cereals, Wzorek, 2012).
i.e. cereals which cannot be used for consumption due to me- Sewage sludge after mechanical dehydration has greasy and
chanical damage, biological infection or low quality. semiliquid consistence, which makes mechanical operations more
The production of energy from biomass should proceed without difficult. Hence, it is suggested to use it together with other waste
harm to the production of food. Therefore, agricultural wastes and and subject it to the process of pelletization to achieve adequate
residues should be ones used for the production of energy in the properties allowing for its easy transport and dosing in thermal
first place. The potential of agricultural by-products is very high processes.
and it seems reasonable to use it for such purpose.
1.3. Technical and technological aspects of the production of
1.2. Sewage sludge pelletized fuels from wastes and biomass
Municipal sewage sludge is waste, which is generated in process The basic processes employed in processing wastes and biomass
of cleaning water in wastewater treatment plants. Amount of it into fuels is forming them into bales, briquettes or pellets and also
cannot be prevented and reduced according to the requirements grinding or milling to powder.
regarding the quality of treated sewage. Sewage sludge constitutes Pellets and briquettes are mostly solid cylindrical, differing
the main type of wastes related with sewage treatment and its solely in their dimensions. Briquettes have diameters between 50
amount is about 1e2% of volume of treated sewage. and 90 mm and lengths between 75 and 300 mm, while pellet
The problem with its neutralisation arises from the amount of diameters are less than 10 mm with no more than 35 mm length
generated sludge and its properties. The amount of generated (Nunes et al., 2014).
sludge depends on many factors - mainly on the pollutant content The array of wastes that may be used in fuel production is very
in sewage and applied treatment technology. wide. Some types of wastes have properties, which allow for direct
In Turkey, in 2012 wastewater discharge from sewerage systems combustion without any interference in its properties and physical
Table 1
Characteristics of selected agricultural residues.
Table 2
Total amount of animal wastes production in Turkey (Ozturk and Bascetincelik, 2006).
Animal waste Waste quantity tonnes/year Total dry manure tonnes/year Available dry manure tonnes/year
form while other types require processing. shows selected parameters of components used in the studies.
Purohit et al. (2006) divided raw agricultural residues, which The selection criterion for wastes was its availability and -
can be used for briquetting, into three categories (i) fine granulated, particularly - the problem with their neutralisation in the same area
(ii) coarse granulated, and (iii) stalky. (in Aydin province, Turkey).
Some wastes require only a small physical processing, e.g. size Due to the fact that all of the wastes were characterised with
reduction and mixing with another ingredient, and other need high moisture content, which influences the greasy consistence, the
more developed technological systems to acquire the proper conducted studies aimed to develop a forming method fit for them.
physical form in the processes of drying and forming into briquette In order to identify the pellets, individual symbols were attrib-
or pellet. uted to them:
The literature provides information on briquetting (Demirbas
and Sahin-Demirbas, 2004; Kri zan et al., 2011; Rubiera et al., - SOW e pellets based on the sewage sludge and olive wastes,
2011) and pelletizing of agriculture residues and animal waste - SAW e pellets based on the sewage sludge and animal wastes.
(Nunes et al., 2014; Liu et al., 2014; Tan czuk et al., 2017), including
sewage sludge and other waste (Hui et al., 2015; Jiang et al., 2014, For comparison, pellets from sewage sludge (SS) alone were also
2016; Wzorek, 2008; Wzorek, 2014). made.
The idea behind providing wastes and biomass with physical The pellets were subjected to studies taking their energy and
form is to acquire proper energy-related and physical properties physical parameters into consideration.
meeting the technological prerequisites, which are necessary for The energy properties, i.e. high calorific value (HHV) was con-
the proper course of combustion or co-combustion in a given ducted by using Oxygen Bomb Calorimeter KL-Mn (PN-EN
installation. 14918:2010), the ash content, the volatile matter and moisture
However, it is not always possible to use an already existing content by differential thermal analyzer Netzsch Jupiter STA 449
technology and the development of a new one requires solving a and the ultimate analysis of pellets were performed via Elementar
range of issues, some of which are as follows: Analyzer type Elementar Vario MACRO Cube e in accordance with
PN-EN 15104:2011 (C,H,N) and PN-EN 15289:2011 (S).
selection of fuel components which influence the properties, The research also involved the testing of physical properties as:
energy parameters in particular, including the selection of
binding additives, - drop strength (according to the PN-G-04651),
selection of wastes forming method, - water - resistance (PN-G-04652),
adjustment of working parameters of the forming device so as to - absorbability (PN-G-04652).
achieve the proper quality of the product.
Additional the simultaneous thermal analysis TG-DTA was car-
This article aims to address the above issues as regards the ried out in NETZSCH STA 449 F3 Jupiter device. The quantity of
production of solid, pelletized fuels based on sewage sludge and about 10 mg of air-dried material was heated from ambient tem-
agricultural residues. perature to 900 C at heating rate b 30 K/min. The sample carrier
was Al2O3 crucible. All samples were heated in a dry air atmosphere
2. Materials and methods with the gas flow of 50 mL/min. All measurements occurred at least
twice to ensure the reproducibility of the results.
The studies were based on municipal sewage sludge (SS) from a
mechanical and biological wastewater treatment plant covering
115,000 PE. 3. Results and discussion
In order to assess the influence of other waste on physical pa-
rameters of pellets made from sewage sludge, the studies included 3.1. Selection of wastes forming method
wastes from cattle breeding and olive oil production as well.
Olive wastes (OW) were produced by the three-phase decanting Due to the fact that all biofuel components are characterised by
method. In this process water is added and three phases such as: high moisture content, a technology of their pelletization was
oil, wastewater, solid wastes (an olive cake) are produced. However, selected and developed. The method consists in initial mixing of
animal wastes (AW) came from a farm breeding milk cattle. Table 3 them and then forming in a special device illustrated in Fig. 1.
The mixture is fed into a dosing funnel equipped with a feeding
screw (1) and ending in a replaceable sieve (2), behind which a
Table 3 cutting part (3) is fixed that is compatible with the feeding screw
Selected properties of components of pellets.
shaft. The material being formed, after going through the sieve and
Parameter Unit SS OW AW being cut with a knife, is formed into the shape of pellet.
Water % 85.25 65.15 90.30 The replaceable sieve with meshes in various sizes allows to
HHV MJ/kg 11.22 18.79 8.85 create pellets with the diameter from 10 to 35 mm.
Voltaire matter % d.m. 35.03 48.18 24.84 In the case of obtaining high-quality pellet and the course of the
Ash % d.m. 41.02 22.02 9.52 forming process, it was observed that what is extremely important
d.m. e dry mass; HHV e Higher Heating Value. is the initial moisture content of the mixture of sludge and wastes
172 E. Yilmaz et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 216 (2018) 169e175
N1
WZR ¼ $100%
N
where:
Fig. 2. The influence of the moisture content of the mixture being formed on the The produced pellets with 15 and 35 mm length were subjected
quality of fuel. to the tests. Drop strength of pellets is presented on Fig. 5.
E. Yilmaz et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 216 (2018) 169e175 173
Table 4
Energy parameters of pellets.
Elementary composition
d.m. e dry mass; LHV e Lower Heating Value; HHV e Higher Heating Value.
a
Source: (Rybak, 2006).
TG /% DTG /(%/min)
Mass Change: -6.41 %
100 0
90
-2
80
-4
70
Mass Change: -33.56 %
-6
60
Mass Change: -26.39 %
50 -8
30
-12
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Temperature /°C
Pellets of the same type (but with different sewage sludge defined by the standard PN-G-04652. The pellets were left to stand
content) are characterised by similar drop strength, i.e. for the SOW in water over 24 h, and the difference between the sample weights
pellets it is from 80 to 90% while in the case of the SAW pellets from after and before water absorption made the measure of this
75 to 80%. The highest index was obtained for pellets made of parameter. Absorbability of pellets is presented on Fig. 6.
sewage sludge only with the length of 35 mm (95%). The lowest absorbability is found in the SOW30 pellets (33% for
The obtained results showed that pellets of 35 mm length are 15 mm). It was observed that pellets with lower length (15 mm)
characterised by high drop strength. A similar correlation was ob- show lower ability to absorb water. High absorbability of pellets is
tained for fuels based on sludge and sawdust (Wzorek, 2012) and highly adverse as due to the absorption of moisture from the sur-
on sludge and meat-and-bone meal (Wzorek, 2008). roundings, pellets may lose their durability properties and during
Giemza et al. (2007) determined strength grades for briquette storage the organic substance of biofuel may develop biological
fuels and made the conditions of storage and transport conditional activity.
upon them. And so, briquettes characterised with strength of >80% Another parameter, which was studied, is water-resistance. It is
were deemed strong >60% - satisfactory, to be packaged (stored in defined as the ratio (in per cent) of the strength-by-dropping factor
bags) > 40% - these briquettes were classified as weak that must be after absorption of water (the sample was immersed in water over
secured against dusting in transport. According to this classifica- 24 h) and the original value of that factor.
tion, SOW 20 (35 mm), SAW (35 mm) and SS (35 mm) pellets can be Water-resistance of pellets with 15 mm length was presented on
classified as strong biofuels, whereas other pellets - as satisfactory Fig. 7.
biofuels. On the basis of the conducted research an observation was made
The water absorbability test was based on finding the amount of that water has a destructive effect on the strength of the fuels. It
water, which had been absorbed by the pellets under conditions as was found that after the pellets absorb water its strength tends to
174 E. Yilmaz et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 216 (2018) 169e175
TG /% DTG /(%/min)
90
-2
80
-4
70
-6
Mass Change: -12.62 %
60
-8
50
Mass Change: -3.66 %
4. Conclusions
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