The transformation of PAHs in the sewage sludge incineration treatment

Abstract

The release of pollutants from sewage sludge in the treatment process is a worldwide tricky problem in the field of sludge treatment. In this paper, the release and reaction between monomers of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the sewage sludge incineration treatment were studied based on simulated experiments. The result indicates that the transformation may occurre between monomers of PAHs during their release in the treatment. Over 90% of total PAHs in sewage sludge are released at the the temperature of 300°C–750°C. The possible transformation of Naphthalene to indeno(1, 2, 3-cd)pyrene was related to the temperature of the treatment system. Here, we showed that the output rate of transformation reactions for indeno(1, 2, 3-cd)pyrene is 94% at 300°C. These findings, by identifying corresponding treatment conditions as well as techniques, can help to understand the reactions and control real outputs of PAHs in the treatment process.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

PAHs / sewage sludge / incineration treatment / release of monomers / transformation of monomers

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Participation in Research Program (PRP program), Shanghai Jiao Tong University to Zhang Hui (Granted No. T16017013). The Center of Analysis, School of Environmental Science and Engineering offered some help on PAH analysis.

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2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg