Optimum Design of Sewage Sludge Consolidation Tanks

Abstract

Abstract Consolidation is potentially the most cost‐effective of all sludge treatment processes. However, traditional design procedures have been oversimplified such that the process has not generally been fully exploited. The objective of this report is to summarize the Water Research Centre (WRc) procedure for sizing sewage sludge consolidation tanks, and explain the major design aspects which control the effective operation of the plant. The procedure provides a means of sizing tanks to consolidate any particular sewage sludge to any solids concentrations up to the maximum, and is applicable to both the batch and continuous operational modes. To obtain the predicted performance, the essential equipment such as the picket fence and control system, comprising a consolidation plant, must be suitably designed.