Proceedings

Mechanically dewatered sludge still mostly consists of water. Non-landfill disposal of sludge
usually requires some form of thermal treatment (drying or incineration), i.e. evaporation. This
is an energy consuming process and, as a result, the cost of sludge treatment is mainly
determined by the energy cost (e.g. in stand-alone sludge drying, the energy consumption is
more than 50% of the total treatment cost). Solutions to reduce the energy consumption and
thus the treatment cost are quite evidently a prime subject of interest, both to potential
operators as to suppliers of such plants. In this paper we will show ways to reduce the
primary fuel consumption by making combinations of different technologies.

KEY WORDS
Sludge drying, sludge incineration, energy-efficiency, combination of technologies