Pretreatment of recycled paper sludge with a novel high-velocity pilot cyclone: Effect of process parameters on convective drying efficiency

Abstract

To address the growing need for economically viable sludge processing technologies and associated resource recovery, a novel convective high-velocity pilot cyclone was set-up at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Umea, Sweden. In essence this process entails feeding (<= 900 kg h(-1)) a material to a heated high-velocity air flow (approx. 13 x 10(3) m(3) h(-1)) allowing moisture removal at low temperatures. This equipment is expected to improve drying of challenging industrial sludge materials when used as a pretreatment method prior to further processing. Modeling results based on an experimental campaign on recycled paper mill sludge indicated that efficient drying with a specific energy consumption of <= 1-1.2 kWh kg(-1) H2O can be achieved with inlet air temperature levels >= 40 degrees C coupled with respective feeding capacity of <= 750 kg h(-1). (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Biosolids; Cyclone; Experimental design; Optimization; Regression modeling; Sludge handling

Published in

Applied Energy
2014, volume: 131, pages: 490-498
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD

SLU Authors

• Mäkelä, Mikko

  • Department of Forest Biomaterials and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Geladi, Paul

  • Department of Forest Biomaterials and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Larsson, Sylvia

  • Department of Forest Biomaterials and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Finell, Michael

  • Department of Forest Biomaterials and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Global goals (SDG)

SDG12 Responsible consumption and production

UKÄ Subject classification

Energy Systems

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.06.057

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/62912