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Research article2018Peer reviewed

Process water properties from hydrothermal carbonization of chemical sludge from a pulp and board mill

Makela, Mikko; Forsberg, Julia; Soderberg, Christer; Larsson, Sylvia H.; Dahl, Olli

Abstract

Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) can be used to break down sludge structure and generate carbonaceous hydrochar suitable for solid fuel or value-added material applications. The separation of char and the reaction medium however generates a filtrate, which needs to treated before potential discharge. Thus, this work determined filtrate properties based on HTC temperature and sludge moisture content and estimated the discharge emissions and the potential increase in analyte loads to an industrial wastewater treatment plant based on derived regression models. Direct discharge of HTC filtrate would significantly increase effluent emissions at the mill, indicating the filtrate treatment is crucial for the future implementation of HTC at pulp and paper mills. Recycling the HTC filtrate to the wastewater plant would lead to only a nominal increase in effluent flow, but would increase the suspended solids, BOD, COD and total nitrogen loads by 0.1-0.8%, 3.8-5.3%, 2.7-3.1% and 42-67%, respectively, depending on HTC temperature.

Keywords

Biosolids; Experimental design; Hydrothermal treatment; Multiple linear regression; Principal component analysis; Wastewater treatment

Published in

Bioresource Technology
2018, Volume: 263, pages: 654-659 Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD

      SLU Authors

      • Sustainable Development Goals

      SDG12 Responsible consumption and production

      UKÄ Subject classification

      Bioenergy

      Publication identifier

      DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2018.05.044

      Permanent link to this page (URI)

      https://res.slu.se/id/publ/96144