The Aeration Control during Co-Composting of Sewage Sludge and Wooden Chips in a Rotary Drum Reactor

Abstract:

To optimize the aeration control during the co-composting process of sewage sludge and wooden chips in a rotary drum reactor, it was proposed to study the implementation of different control strategies. A series of pilot scale experiments were carried out in a rotary drum reactor with a volume of 3.14m³, using 800 kg sewage sludge from 2^nd wastewater treatment plant of Kunming and 400 kg wooden chips collected from parks in Kunming as compost materials. Temperature, oxygen concentrations, volatile solid contents and moisture content were followed during the composting process as important variables to compare different aeration control strategies (continuous, intermittent and two stage temperature feedback aeration control strategies). The obtained results have shown that two stage temperature feedback aeration control strategy is the optimal, because it can effectively control the temperature during composting, with better moisture removal and higher organic matter degradation than the other strategies, obtaining a stabilized product with less nutrient elements losses.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volume 878)
• Pages: 720-728
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.878.720
• Online since: January 2014
• Authors: Yuan Cheng Zhang, Luis Caicedo, Hong Tao Wang
• Keywords: Aeration Control, Co-Composting, Pilot Scale, Rotary Drum, Sewage Sludge, Temperature Feedback

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