IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v275y2023ics0360544223008630.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Municipal sludges as sources of energy or nutrients – What is the best?

Author

Listed:
  • Raclavská, Helena
  • Růžičková, Jana
  • Šafář, Michal
  • Kucbel, Marek
  • Slamová, Karolina
  • Švédová, Barbora
  • Juchelková, Dagmar
  • Kantor, Pavel

Abstract

The decision on the optimal use of sludges from wastewater treatment plants is still very complex, even when applying the principles of sustainability and circular economy. Interest in the energy use of sludges is conditioned not only by their inclusion among biowaste but also by the availability of technologies that meet emission limits and newly by the possibility of extending anaerobic digestion processes to hydrogen production. The use of sludges in agriculture as a source of carbon and nutrients is limited by concerns about the occurrence of anthropogenic organic compounds and especially micropollutants that can migrate in individual environmental compartments. Based on information from the Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals, 287 compounds of anthropogenic origin in sludge were divided into five groups: compounds causing environmental risk, health risk, acute toxicity, irritant, and no impact. The group of compounds causing environmental risk (highly toxic for the aquatic environment) includes 42 compounds. Phytotoxicity tests (Lepidium sativum) in relation to other parameters characterising sludge stability have shown that the key parameter for achieving a germination index >85% is the amount of organic matter expressed as chemical oxygen demand (COD) and conductivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Raclavská, Helena & Růžičková, Jana & Šafář, Michal & Kucbel, Marek & Slamová, Karolina & Švédová, Barbora & Juchelková, Dagmar & Kantor, Pavel, 2023. "Municipal sludges as sources of energy or nutrients – What is the best?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:275:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223008630
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2023.127469
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544223008630
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2023.127469?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fonts, Isabel & Gea, Gloria & Azuara, Manuel & Ábrego, Javier & Arauzo, Jesús, 2012. "Sewage sludge pyrolysis for liquid production: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 2781-2805.
    2. Moni Silva, Ana Paula & Barros, Regina Mambeli & Silva Lora, Electo Eduardo & Díaz Flórez, Carlos Andrés & Silva dos Santos, Ivan Felipe & Cassia Crispim, Adriele Maria de & Grillo Renó, Maria Luiza, 2023. "Characterization and evaluation of the life cycle of energy use from drying bed sludge," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PB).
    3. Jumoke Oladejo & Kaiqi Shi & Xiang Luo & Gang Yang & Tao Wu, 2018. "A Review of Sludge-to-Energy Recovery Methods," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-38, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chunyu Liu & Changtao Yue & Yue Ma, 2024. "Pollutant Emissions and Heavy Metal Migration in Co-Combustion of Sewage Sludge and Coal," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-16, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shahbeig, Hossein & Nosrati, Mohsen, 2020. "Pyrolysis of municipal sewage sludge for bioenergy production: Thermo-kinetic studies, evolved gas analysis, and techno-socio-economic assessment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    2. Farhad Beik & Leon Williams & Tim Brown & Stuart T. Wagland, 2021. "Managing Non-Sewered Human Waste Using Thermochemical Waste Treatment Technologies: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-22, November.
    3. Rajesh Banu Jeyakumar & Godvin Sharmila Vincent, 2022. "Recent Advances and Perspectives of Nanotechnology in Anaerobic Digestion: A New Paradigm towards Sludge Biodegradability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-18, June.
    4. Syed-Hassan, Syed Shatir A. & Wang, Yi & Hu, Song & Su, Sheng & Xiang, Jun, 2017. "Thermochemical processing of sewage sludge to energy and fuel: Fundamentals, challenges and considerations," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 888-913.
    5. Motasemi, F. & Afzal, Muhammad T., 2013. "A review on the microwave-assisted pyrolysis technique," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 317-330.
    6. Diego Teixeira Michalovicz & Patricia Bilotta, 2023. "Impact of a methane emission tax on circular economy scenarios in small wastewater treatment plants," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 6575-6589, July.
    7. Leng, Lijian & Li, Hui & Yuan, Xingzhong & Zhou, Wenguang & Huang, Huajun, 2018. "Bio-oil upgrading by emulsification/microemulsification: A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 214-232.
    8. Luo, Juan & Ma, Rui & Lin, Junhao & Sun, Shichang & Gong, Guojin & Sun, Jiaman & Chen, Yi & Ma, Ning, 2023. "Review of microwave pyrolysis of sludge to produce high quality biogas: Multi-perspectives process optimization and critical issues proposal," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    9. Chen, Renjie & Yu, Xiaoqing & Dong, Bin & Dai, Xiaohu, 2020. "Sludge-to-energy approaches based on pathways that couple pyrolysis with anaerobic digestion (thermal hydrolysis pre/post-treatment): Energy efficiency assessment and pyrolysis kinetics analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    10. Zuo, Zongliang & Feng, Yan & Li, Xiaoteng & Luo, Siyi & Ma, Jinshuang & Sun, Huiping & Bi, Xuejun & Yu, Qingbo & Zhou, Enze & Zhang, Jingkui & Guo, Jianxiang & Lin, Huan, 2021. "Thermal-chemical conversion of sewage sludge based on waste heat cascade recovery of copper slag: Mass and energy analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    11. Shahbeik, Hossein & Rafiee, Shahin & Shafizadeh, Alireza & Jeddi, Dorsa & Jafary, Tahereh & Lam, Su Shiung & Pan, Junting & Tabatabaei, Meisam & Aghbashlo, Mortaza, 2022. "Characterizing sludge pyrolysis by machine learning: Towards sustainable bioenergy production from wastes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 1078-1092.
    12. Saba Seyedi & Kaushik Venkiteshwaran & Nicholas Benn & Daniel Zitomer, 2020. "Inhibition during Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Aqueous Pyrolysis Liquid from Wastewater Solids and Synthetic Primary Sludge," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-15, April.
    13. Czerwińska, Klaudia & Śliz, Maciej & Wilk, Małgorzata, 2022. "Hydrothermal carbonization process: Fundamentals, main parameter characteristics and possible applications including an effective method of SARS-CoV-2 mitigation in sewage sludge. A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    14. Wilhelm Jan Tic & Joanna Guziałowska-Tic & Halina Pawlak-Kruczek & Eugeniusz Woźnikowski & Adam Zadorożny & Łukasz Niedźwiecki & Mateusz Wnukowski & Krystian Krochmalny & Michał Czerep & Michał Ostryc, 2018. "Novel Concept of an Installation for Sustainable Thermal Utilization of Sewage Sludge," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, March.
    15. Atienza-Martínez, María & Ábrego, Javier & Mastral, José Francisco & Ceamanos, Jesús & Gea, Gloria, 2018. "Energy and exergy analyses of sewage sludge thermochemical treatment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 723-735.
    16. Yang, Y. & Brammer, J.G. & Samanya, J. & Hossain, A.K. & Hornung, A., 2013. "Investigation into the performance and emissions of a stationary diesel engine fuelled by sewage sludge intermediate pyrolysis oil and biodiesel blends," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 269-276.
    17. Liu, Zhongzhe & Hughes, Matthew & Tong, Yiran & Zhou, Jizhi & Kreutter, William & Valtierra, Danny & Singer, Simcha & Zitomer, Daniel & McNamara, Patrick, 2021. "Enhanced energy and resource recovery via synergistic catalytic pyrolysis of byproducts from thermal processing of wastewater solids," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 475-481.
    18. Jonathan L. Deenik & Michael J. Cooney, 2016. "The Potential Benefits and Limitations of Corn Cob and Sewage Sludge Biochars in an Infertile Oxisol," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-18, January.
    19. Mong, Guo Ren & Chong, William Woei Fong & Nor, Siti Aminah Mohd & Ng, Jo-Han & Chong, Cheng Tung & Idris, Rubia & Too, Jingwei & Chiong, Meng Choung & Abas, Mohd Azman, 2021. "Pyrolysis of waste activated sludge from food manufacturing industry: Thermal degradation, kinetics and thermodynamics analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    20. Athar Mahmood & Xiukang Wang & Ahmad Naeem Shahzad & Sajid Fiaz & Habib Ali & Maria Naqve & Muhammad Mansoor Javaid & Sahar Mumtaz & Mehwish Naseer & Renji Dong, 2021. "Perspectives on Bioenergy Feedstock Development in Pakistan: Challenges and Opportunities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-24, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:275:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223008630. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.