Study on Electroosmotic Consolidation of Sludge Using EKG

The purpose of this study is to assess the feasibility of electroosmosis method using EKG electrode on sludge dewatering and consolidation. Previous studies have shown that EKG (electrokinetic geosynthetics) electrode can be used to replace metal electrode in electroosmosis of soil. Laboratory tests were carried out with aluminum, copper, iron and EKG electrodes. During electroosmosis process, the electric current, volume of discharged water and electric potential were monitored. The water content was measured after the tests. The results showed that, under the voltage gradient of 150 V/m, electroosmosis with EKG electrode was more efficient than that with aluminum, copper and iron electrodes. There was a linear relationship between energy consumption and volume of discharged water until a certain water content was reached. After reaching this certain water content, water in the sludge cannot be further discharged under the same electroosmosis condition. Increasing the voltage gradient had a better consolidation effect but it increased the energy consumption as well. The total energy consumption per unit volume of sludge was in direct proportion to the square of the voltage gradient.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the feasibility of using EKG electrode for sludge dewatering and consolidation through experiments, and found that under a certain voltage gradient, EKG electrode had higher electroosmosis efficiency.