Chemically reduced excess sludge production in the activated sludge process

Excess sludge production from wastewater biological treatment process is highly, and the disposal of excess sludge will be forbidden in a near future, thus increased attention has been turned to look into potential technology for sludge reduction. Recently, some novel sludge reduction techniques have been developed based on chemical oxidation and metabolic uncoupling. This paper attempts to review those chemical-assisted sludge reduction processes, including sludge alkaline-thermal treatment, activated sludge-ozonation process, chlorination-combined activated sludge process, sludge reduction by metabolic uncouplers and high dissolved oxygen activated sludge process. In these combined activated sludge processes, excess sludge production can be reduced up to 100% without significant effect on process efficiency and stability. This paper would be useful when one is looking for appropriate environmentally and economically acceptable solutions for reducing or minimizing excess sludge production from wastewater biological treatment process. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.