Abstract
The harmful effects of improper sewage sludge (SS) treatment on the environment inspire the search for more benign sludge processing techniques such as hydrothermal carbonization (HTC); the abundant organic matter in SS is used for energy recovery. Herein, response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the HTC-based preparation of SS hydrochar and its gasification performance. Specifically, the hydrochar yield, higher heating value (HHV), and gasification activity index were selected as optimization goals, while carbonization temperature (160–260°C), residence time (30–150 min), and acetic acid concentration (0–1.5 M) were selected as factors influencing the HTC process and CO2-assisted gasification performance. Carbonization temperature was the dominant parameter determining hydrochar yield, HHV, and gasification activity. The hydrochar yield (82.69%) and calorific value (7820.99 kJ kg−1) were maximized under comparatively mild conditions (160°C, 30 min, and 0.07 M acetic acid), whereas the gasification activity index (0.288 s−1) was maximized under harsher conditions (211.34°C, 88.16 min, and 1.58 M acetic acid). The obtained results help to guide the HTC of SS intended for gasification, thus promoting the development of this promising waste-to-energy technology, and may facilitate the design and further optimization of thermochemical SS conversion.
Development and Characterization of Composite Carbon Adsorbents with Photocatalytic Regeneration Ability: Application to Diclofenac Removal from Water
