Composting of Municipal Sludge - Riverhead Wastewater Treatment Facility

Ling, Jinjing and Zhang, He and Husain, Tahir and Zhu, Zhiwen and Kazemi, Khoshrooz (2017) Composting of Municipal Sludge - Riverhead Wastewater Treatment Facility. Research Report. Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.

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Abstract

A significant amount of biosolids is generated by the Riverhead Wastewater Treatment Facility (RHWTF) every year. Although biosolids have the potential to be transformed into compost through the composting process, the usual practice is to dispose them into landfills. Composting helps stabilize the organic matter in the biosolids (Oleszczuk, 2008), and the heat generated during the thermophilic phase also kills pathogens. The organic content of the sludge will be converted into stabilized humic substances through mineralization and, hence, the volume of the sludge is significantly reduced (Gouxue et al., 2001). These composted biosolids, once applied to the soil, can accelerate plant growth, improve soil moisture retention, increase organic matter in the soil, and control erosion of the topsoil (Liang et al., 2003). Since the RHWTF-generated biosolids have a very low carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratio (8:1), they are usually landfilled. The fly ash (FA) generated from Corner Brook Pulp and Paper (CBPP), however, has a high carbon content; its addition to biosolids could increase the C/N ratio of biosolids. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to investigate the potential application of locally available carbonenriched ash from CBPP in improving the quality of biosolids generated by RHWTF, which serves the City of St. John’s, Mount Pearl, and Paradise.

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