Sewage Sludge : Assessment, Treatment and Environmental Impact

Sewage sludge is the product resulting from wastewater treatment plants and aquaculture systems. It is an abundant waste biomass, as its production keeps increasing due to population growth particularly, in developing countries and intensified wastewater treatment plants in the developed world, due to industrialisation. Effective management and handling of sewage sludge in an environmentally friendly way has become a matter of increasing importance globally, due to the potential health risks on the environment. Importantly, sewage sludge contains large amounts of organic components and nutrients; hence, resource recovery from such an abundant biomass is necessary.

This book presents an assessment into the impact of sewage sludge on the environment and provides the various treatment options for converting the sludge into useful resources. Biochemical (or biological) and thermochemical (or thermal) methods of sewage sludge treatment are covered.