Effects of electrolyte and curing on freeze/thaw treatment of sludge

This work experimentally examined the role of electrolyte and curing on fre eze/thawed sludge dewaterability. We herein, for the first time, demonstrat e that the presence of sludge particles have diminished the formation of sa lt/water eutectic, which is against the results in previous literature. The eutectic temperature of the electrolyte thereby had no effect on the sludg e filterability and settleability. Furthermore, curing has profound effects on activated sludge performance, whose effect, however, is negligible for clay slurry. The mass transfer processes interpret the experimental results . Curing time alone is not a fundamental measure for the curing process. (C ) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.