Boiling of biological sludges

Nucleate boiling, which can transfer large amount of thermal energy at smal l temperature difference, reveals as an efficient pasteurization method to biological sludges. This work, for the first time, reported the nucleate bo iling curves and the critical heat flux (CHF) data of two biological sludge s. Sludge boiling would exhibit a more efficient nucleate boiling mode. How ever, the corresponding CHF markedly decreases with the presence of solid p hase. Dilution of sludge would yield a more efficient nucleate boiling as w ell as a higher CHF. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.