Drying Kinetics of Biosludge from Pulp and Paper Mills, 2016 Pulping, Engineering, Environmental, Recycling, Sustainability (PEERS) Conference Proceedings

Handling and disposal of biosludge has been a persistent problem for many pulp and paper mills due primarily to its high moisture content and poor dewatering/drying characteristics. Most biosludge is landfilled or incinerated, some is used as soil amendment. In order to incinerate biosludge, the mills mix biosludge with primary sludge, mechanically dewater the mixture to 15-30% solids, and burn it with hog fuel in biomass boilers. However, for biosludge to burn effectively, it must be dewatered or dried to at least 30-35% solids. A systematic study was conducted to examine the drying characteristics of biosludge collected from pulp and papers mills at various temperatures using a thermogravimetric dryer. The results show that i) the drying behaviour between the tested biosludges were similar, ii) adding fillers such as wood fines and biomass boiler fly ash to biosludge up to 30 wt% did not significantly affect the drying rate, and iii) higher organic content may make biosludge more difficult to dry.  This could help mills to devise methods and operating strategies for improving the drying efficiency and ultimately make biosludge a more attractive fuel for burning in biomass boilers.

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