Comprehensive investigation of the relationship between organic content and waste activated sludge dewaterability

Abstract The relationship between sludge organic fraction and its dewaterability is well known in practice. However, the formal study to reveal the underlying reason is limited. To improve understanding of the nature of organic content on sludge dewatering process, this study systematically evaluated the effects of sludge organic content on its dewaterability and revealed the underlying mechanism. Analysis of 10 waste activated sludge (WAS) samples with varying organic contents showed that capillary suction time (CST) increased linearly from 34.90 ± 0.10 s to 104.90 ± 0.30 s (R2 = 0.92, p