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Dilemma of Sewage Sludge Treatment and Disposal in China
Leiyu Feng, Jingyang Luo, and Yinguang Chen*
State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University,
Shanghai, 200092, China
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S ewage sludge, the most important byproduct of biological
wastewater treatment, is considered an important source of
secondary pollution in aquatic environments, linked to health
problems and even deaths in humans. In 2012, China generated
more than 68.5 billion metric tonnes of wastewater, and this is
expected to rise to 78.4 billion metric tonnes in 2015.1 The
amount of sewage sludge would increase accordingly, from 30
million metric tonnes (at a moisture content of 80%) in 2012
2 with individual wastewater treatment facilities. The construc-
to 34 million metric tonnes in 2015. Historically, over 80% of
the sludge has not been treated and disposed of effectively and
safely, and this poses a great threat to the environment,
particularly because of the ubiquitous use of combined systems
for municipal wastewater, industrial wastewater, and rainwater
treatment. Thus, it is extremely important to set up separate
drainage systems to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of
sludge treatment and disposal.
The proportion of industrial wastewater entering wastewater
treatment plants (WWTPs) in China is often as high as
approximately 35.0%. Treatment of this industrial wastewater
leads to sewage sludge containing heavy metals such as Zn, Cr,
and Pb, and persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs), seriously limiting options for disposal. For
example, this type of waste cannot be applied to land as soil
3
conditioner. Also, the organic content of the sewage sludge is
usually low (less than 50%) because most of the drainage
systems, especially in southern China, combine municipal
wastewater, and rainwater, resulting in a high proportion of grit Received: February 2, 2015
and other inorganic matter being incorporated into the sludge.
© 2015 American Chemical Society
As a result, commonly used techniques for sludge treatment,
such as anaerobic digestion and aerobic composting are
ineffective.
Anaerobic digestion/aerobic composting and land applica-
tion have been widely recommended in China as the preferred
method for the treatment and disposal of sewage sludge.
However, the output from sludge treatment by anaerobic
digestion or aerobic composting is of poor quality because of
the low organic matter content. In 2013, there were about 2600
sludge treatment plants in China, but only about 60 plants had
adopted anaerobic digestion processes and just 10−30 of them
were actually operating,4 resulting in wasted infrastructure and
treatment facilities. The treated sludge contains large amounts
of nutrients, such as N, P, K, and residual organic material, and
has the potential to be used as soil conditioner and fertilizer
during land application. However, the high concentrations of
heavy metals, POPs, and grit in the sludge, mainly from
industrial wastewater and rainwater, have greatly limited its use.
In the future, when making plans for the construction of
wastewater treatment and recycling facilities in China, the
separate treatment of municipal wastewater, rainwater, and
industrial wastewater should be considered to eliminate the
problem of sewage sludge treatment and disposal. Even if this
proposal were to be adopted, sludge treatment and disposal
would remain a challenge. In China, most residential districts
have no separate discharge systems for municipal wastewater
and rainwater, and only a few industrial parks have been built
tion of separate drainage pipeline networks and facilities for
industrial wastewater treatment should be prioritized, though it
is a daunting task.
The safe treatment and disposal efficiency of sewage sludge
in developed cities of China is expected to be 80%.5 Meanwhile,
there has been disproportionately low investment in sludge
treatment and disposal (5.6 billion USD/year) compared with
wastewater treatment (68.8 billion USD/year) in China, unlike
in developed countries where there are approximately equal
levels of investment in sludge disposal and wastewater
treatment.5 More investment in sludge treatment and disposal
is urgently needed in China. If not, the investment in
wastewater treatment could be in vain as the pollutants
would re-enter the environment through sewage sludge.
Overall, China still faces many challenges in solving the
problem of sewage sludge treatment and disposal.
Published: April 6, 2015
4781 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5b01455
Environ. Sci. Technol. 2015, 49, 4781−4782
Environmental Science & Technology Viewpoint

■ AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*Phone: 86-21-65981263; fax: 86-21-65986313; e-mail:
yinguangchen@tongji.edu.cn.
Funding
Funding for this studywas provided by the National Natural
Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholar (No.
51425802), National Natural Science Foundation of China
(Nos. 51108332, 51178324 and 51278354), Fundamental
Research Funds for the Central Universities (No.
2013KJ017) and State Science and Technology Support
Projects (No. 2012BAC11B04).
Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.

■ REFERENCES
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www.zhb.gov.cn/gkml/hbb/qt/201306/t20130604_253201.htm.
(2) Report on Sludge Treatment and Disposal Market in China,
2013. http://zt.h2o-china.com/report/2013/2013wncz_report/index.
html.
(3) Zhang, G.; Jing, H.; Ren, M. Z.; Zhang, S. K.; Cheng, J.; Yang, Z.
R. Emission, mass balance, and distribution characteristics of PCDD/
Fs and heavy metals during cocombustion of sewage sludge and coal in
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(4) Li, L. Application of anaerobic digestion in sludge disposal:
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(5) The State Council. The Twelfth Five-Year Plan of Facility
Construction for Wastewater Treatment and Recycle. http://www.
gov.cn/zwgk/2012-05/04/content_2129670.htm.

4782 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5b01455

Environ. Sci. Technol. 2015, 49, 4781−4782