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Development of a high-efficiency rotary dryer for sewage sludge

Article  in  Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management · March 2012

DOI: 10.1007/s10163-012-0040-6

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J Mater Cycles Waste Manag (2012) 14:65–73
DOI 10.1007/s10163-012-0040-6
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Development of a high-efficiency rotary dryer for sewage sludge
Young Nam Chun • Mun Sup Lim •
Kunio Yoshikawa
Received: 18 January 2010 / Accepted: 19 December 2011 / Published online: 16 February 2012
Ó Springer 2012
Abstract A rotary drum dryer having an internal rotating
body was designed and tested in this study. It was shown
that the developed dryer is effective for drying sewage
sludge. The best operating conditions in the dryer were low
energy input and almost 10% moisture content. The con-
ditions are 255°C for the rotary drum temperature, 17 min
for the sludge residence time, and 55 kg/m3 h for the dryer
load. Under these conditions, the drying efficiency was
84.8%. The average diameter of dried sludge was less than
8 mm, and the weight reduction rate was 80%. Parametric
screening studies achieved the following results. The drying
efficiency increased with the increase of the internal tem-
perature and the sludge residence time in the rotary drum,
while the drying efficiency decreased when increasing the
dryer load. In addition, it was shown that NH3 and CO2
were the primary components released from the sewage
sludge drying process. The amounts of both of these com-
ponents increased when the rotary drum temperature was
increased.
Keywords Rotary drum dryer  Sewage sludge 
Drying efficiency  Dryer design
Y. N. Chun (&)  M. S. Lim
BK21 Team for Hydrogen Production,
Department of Environmental Engineering,
College of Engineering, Chosun University, 375, Seosuk-dong,
Dong-gu, Gwangju 501-759, Republic of Korea
e-mail: ynchun@chosun.ac.kr
M. S. Lim
e-mail: freshair0310@nate.com
K. Yoshikawa
Frontier Research Center, Tokyo Institute of Technology,
G5-8, 4259 Nagatsuta, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-8502, Japan
e-mail: yoshikawa.k.aa@m.titech.ac.jp
Introduction
The quantity of treated sewage as well as the level of their
treatment results in an increasing amount of sewage sludge.
Therefore, new solutions regarding sludge treatment,
management, and utilization are in demand [1, 2]. Sludge
condensation and dewatering processes are no longer suffi-
cient to cope with the still-growing amounts of sludge or to
reach the required standards. The form of the product
obtained after the dewatering process is barely acceptable by
several potential clients, including, among others, agricul-
ture, forestry, as well as the power industry. The product
requires further transformation and more advanced treat-
ment. This shall be the task of the sludge drying process,
understood as the thermal drying process in which thermal
energy is delivered to the sludge in order to evaporate water.
The sludge drying process reduces the mass and volume of
the product, making its storage, transport, packaging, and
retail easier and also enables pyrolysis/gasification, co-
combustion, and the incineration of sludge.
Numerous researches [3–6] have been carried out at
both bench and field scales to investigate various parame-
ters that determine the sludge drying for different types of
dryers.
The paddle dryer [7] was designed to provide a con-
tinuous process to produce an environmentally benign
particulate dry final product from sludge, e.g., sewage or
fecal material. The dryer has two-stage cylindrical hous-
ings containing conveyor paddles which are mounted on
the hollow shaft and helically inclined relative to the axis
to convey sludge. Particularly, the second stage operates
under partial vacuum for receiving heated sludge from the
first stage for further heating and for drying the sludge by
the evaporation of almost all liquid therefrom to leave dry
particulate material.
123
66
The conveyer dryer [8] was designed to dry sewage
sludge on the two-stage conveyer belt using thermal wind
drying of one mechanical power. Free water and adhesion
water on the dewatered sludge should be evaporated on the
upper conveyor belt, and then the sludge drops onto
the lower conveyor belt to destroy the matters including
capillary water and cavernous water.
The screw dryer [9] has been developed for the thermal
treatment of dehydrated, highly viscous sewage sludge
with moisture content exceeding 80 wt%. The sewage
sludge was transported by the revolution of the cylinder
conveyor, together with the tumbling and mixing action of
the screw and lifters. The heating of the sludge is con-
ducted efficiently by the combination action of the
conduction and convection modes, together with the gas-
agitation process.
The multiple hearth dryer [10] consists of several hollow
plates placed horizontally above each other. The sludge is
added to the dryer on the top plate. A continuously rotating
rake mechanism transports the sludge from plate to plate.
The dried sludge is evacuated at the bottom. A small dis-
tance is kept between the rake and the plate in order to
avoid abrasion and contact between the rakes and plates.
This results in a static layer of dried sludge on the plates.
The rotating disk dryer [11] consists of several rotating
disks installed in a horizontal drum having a heating jacket
to supply heat into the drum by conduction heat transfer
indirectly. Incoming dewatered sludge from a sludge
hopper is mixed with partial dried sludge to control the
moisture content for protecting the operation in the glue
phase state and a scraper is installed on the heat transfer
surface to avoid sticking of the sludge.
Although many types of dryers have been proposed and
developed, each has several problems. The paddle dryer,
the conveyor dryer, and the screw dryer cannot avoid the
deposition of dried sticky sludge on the surface of each
dryer when operated for a long period. The multiple hearth
dryer has lower capacity in sludge treatment and has a
limitation for reducing the moisture content in dried
sludge. The rotary disk dryer needs a long time to dry the
sludge and has difficulty in the maintenance due to its
complicated structure.
In this study, therefore, a novel rotary drum dryer was
developed to make up for the weak points and to improve
drying efficiency. Also, parametric studies were carried
out on the rotary drum temperature, the sludge residence
time, and the dryer load, which were known as important
factors through our numerical simulation [12]. Through
above tests, the optimum operating conditions were
determined and suggested. In addition, the effects of
drying temperature on the emission rate of NH3, CO2, and
O2, which are primary emission components [13], were
evaluated.
123
J Mater Cycles Waste Manag (2012) 14:65–73
Experimental apparatus and method
Experimental apparatus
Figure 1 represents an experimental setup for testing the
drying of dewatered sewage sludge. The test rig consisted
of a rotary drum dryer, a sludge feeding device, a hot gas
generator, a control panel, and measurement and analysis
lines. The rotary drum dryer and the sludge feeding device
were newly designed for high drying efficiency and uni-
form feeding for sticky dewatered sludge.
The rotary drum dryer consisted of a rotary kiln (rotating
drum, internal screw vane and pickup flights, deflector) and
inside rotating body (rotary shaft, stirring members, blade
members). The rotating drum (inner diameter 267 mm,
length 1,315 mm) has an insulator on its wall, and mounts
a cylinder core having radial, longitudinally oriented vanes.
Internal screw vanes and pickup flights are attached inside
the wall of the rotating drum, and a deflector with a series
of holes is installed near the hot gas inlet. A rotary shaft
extends axially through the center of the drum, and fork-
like stirring members and blade members are mounted on
the rotary shaft.
The sludge feeding device consisted of a sludge hopper, a
sludge screw feeder, and a paddle plate feeder. The sludge
hopper reserves the dewatered sludge, and the screw feeder
has a screw to supply sludge constantly by controlling the
revolution. Dewatered sludge is so sticky that it is difficult to
drop it down to the feed screw installed at the bottom of the
hopper. Therefore, the paddle plate feeder was designed to
provide an effective feeding apparatus to prevent tunneling
[14] of the sticky sludge in the sludge hopper.
The hot gas generator consisted of a combustor and a gas
burner to supply hot combustion gas into the rotating drum
for direct heating. The control panel controls the rotating
drum, the paddle plate feeders and the screw feeder in the
sludge hopper, and the rotary shaft in the rotating drum.
The measurement and analysis lines consisted of tem-
perature measurement and gas analysis equipment. Tem-
perature was measured by K-type thermocouples (diameter
0.3 mm; Ni/Cr 10%) connected with a data analyzer
(Fluke, Hydra Data Logger; 2625A). The thermocouples
were installed inside the rotating drum and the combustor,
and at the hot gas inlet and the drying gas outlet for con-
tinuous monitoring. A gas chromatographer (Shimadzu;
GC-14B) and a UV/visible spectrophotometer (Biochrom,
Ultrospec 2100 Pro) were used for measuring the concen-
trations of CO2, O2, and NH3 in the by-product gas. The
sampling line consisted of a glass wool filter and a silica
gel condenser to remove particle matter and water,
respectively. Particularly, NH3 was absorbed by H3BO3
solution in an impinger bottle to be measured by the UV/
visible spectrophotometer.
J Mater Cycles Waste Manag (2012) 14:65–73 67

Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of the experimental setup

Experimental method
For the developed dryer, parametric screening studies were
conducted for the dryer temperature, residence time, and
dryer load. And to illustrate the effectiveness of the novel
design for this rotary type dryer, the experiment has been
conducted in a reference condition. The conditions are
shown in Table 1.
The ranges for each parameter were taken as the con-
ditions for which the moisture content in the dried sludge
was lower than 25%. And the reference condition was fixed
in having the lowest energy input and almost 10% mois-
ture, which is commonly used for pyrolysis or gasification
[15, 16]. In addition, a test without the rotary shaft was
conducted in order to show the effect of the inside rotating
body of stirring and blade members.
For the precise experiment on sewage sludge drying, the
screw feeder was calibrated. Figure 2 represents the cali-
bration data measuring the supply amount of the dewatered
sludge as a function of the rotation speed of the screw
feeder. As the revolution number increased, the discharge
amount of sludge increased linearly. The revolution num-
bers (4–8 rpm) in the calibration chart should be the sludge
feed rates (49–86 g/min). Therefore, the range of dryer
load (kg/m3 h) was 40–70.
The revolutions of the rotating drum and the rotary shaft
were fixed at 10 and 250 rpm, respectively.
The physicochemical characteristics of the dewatered
sludge used in this study are shown in Table 2. Dewatered
sludge was analyzed for proximate and ultimate analyses.
The dewatered sludge was treated by centrifuges to dehy-
drate raw sludge. The moisture content of the dewatered
sludge was over 80%.

Table 1 Experimental conditions for each parameter Data analysis

Variables Dryer Residence Dryer load
temperature time (min) (kg/m3 h) The sludge residence time in the rotary drum and the dryer
(°C) load were calculated as follows.
Ranges for parametric 225–260 16–20 40–70 The sludge residence time was determined by Eq. 1:
study L
Reference condition 225 17 55 RT ¼ ð1Þ
PR

123
68 J Mater Cycles Waste Manag (2012) 14:65–73

600 700
650
Sludge feed rate (g/min)
1 Combustor
500 600
550
Dewatered sludge Starting test point
400

Temperature (C°)
500 feed point for samplings
450 2 2 Hot gas line
300 y=60.6037x+20.96
2
400
R =0.9988 350
200 300
250
100 200 3 Rotary drum dryer

150
0 4 Drying gas outlet
100
2 4 6 8 10
50
Revolution number (rpm)
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Fig. 2 Calibration curve of the sludge feed rate Elapsed time (min)

Fig. 3 Stabilization procedure at the reference conditions

where RT (min) is the sludge residence time in the rotary
drum, L (mm) is the length of the rotary drum, P (mm/rev)
is a pitch gap of the internal screw vanes per one rotation,
and R (rev/min) is the rotating speed of the rotary drum.
The calculated value using Eq. 1 was similar to the
experimental value, showing good probability.
The dryer load was calculated by Eq. 2:
Sr
DR ¼
V
where DR (kg/m3 h) is the dryer load, Sr (kg/h) is the
sludge input per hour, and V (m3) is the volume of the
rotary drum.
The dried sludge collected at the drying sludge outlet
was checked for the moisture content and the drying effi-
ciency was calculated.
The moisture content (WC) in the dried sludge was
calculated by Eq. 3:
ðW1  W2 Þ
WC ð%Þ ¼  100
W1
where W1 is the weight of dried sludge from the dryer and
W2 is the weight after drying in an electric oven (main-
taining the temperature at 105–110°C) for 4 h.
The drying efficiency (DE) was calculated by Eq. 4:
WS  WC
DE ð%Þ ¼  100
WS
where WS (%) is the moisture content of the dewatered
sludge and WC (%) is the moisture content of the dried
sludge.
Results and discussion
For keeping to a set moisture content in the dried sludge,
maintaining a constant temperature in the rotary drum dryer
is important. To show the stabilization of the temperatures at
each part of the experiment, Fig. 3 depicts the temperatures
at the reference test conditions (as shown in Table 1).
The rotary drum dryer was heated up to 340°C. After
ð2Þ feeding the dewatered sludge at the dewatered sludge feed
point, the temperature was decreased and then maintained
uniformly at 255°C. After this steady state (i.e., starting test
point for samplings), the dried sludge and by-product gas
were sampled.
The results in the parametric test represent the effects of
the dryer temperature, residence time, and dryer load. Also,
the effectiveness of the novel design was illustrated with
the results of the reference conditions.
ð3Þ Parametric screening studies
Temperature effect in the rotary drum
Figure 4 represents the results according to the variation of
the rotary drum temperature in the range 225–260°C. The
sludge residence time and dryer load were fixed at 17 min
and 55 kg/m3 h, respectively.
ð4Þ
As the inside temperature of the rotary drum increased,
the moisture contents in the dried sludge were reduced
from 24% at 225°C to 6.4% at 260°C. The reason for this is
that the water in the dewatered sludge evaporated gradually

Table 2 Physicochemical characteristics of the dewatered sludge

Item Proximate analysis Ultimate analysis
Moisture Volatile matter Ash Fixed carbon C H O N S

Value (wt%) 81.3 66.8 25.5 7.67 46.9 6.8 33.6 8.4 4.3

123
J Mater Cycles Waste Manag (2012) 14:65–73 69

30 100 15 100

Moisture content
25 Drying efficiency 95
90 12

Drying efficiency (%)

Moisture content (%)

Moisture content (%)

Dry efficiency (%)

20 90
80 9 Moisture content
Dry efficiency
15 85

70 6
10 80

60 3
5 75

0 50 0 70
220 225 230 235 240 245 250 255 260 265 16 17 18 19 20
Dryer temperature (°C) Residence time (min)

Fig. 4 Effect of the rotary drum temperature Fig. 5 Effect of the sludge residence time

with increasing temperature in the rotary drum. With only a Effect of sludge feeding in the dryer
difference of 35°C in the temperature, a difference of
17.6% in the moisture content was exhibited. This means Figure 6 shows the results according to the variation of
that the inside temperature should be a key factor to control dryer load in the range 45–85 kg/m3 h with 17-min resi-
the moisture content in drying sludge. Meanwhile, the dence time and 255°C dryer temperature.
drying efficiency increased from 69.7 to 91.5% due to The drying efficiency decreased gradually from 91.5 to
decreasing moisture contents while increasing the internal 81.6% as the dryer load increased from 45 to 85 kg/m3 h.
temperature of the rotary drum. Also, 6.8% moisture content is achieved at 45 kg/m3 h
The dried sludge derived by the dryer could be used for dryer load. Higher moisture content, 14.7%, is shown at
pyrolysis or gasification to produce synthesis gas, oil, and 85 kg/m3 h dryer load.
char [17, 18]. The increase of the moisture content when increasing
Particularly for the case of allowing the high-porosity the dryer load is due to the overload of sludge compared to
char to be used as an adsorbent material, pre-drying for the the capacity of the dryer. Therefore, the mixing between
raw sludge should be an important factor. The reason for
this is that the drying in the dryer gives the preliminary
development of a micropore structure [19]. Therefore,
20 100
higher drying efficiency can give a positive effect on higher
porosity for the pre-dried sludge char.
Moisture content
Dryinge fficiency
Effect of sludge residence time 15 95
Moisture content (%)

Drying efficiency (%)

Figure 5 presents the results after changing the sludge

residence time from 16 to 20 min with fixed conditions at 10 90
55 kg/m3 h dryer load and 255°C dryer temperature.
As the sludge residence time in rotary drum increased,
the moisture content at 16-min residence time was 12.4%.
5 85
At 20 min, the level of moisture content decreased to 1.4%.
Also, the drying efficiency increased from 84 to 98.2%
gradually while the residence time increased from 16 to
20 min. An increase in the residence time causes the 0 80
45 55 65 75 85
increase of contact time between hot wind and sludge in the
Dryer load (kg/m3h)
rotary drum. Therefore, the drying efficiency should be
increased as the residence time is increased. Fig. 6 Effect of the variation of dryer load

123
70
hot wind and the drying sludge is difficult, such that the
drying sludge could be not dried effectively.
Emission of volatile compounds
The volatile compounds (VCs) produced during the sewage
sludge drying process were measured at the drying gas
outlet, and the results are shown in Fig. 7. The experiments
were achieved by varying the dryer temperature from 225
to 260°C.
It was found that CO2 and NH3 were the primary
components released from the sewage sludge drying pro-
cess, similar to the result of Deng et al. [13].
The dryer was heated by hot combustion gas directly, which
was produced from a hot gas generator. Propane was used as a
fuel with a fixed air ratio of 1.4. The mixture was emitted from
a commercial Bunsen burner, generating the combustion gas of
CO2 and O2, shown as the ‘‘base line’’ in Fig. 7.
The CO2 gas measured during the drying process
includes both volatile gas emitted from sludge drying and
combustion gas from fuel burning. The total CO2 concen-
tration was increased from 8.9 to 12.1% when the rotary
drum temperature increased, while the CO2 in the com-
bustion gas maintained an almost constant value of 8.4%
due to the fixed air ratio. Therefore, it should be known that
volatile CO2 increased from 0.6 to 3.6%. The volatile CO2
emitted from the sludge drying was formed from the
hydrolysis of amino acid, which has been discussed above,
and the other method is that it was formed from the
decomposition of bicarbonate [20].
The dehydration process was represented at low tem-
perature (T \ 200°C), where free water and some light
organic compounds such as CO2 and CH4 were released. In
the region 200°C \ T \ 350°C, major decomposition or
15
CO2
O2
12 CO2 (Base line)
CO2, O2 concentrations (%)
O2 (Base line)
NH 3
9 84.8 and 12.4%, respectively.
6
3 In case of the sludge dried without an inside rotating
0 0
220 225 230 235 240 245
Dryer temperature (°C)
Fig. 7 Emission of volatile compounds (VCs)
123
J Mater Cycles Waste Manag (2012) 14:65–73
depolymerization occurred, which was accompanied by the
decrease of carbon and water and the increase of CO2 and
CH4 in the products [21]. The released CH4 may oxidize to
CO2 and H2O with the consumption of the O2. That is why
the O2 slightly decreased with increasing dryer temperature.
NH3 increased from 0.24 to 0.65 ppm when increasing
the dryer temperature. The NH3 emitted from sludge drying
is formed through the hydrolysis of protein. When the
protein in sludge dissolves, it hydrolyzes to form multi-
peptide, dipeptide, and amino acid. The amino acid further
hydrolyzes to form organic acid, NH3, and CO2.
Through the parametric study, the highest efficiency in
the rotary type dryer was achieved under the conditions in
which the dryer temperature and residence time were
increased, and the dryer load was decreased.
However, it should be considered wholly in terms of
high drying efficiency, high energy efficiency, and lower
volatile compounds (particularly light organic compounds
such as CH4) to use thermal treatments such as pyrolysis,
gasification, and activation.
To satisfy these conditions, the moisture content should
be close to 10% [17, 18]. Therefore, the best operating
conditions for the developed dryer were set at 255°C
temperature, 17 min sludge residence time, and 55 kg/m3 h
dryer load. The average diameter of the dried sludge cre-
ated was about 8 mm and weight reduction was 80%. The
drying efficiency and moisture content in the dried sludge
were 84.8 and 12.4%, respectively.
Novel design for the rotary type dryer
To verify the effects of the novel design, an experiment at
the reference conditions (refer to Table 1) was conducted.
The results are illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9.
Figure 8 shows the state change before and after sludge
drying by the novel drier. Compared to dewatered sludge
2
(Fig. 8a), which was treated by the centrifuges, the dried
sludge (Fig. 8b) features smaller size and volume. The
average diameter of the dried sludge created was about
NH 3 concentration (ppm)
1.5 8 mm, and the weight reduction was 80%. The drying
efficiency and moisture content in the dried sludge were
1 Figure 9 illustrates the dried sludge treated by a dryer
without an inside rotating body, and comparisons of the
moisture content and average sludge diameter for dryers
with and without an inside rotating body.
0.5
body, the drying sludge in the rotary drum has been
agglomerated gradually. Therefore, the average diameter
and moisture content increased to 18 mm and 26.7%
250 255 260 265
respectively, compared to 8 mm and 12.4% with the inside
rotating body. It could be known that the inside rotating
body, which was designed by this study, is important to
J Mater Cycles Waste Manag (2012) 14:65–73
Fig. 8 Comparison of the dewatered sludge and dried sludge.
a Dewatered sludge. b Dried sludge
crush the agglomerated sludge and to evaporate sludge
water by convective heat transfer for the optimal design.
As already explained, the rotary drum dryer (refer to
Fig. 1) was a new design, particularly in regards to the
rotary kiln body (deflector, pickup flights, internal screw
vane, cylinder core) and inside rotating body (stirring
members, blade members) for improving drying efficiency.
The deflector located adjacent to the hot gas inlet
deflects the flow direction of the hot drying gas so that the
drying gas may flow evenly within the rotating drum to
heat the dewatered sludge and, thereby, to suppress the
sludge deposition on the inner wall.
The pickup flights provide an inner surface of the drum for
carrying the sludge upwardly incident to the rotation of the
drum. At the same time, as the drum rotated, the internal screw
71
Fig. 9 Comparison of dryers with and without an inside rotating
body. a Without an inside rotating body. b Comparisons of the
moisture content and average diameter
vane conveyed in-process sludge from the sludge inlet to the
dried sludge outlet. With such a construction, it is possible to
mix efficiently in-process sludge and drying gas from the hot
gas inlet while moving to the dried sludge outlet. However, the
sludge was dried as aggregated for a relatively long period of
time, so that the aggregate mass of sludge was discharged from
the dryer with only the surface dried and with the interior
thereof incompletely dried, as shown by the product in Fig. 9a.
Therefore, stirring members were mounted on a rotary
shaft in order to break the sludge charged into the drum in
the proximity of the sludge inlet. And, further, the drying gas
is caused to swirl by the stirring members to form turbulent
flow so that sludge may be dried efficiently, even when the
sludge is hard to dry. The blade members adapt to the lower
velocity of the drying gas flowing within the rotating drum
123
72
1 The developed dryer was a new design, particularly in
0.8
Drying rate (g H2O/kg-DSs)
0.645
0.6
0.513
0.4
0.2
0 shown that NH3 and CO2 were the primary components
Novel dryer Steam dryer
Fig. 10 Comparison between the novel dryer and a steam dryer
developed by Tazaki et al. [3]
toward the drying gas outlet incident to the rotation of the
rotary shaft. Therefore, the sludge particles are prevented
from being discharged to the outside of the drum while
being entrained in the drying gas. And, thereby, the con-
centration of the sludge particles residing within the drum is
increased or the average residence time of the particles in the
drum is prolonged in order to enhance the drying efficiency.
The cylinder core modifies particle paths by excluding
the flow from the elongated, generally longitudinally ori-
ented, portion of the interior of the drum and prevents short,
circulated passage of the drying gas directly through the
drum. In addition, the vanes rotating with the cylinder core
divert at least some in-process sludge away from and along
the core and impart a rotational or spiral aspect to their path.
This should be the best conditions for the sludge to be dried
effectively and crushed finely at the final drying stage.
In the end, a good product could be taken as being like
the dried sludge of Fig. 8b. Moreover, the rotary drum
dryer could achieve high drying efficiency with low energy
consumption and low particle emission.
In addition, to verify the effectiveness of this novel
dryer, it was compared with a steam dryer developed by
Tazaki et al. [3]. As can be seen Fig. 10, the drying rate of
the novel dryer was higher than that of the steam dryer.
This is because the novel dryer was effectively designed
for the task of sludge drying.
Conclusions
The novel rotary type dryer was developed in order to use
dried sludge for thermal treatments such as pyrolysis,
gasification, and activation.
123
J Mater Cycles Waste Manag (2012) 14:65–73
regards to the rotary kiln body (deflector, pickup flights,
internal screw vane, cylinder core) and inside rotating body
(stirring members, blade members) for improving drying
efficiency. The newly designed parts can improve the
drying efficiency and energy efficiency, with lower volatile
compounds, compared to conventional rotary dryers.
For verifying the effectiveness of sludge drying, para-
metric screening studies were studied with varying rotary
drum temperature, sludge residence time, and dryer load;
the drying efficiency increased with increasing rotary drum
temperature and sludge residence time, while the efficiency
decreased with increasing dryer load. Particularly, the
rotary drum temperature may be a key factor to control the
moisture content in drying sludge. In addition, it was
released from the sewage sludge drying process. The
amounts of both components increased when the rotary
drum temperature increased.
For using the dried sludge for thermal treatment, the
novel dryer should be considered wholly in terms of its
high drying efficiency, high energy efficiency, and lower
volatile compounds (particularly light organic compounds
such as CH4). To satisfy these conditions, the moisture
content used should be close to 10%. Therefore, the best
operating conditions for the developed dryer were set at
255°C temperature, 17 min sludge residence time, and
55 kg/m3 h dryer load. The average diameter of the dried
sludge created was about 8 mm and the weight reduction
was 80%. The drying efficiency and moisture content in the
dried sludge were 84.8 and 12.4%, respectively.
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