Environmental Monitoring and Diagnosis

Faculty of Engineering
Interdisciplinary Environmental Research
“Reuse of water treatment sludge”
Student: Constanza Retamal Navarro
Teacher: Zoe Flemming

Currently, there is an increase in the demand and consumption of drinking water that is proportional to the
increase in the number of the global population.
Water use has been increasing worldwide by about 1% per year since the 1980s, driven by a combination of
population growth, socio-economic development and changing consumption patterns. Global water demand is
expected to continue increasing at a similar rate until 2050.
Water is an essential good for human life and the development of society, and its use cannot be replaced, at least
for consumption. Safe drinking water and sanitation are recognized as basic human rights, as they are
indispensable to sustaining healthy livelihoods and fundamental in maintaining the dignity of all human beings.
There exist water filtering techniques that allows it to be used again, converting it into drinking water, but that
inevitably generate waste that is disposed into the environment, generating negative impacts.
Within the framework of the circular economy so present in recent years, it is proposed to reuse the waste
generated in these processes, generating value to this waste, keeping the resources within this economy for as long
as possible, through its continuous through “Water Treatment Sludge".
The waste that accumulates in wastewater treatment plants is called sludge (or biosolids) and the sewage sludge is
the solid, semi-solid or sludge waste material that is produced as a by-product of wastewater treatment processes
Metallic coagulants (aluminium-based and iron-based) are the most popular chemicals used for coagulation and
flocculation processes (chemical process by which, with the addition of substances called flocculants, the
colloidal substances present in the water bind together, thus facilitating their decantation and subsequent filtering).
The popularity of metallic coagulants is due to their comparatively low cost, high availability, and efficiency in
removing turbidity and colour. Aluminium sulphate [Al2(SO4)3] and aluminium chloride (AlCl3) are the most
common metallic coagulants which are used in water and wastewater treatment
When aluminium-based coagulants are used in the drinking water treatment process, the Water Treatment Sludge
(WTS) generated is generally known as’ alum sludge’, which is the most common residual from water treatment
plants (WTPs)

Reuse applications of WTS have reported success in reducing pollution and improving environmental quality as a
pollutant adsorbent. WTS has been tested to remove Phosphorus, most crucial element that causes eutrophication
(process of enrichment of waters with excess plant nutrients, primarily phosphorus and nitrogen) in freshwater
bodies, causing several problems to habitats, human health issues and the water treatment plant, such as clogging
of water treatment filters, odour and taste to treated water; tested to remove heavy metal pollution like Zinc (Zn),
copper, mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), chromium and arsenic from soil and water bodies; and also has
been tested to remove other pollutants such as fluoride, perchlorate, hydrogen sulphide, sulphur dioxide, and
carbon dioxide. WTS can be reused as low-cost sorbent which is highly beneficial for developing countries who
may be facing difficulties in providing safe potable water due to heavy metals pollution in their water sources
The most common disposal practices for WTS are discharging to water bodies, sewers (drains), or landfills
(rubish dump). These disposal practices have negative impacts on the aquatic environment and pose the risk of
accumulation of aluminium in aquatic organisms, and consequently, human bodies. Furthermore, there is
evidence that aluminium contamination plays a role in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and that it inhibits
normal cognitive development in children. This is in line with the effects of other heavy metals accumulation.
Landfilling is considered the most convenient and common disposal method for treatment plants; nevertheless, it
can cause adverse environmental impacts. With tightened environmental regulations which aim to discourage
such disposal and a shortage of landfill sites, this option is becoming less viable.

The evolution of a “Take-Make-Dispose” logic to one based on the Circular Economy in the Management of
Sludge from Water Treatment, can generate great environmental, social, and economic benefits.
The ambiental benefits generated from the WTS management practices, are the most important ones due to the
impact that this residue has on our life and environment. WTS can improve the quality of environment and can
help to reduce contamination in wastewater and stormwater runoff.

Another environmental benefit associated, is the possibility to use the sludge as a replacement of materials used in
several applications, like construction material manufacturing as roof tiles, bricks, cement, etc. Sludge has the
potential to be used as a good replacement for raw materials, so it can now be considered as a resource instead of
waste that needs to be disposed to the environment.

And for last there are economic benefits that they may bring to the organisations, those benefits can come from
the reduced cost of raw materials if the sludge can be reused effectively to replace virgin material for construction
or new chemicals for coagulation processes. As other types of raw materials are also required for construction and
the sludge is unlikely to be considered a critical and high-value material, the main economic benefits will come
from the reduced costs that arise from environmental legislation and taxes.
Circular Economy approaches can bring to the water authorities the first social benefit is the recognition as being
leaders in sustainability, generating Social Benefits

WTS can be reused in many applications from wastewater/stormwater treatment and land-based applications; to
the manufacturing of construction materials and recycling back, to the water treatment process or recovered for
coagulants. However, regulatory barriers, lack of financial incentive, and availability of accessible land have
meant that disposal of WTS to the landfill as waste remains the most common practice.