SEWAGE SLUDGE AS AN IMPORTANT

SECONDARY SOURCE FOR AGRICULTURE

AND PHOSPHORUS INDUSTRY
Šárka Václavková 1, Veronika Kerberová 2, Boleslav Zach 1, Tomáš Krejčí 2, Martin
Krňávek 2, Pavel Maléř 3 and Michal Šyc 1

1 Department of Environmental Engineering, Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals of the CAS, v.v.i.,
Rozvojová 135, 165 02 Praha 6, Czech Republic
2 EVECO Brno, s.r.o. Březinova 42, 616 00 Brno, Czech Republic

3 VHS Brno, a.s. Masná 102, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic

ABSTRACT: The potential for phosphorus recycling from municipal sewage sludge in the Czech
Republic was mapped. A direct agricultural application of sewage sludge is becoming problematic due
to sludge contamination by pathogens, drug residues, and heavy metals. New technologies allowing for
sludge phosphorus reuse must be therefore employed. However, the content and the form of
phosphorus in the sewage sludge will generally vary depending on the size and nature of the collection
area, the wastewater treatment (WWT) technology used, etc. To be able to make a relevant decision on
which of available sewage sludge handing strategies or technologies is the most suitable one in a given
region, it is necessary to know the typical characteristics, spatial distribution as well as contaminant
load of sewage sludge produced in the given region. The aim of the study was to develop a
comprehensive database mapping the phosphorus content in sewage sludge itself and the degree of its
contamination at different types of WWT plants in the Czech Republic.

Keywords: sewage sludge, phosphorus, secondary source, agriculture

1. INTRODUCTION

Municipal wastewater is a mixture of household wastewater, residues of human excreta and

wastewater from public facilities. Within the set-up of European municipal wastewater treatment plants
(WWTPs), denitrification and nitrification processes remove a part of present nitrogen, while the rest of
nutrients present in wastewater (residual nitrogen, organic carbon and phosphorus) is concentrated in
the sewage sludge, a slurry or semisolid waste of wastewater treatment. Anaerobic digestion is then
commonly used to stabilize sewage sludge by breaking part of the organic matter with subsequent
biogas production. The resulting waste, a stabilized municipal sewage sludge is rich in phosphorus (P)
and is therefore widely used in agriculture to enhance desired crop growth. By this common way of
wastewater nutrient utilization, the principals of circular economy are being fulfilled for decades and in
fact even for centuries.
Industrial development together with population growth and extended need for pesticides and
pharmaceuticals used in the last decades led to the sewage sludge contamination by somewhat natural

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pathogenic microorganisms, toxic metals and organic pollutants. Considering this increased diversity
and levels of sewage sludge contamination, policies for sewage sludge handling have changed across
Europe, where the suitability of direct agricultural application of municipal sewage sludge as agricultural
P source is questioned.
Phosphorus, the 11th most abundant element in Earth, is an essential nutrient for plants as well as
animals. Phosphorus is incorporated in tissue structures such as bones or teeth, P as part of DNA and
RNA molecules contributes to genetic information transfer and at the same time plays a key role in
mammalian energy metabolism as part of ATP and ADP molecules. Phosphorus is, therefore, non-
replaceable part of the human diet, with recommended daily uptake about 700 mg for an adult.
Lately, the demand for P resources increases worldwide, together with an increasing world
population, rising of its living standards and changes in diet (higher contribution of meat). The main
primary P source, the phosphate rock, is considered as a critical raw material in Europe. Therefore, a
need arises to employ safe and efficient secondary phosphorus sources, originating from P-rich wastes.
It is expected, that typical municipal sewage sludge produced by WWTP in central Europe could contain
up to 30 g of P/kg of sludge dry matter, which is comparable to low-grade phosphate rock. Using
sewage sludge as a secondary P source for agriculture or as an input into the P industry could thus
reduce the consumption of phosphate rock in Europe. To be able to make a relevant decision on which
of available sewage sludge handing strategies or technologies is the most suitable one in a given
region, it is necessary to know the typical characteristics, spatial distribution as well as contaminant load
of sewage sludge produced in a given region.
In our case study, we estimated an overall potential of municipal sewage sludge produced in the
Czech Republic (a country of 10 million inhabitants) to serve as a locally important secondary P source.
The sewage sludge P content and the level of sewage sludge contamination by toxic metals were
studied.

2. CHARACTERISTICS OF WASTEWATER TREATMENT AND SLUDGE PRODUCTIONS

SYSTEM IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

According to the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic, about 2544 WWTP treats 97% of
municipal wastewater with a total sludge production of 173,000 tonnes of dry matter (data from 2016).
At all WWTP with a capacity higher then 10 000 PE (population equivalent), tertial treatment including
phosphorus and nitrogen removal is included in the technology. Such technology is then employed at
over a third of installed WWTP (Figure 1). A common practice in the Czech Republic is then collecting
sewage sludge produced by smaller WWTP and transfer it for stabilization by anaerobic digestion to a
larger WWTP. The typical waste product of Czech municipal WWTP is thus stabilized sewage sludge.
Therefore, WWTPs involved in our project were only WWTPs with capacity over 10 000 PE, i.e. those
with tertiary treatment and anaerobic stabilization technology.

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Figure 1. Development in the number and types of WWTPs in the Czech Republic (modified from enviweb.cz)

3. MATERIALS AND METHODS

3.1 Selection of typical representatives of different types of WWTP

In order to obtain a representative view on sewage sludge potential, selection of over 30 WWTPs
across the country was involved in the study. Selected WWTPs are typical representatives of
technologies used for wastewater treatment in the country, treating wastewater from different types and
sizes of agglomeration all 14 regions of the Czech Republic. Each of the WWTP studied is processing
wastewater from an agglomeration of more than 10 000 populations equivalent (PE).

3.2 Basic categorization of selected WWTPs

Within the ongoing project, it was found that wastewater treatment technologies, including
phosphorus removal and sludge treatment, are similar in most of the treatment plants in the Czech
Republic. Mostly mechanical and biological treatment plants with chemical removal of P (precipitation
with ferric sulfate or aluminum) are represented. Simultaneous biological treatment of P takes place at
most of the treatment plants. However, biological P treatment without subsequent chemical P
precipitation is not used at any Czech WWTP. For resulting sludge, anaerobic mesophilic sludge
treatment and its dewatering using centrifuges are the most common practice. Due to the similarity in
wastewater and sludge treatment technology used, we decided to categorize selected WWTPs
according to their capacity (Table 1). Since the selected treatment plants with a projected capacity of
10,000 PE have a lower actual load capacity, the lower selection limit is shifted to 8,000 PE.

Table 1. Basic categorization of selected WWTPs

Number of represented Number of represented

Category according to
Category name WWTPs in the selection WWTPs in the selection
capacity
according to projected PE according to actual PE load
8 000-20 000 A1 4 5
20 001-50 000 A2 6 15
50 001-100 000 A3 15 5
100 001-500 000 A4 7 7
total 32 32

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3.3 Determination of potential and limits for phosphorus recovery from individual sewage
sludge categories

Two data sources were used to determine the potential of Czech stabilized municipal sewage sludge
to serve as a relevant secondary P source. The first source were questionnaires obtained from selected
WWTPs operators, the second source were laboratory analyses of sludge produced at selected
WWTPs.
The total content of phosphorus, ash-forming elements, and toxic metals was determined after the
microwave assisted acid digestion in aqua regia, according to ISO 11466 methodology using the Anton
Paar Multivawe 3000 reactor. The concentrations of elements in individual acidic leachates were then
determined by inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). All results of elemental
analysis are presented as a portion of dry matter, i.e., mg/kg or mass percentage (%) of dry matter,
unless otherwise stated. For data processing and presentation, the Microsoft Excel 2016 tools were
used.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 The sludge production and the sludge phosphorus content

As the project aims to determine the amount of phosphorus contained in sewage sludge, the initial
screening was performed based on data evaluation from available questionnaires. Figure 2 shows the
production of the sludge of selected WWTPs. The graph shows the results of only 25 WWTPs because
it was not possible to obtain the necessary data from some of the operators.

10,000

Sewage sludge production [t/year]

9,000
8,000
7,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
K4 K28 K5 K3 K25K16 K9 K31K11K14 K1 K13K20 K7 K2 K21 K6 K24K27K15K29K12K18K26K10

2015 2016 2017

Figure 2. Sewage sludge production at selected WWTPs

4.2 Sludge potential for phosphorus recycling

The results summarized in Table 2 show that every kilogram of municipal sewage sludge produced
in the Czech Republic contains on average 5 to 7 g of P, which is more than 20 g of P per kilogram of
sludge dry matter.

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Table 2. Stabilized municipal sewage sludge elemental composition [mg/kg of sludge dry matter]

category Al As Cd Cr Cu Fe Ni P Pb
9300 - 2 36 86 26300 24 21700 23 min
A1 15800 391 63 192 434 115000 126 28300 168 max
13500 192 36 128 274 54000 56 23600 83 average
11500 - - 49 143 13900 9 18200 20 Min
A2 45600 588 54 186 373 57200 112 31900 192 Max
20500 288 25 102 241 31000 50 25100 100 average
9600 145 19 32 148 25300 7 22600 52 min
A3 17000 244 67 187 221 58400 111 33200 568 max
12600 221 32 93 175 46900 46 27200 234 average
12400 231 4 69 157 21700 22 23200 59 min
A4 19400 464 52 288 548 56600 275 29000 156 max
17900 356 36 118 332 41500 92 26500 123 average

Taking into the account that over 170,000 tons of sludge dry matter are produced annually in the
Czech Republic, and considering the lower limit of P content in sludge dry matter it means an annual
production of at least 3,500 tons of waste P in sludge (i.e. over 8,000 tons of P2O5).
With the consumption of about 6.5 kg P per hectare of arable land (15 kg P2O5/ha), this means
enough of P for the cultivation of about 538 thousand hectares of land. Considering the Czech land
fund, where about 38% of the total area of 7.9 million hectares is considered arable land, i.e. approx. 3
million hectares, it means that the P contained in the stabilized municipal sewage sludge might cover
the consumption of phosphorous fertilizers needed for at least 18% of cultivated soils. Recovery of P
from municipal sewage sludge would thus significantly reduce the Czech Republic's dependence on the
import of phosphorus mineral sources, such as phosphate ore apatite, mined mainly in Morocco.
However, the contamination of sewage sludge with heavy metals should be taken into account when
considering sewage sludge as an agricultural P source. In particular, the concentrations of As and Pb
are of interest, since in some cases they exceed concentrations permitted in materials suitable for
agricultural use. These are in the Czech Republic 20 mg As per kg of fertilizer dry matter and 15 mg of
Pb per kg of fertilizer dry matter. In the As, Ni and Pb contamination, it can be seen that their
concentrations in the dry matter increase with increasing capacity of the WWTP. This phenomenon is
probably related to the increase in the size of the agglomeration from which the wastewater originates,
which is secondary to the share of industrial wastewater purified in the municipal WWTP and to the
length of the pipeline network to the WWTP.
In view of the increasingly tightening limits for the application of fertilizers and soil additives to
agricultural land and the contamination of municipal sewage sludge not only by heavy metals, but also
by remnants of drugs, hormones and other organic substances, it is necessary to take into account the
necessity of treatment of sewage sludge before its agricultural use. An example of this is the
incineration of municipal sewage sludge, where organic pollutants are completely decomposed, with
phosphorus and heavy metals concentrated in the ash. At the moment, no technology for sewage
sludge post processing is installed in the Czech Republic, but several WWTP operators and
municipalities are considering sewage sludge thermal treatment as a future way of sewage sludge
handling.

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5. CONCLUSIONS

Stabilized sewage sludge produced by Czech WWTP contains an amount of P, which might cover
the consumption of phosphorous fertilizers needed for at least 18% of cultivated soils. Recovery of P
from municipal sewage sludge would thus significantly reduce the Czech Republic's dependence on the
import of phosphorus mineral sources, such as phosphate ore apatite, mined mainly in Morocco.
However, the contamination of sludge with heavy metals should be taken into account when
considering sewage sludge as an agricultural P source as concentrations of As and Pb are some cases
exceeding limits permitted in materials suitable for agricultural use.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was conducted within the project “Possibilities of using sewage sludge as a secondary
source of phosphorus in the Czech Republic” (project no. TJ01000074) with support from the
Technology Agency of the Czech Republic.

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