Shunkai Chen

Improving the dewatering performance of sludge is a necessary advancement for collaborative sludge disposal and energy-efficient utilization in power plants. Herein, the effects of temperature changes and the addition of drying accelerators derived from agricultural and industrial waste on the drying characteristics of sewage sludge (SS) were investigated from the perspectives of drying kinetics and micromorphology. According to the results, the drying time for sludge significantly showed a clear downward trend via medium–low temperature (160 °C) thermal drying, which subsequently reduced the energy input substantially. When the drying temperature was 160 °C, the ideal addition proportions of rice husk (RH), sludge ash (SA), and coal ash (CA) comprised 15%. The addition of SA prominently boosted the drying rate constant of the original sludge by 48%. Additionally, SEM images along with the spectral dimension obtained via fractal theory explicitly clearly demonstrated that SS + SA had more loose pore channels than other mixed samples. This provided a convenient approach to ensure the evaporation and migration of moisture and thereby shorten the drying time effectively. Consequently, the addition of sludge ash as a drying accelerator can promote the deep dewatering of sludge.