title: Preliminary investigation on the effect of earthworm and vegetation for sludge treatment in sludge treatment reed beds system.
abstract: Sewage sludge treatment is becoming one of the most significant challenges for domestic wastewater management. Optimization of sludge management for reducing sludge handling cost in wastewater treatment plant is highly demanded. Sludge treatment reed bed system (STRB) is an eco-environmentally friendly technology which has a low investment input and reduced costs for operation and maintenance. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of earthworm assistant STRB in terms of sludge dewatering and stabilization of surplus sludge. The results show that draining and evapotranspiration (ET) take the main role for sludge dewatering; with maximum of 77 and 43 % water was removed through draining and ET, respectively. Plants improved ET rate up to 13.1 % in the planted STRB compare with the unplanted STRB. The combination of plants and earthworms increased ET rate of 20.9 % more than the control STRB (unplanted without earthworms). The planted STRB with earthworm reached the lowest water content in accumulated sludge of 46 %. There was a systematic increase of total solids (TS) concentration from 0.5 % in the influent to 25-54 % in the accumulated sludge. Earthworms enhanced the sludge stabilization dramatic with the ratio of volatile solids (VS)/TS decreased from 49 % in the influent to 18 % in the accumulated sludge in the earthworm assistant STRB. The results demonstrated a good efficiency for sludge dewatering and stabilization with the assistant of earthworms in STRBs, which can be an alternative technology for sludge treatment in wastewater treatment plants.
authors.affiliation: College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Shizishan 1, 430070, Wuhan, China.|Department of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 16521, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Zhongbing
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8801-4842
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Shizishan 1, 430070, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Shanshan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Shizishan 1, 430070, Wuhan, China. hucx@mail.hzau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Chengxiao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, 541004, Guilin, China.
authors.forename: Liangliang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 200093, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Hongbo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 16521, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vymazal
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D009835:Oligochaeta / Q000502:physiology*; D012722:Sewage; D018505:Waste Management / Q000379:methods*; D014867:Water; D060753:Water Quality; D053833:Wetlands; D019862:Zingiberales
chemical_list: D012722:Sewage; D014867:Water
keywords: Earthworms; Sludge dewatering; Sludge stabilization; Sludge treatment reed bed system