Application of alkaline treatment for sludge decrement and humic acid recovery

A new method was introduced to reduce waste activated sludge and extract humic acid for liquid fertilizer. Sludge was disintegrated with NaOH (0.4 g/g dry solid, 8 h) and then centrifuged to obtain the supernatant. The residual sludge was then dewatered, while the supernatant was used to extract humic acid with an ultrafiltration membrane. The results showed that the alkaline treatment dissolved more than half of the sludge organic matter, which was composed of 24% humic acid by mass. After the supernatant was concentrated 20 times using a membrane with a molecular weight cutoff of 1000, the retentate contained 94.5% of the dissolved organics and could be used to produce humic acid fertilizer. Additionally, only 26% of the NaOH was consumed and the residual NaOH in the permeate flux could be reused. Due to the removal of water and organics, the dewatered sludge could be reduced by 60% when compared to samples that did not receive the alkaline treatment.