Sludge Heating for Municipal, Industrial, & Agricultural Applications

More and more WWTP are considering the use of Anaerobic digestion because it allow for a faster rate of solids destruction, increased solids loading, and a greater through put through the plant. Anaerobic digestion is a biological process that breaks down for organic solids. Heat exchangers can face the following challenges when heating sludge:

_ Live steam used to provide heat for heat exchangers creates hot spots where sludge can burn and build-up plugging the heat exchanger tubes. This increases maintenance costs and an increase pressure drop across the heat exchanger
_ Upgrading from mesophillic to thermophilic often require multiple Heat Exchangers in series to achieve the necessary temperature rise
_ Increased pressure drop adds demand to the sludge pumps thus increasing energy usage.
_ Temperature control problems can be present as there is a lag time from slurry entering and then being discharged.