Abstract
The use of solid sorbents to capture trace metals (e.g., Pb, Zn and Cd) in sewage sludge, generated from the wastewater treatment process of a Picture-Tube factory, during fluidized bed incineration was investigated experimentally in this study. All experiments were carried out in a 90 mm I.D. laboratory scale fluidized bed using various sorbents including limestone, alumina, silica sand and bentonite. The variations in operating conditions included incineration temperature, sorbent species, air flow rate and incineration time. The amounts of metals captured in the sorbents were measured using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry after acid digestion. The results indicate that bentonite is best for zinc capturing and alumina for lead capturing. The volume of sewage sludge can be reduced to at most 40% using fluidized bed incineration.
