Handling of water treatment plant sludge with eco-friendly manner through revenue generation to the National water supply and drainage board of Sri Lanka Isuri Perera 1 , D. N. P. Welikala 2 1 Institute of Chemistry Ceylon, College of Chemical Sciences, Sri Lanka, 2 National Water Supply and Drainage Board, Sri Lanka The main environmental issue with the water purification process is voluminous sludge generation and accumulation from water treatment plants. The research done to find out the best economic and environmentally sound option to the problem of sludge disposal and management in Sri Lanka. Reuse of sludge is a cost effective solution to this environmental problem. Due to large amount of sludge production and considerable cost of sludge disposal, Biyagama, Kadana, Labugama and Kalatuwawa water treatment plants were considered. This study investigates the potential usage of incorporating drinking water treatment plant sludge generated as a partial substitute for clay in making cricket turf and clay crafts in handicraft sector. The clay composition, organic matter content and heavy metal content of all 04 water treatment plants were analyzed. The potential usage in making cricket turf was assessed by comparing the results with the parameters of clay used to make cricket turf of Colombo Colts Cricket Club. Clay content shall be >50% by mass for the cricket turf applications, but WTP sludge contains only 0 – 31% of clay contents. Organic matter contents shall be <4%, but WTP sludge contains 3.3 %– 20.3%. Therefore the water treatment sludge does not conform as it’s for the application of cricket turf. The sludge generated from Kadana water treatment plant was found suitable for making handicrafts in the mixing ratio of 2:1 (red clay: water treatment plant sludge) having an acceptable shrinkage value, good clay body strength, normal odder and less breakage possibility in product after firing. The heavy metals present in Kadana sludge complying with environmental regulations. References 1. Hidalgo, A. M.; Murcia, M. D.; Gómez, M.; Gómez, E.; García-Izquierdo, C.; Solano, C. Possible Uses for Sludge from Drinking Water Treatment Plants. J. Environ. Eng. 2017 , 143 (3). https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)ee.1943-7870.0001176. 2. Nair, A. T.; Ahammed, M. M. Coagulant Recovery from Water Treatment Plant Sludge and Reuse in Post-Treatment of UASB Reactor Effluent Treating Municipal Wastewater. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 2014 , 21 (17), 10407–10418. https://doi. org/10.1007/s11356-014-2900-1.Elangovan, C.; Subramanian, K. Reuse of Alum Sludge in Clay Brick Manufacturing. Water Sci. Technol. Water Supply 2011 , 11 (3), 333–341. https://doi.org/10.2166/ws.2011.055 3. Andrew D. Eaton, Eugene W. Rice, R. B. B. 3111 Meatals by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. In Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, 23rd Edition; APHA, 2017; pp 3-16-3–17. 4. British Standards Institution. BS 1377-3: 1990 Methods of Test for Soils for Civil Engineering Purposes Part 3: Chemical and Electro-Chemical Tests. Br. Stand. 2003 , No. March, 2–5.Gelman, F.; Binstock, R.; Halicz, L. Application of the Walkley- Black Titration for the Organic Carbon Quantification in Organic Rich Sedimentary Rocks. Fuel 2012 , 96, 608–610. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2011.12.053. 5. Jha, P.; Biswas, A. K.; Lakaria, B. L.; Saha, R.; Singh, M.; Rao, A. S. Predicting Total Organic Carbon Content of Soils from Walkley and Black Analysis. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal. 2014 , 45 (6), 713–725. https://doi.org/10.1080/00103624.2013.8 74023.
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