Preliminary investigation on the effect of earthworm and vegetation for sludge treatment in sludge treatment reed beds system

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.