Effect of influent organic content on digested sludge extracellular polymer content and dewaterability

The organic composition of the feed sludge to six laboratory-scale anaerobic digesters was adjusted by substituting a proportion of the primary sludge for glucose or propionic acid solution. Substitution with glucose caused an increase in the microbial extracellular polymer (ECP) content of the digested sludge, which altered the particle size distribution of the sludge and made the sludge more difficult to dewater. Substitution with propionic acid gave similar results to the control. The relationship between the digested sludge extracted ECP yield and sludge filtrability determined using the capillary suction time test was significant at the P = 0.01 level. The level of ECP for optimum sludge dewaterability was calculated as 17.2 mg g(-1) SS. The protein and carbohydrate composition of the extracted polymer did not appear to affect the sludge dewaterability. Results present will allow predictions to be made into the effect that changes in the influent sewage composition has on essential downstream processes. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.