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Biodegradation potential of bulking agents used in sludge

bio-drying and their contribution to bio-generated heat
Ling Zhao, Wei-Mei Gu, Pin-Jing He*, Li-Ming Shao
State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, College of
Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, PR China

article info

abstract

Article history:

Straw and sawdust are commonly used bulking agents in sludge composting or bio-drying.

Received 14 July 2010

It is important to determine if they contribute to the biodegradable volatile solids pool. A

Received in revised form

sludge bio-drying process was performed in this study using straw, sawdust and their

1 January 2011

combination as the bulking agents. The results revealed that straw has substantial

Accepted 13 January 2011

biodegradation potential in the aerobic process and sawdust has poor capacity to be

Available online 22 January 2011

degraded. The temperature profile and bio-drying efficiency were highest in the trial that
straw was added, as indicated by a moisture removal ratio and VS loss ratio of 62.3 and

Keywords:

31.0%, respectively. In separate aerobic incubation tests, straw obtained the highest oxygen

Dewatered sludge

uptake rate (OUR) of 2.14 and 4.75 mg O2 g
1VS h
1 at 35  C and 50  C, respectively, while

Straw

the highest OUR values of sludge were 12.1 and 5.68 mg O2 g
1VS h
1 at 35  C and 50  C and

Sawdust

those of sawdust were 0.286 and 0.332 mg O2 g
1VS h
1, respectively. The distribution of

Bio-drying

biochemical fractions revealed that soluble fractions in hot water and hot neutral deter-

Biodegradability

gent were the main substrates directly attacked by microorganisms, which accounted for

Bio-generated heat

the initial OUR peak. The cellulose-like fraction in straw was transformed to soluble
fractions, resulting in an increased duration of aerobic respiration. Based on the potential
VS degradation rate, no bio-generated heat was contributed by sawdust, while that
contribution by straw was about 41.7% and the ratio of sludge/straw was 5:1 (w/w, wet
basis).
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1.

Introduction

Sludge bio-drying is a novel alternative method of composting to treat dewatered sludge (Velis et al., 2009). In sludge biodrying, the wastes are dried by the thermal energy released
from aerobic decomposition of degradable organic matters.
Moisture removal makes the lower calorific value be
increased and the viscosity and odors be reduced. It has been
demonstrated that bio-drying is a prospective method of
volume reduction and pre-stabilization that benefits shortterm storage, transportation and incineration (Zhang et al.,

2008; Navaee-Ardeh et al., 2010). However, dewatered

sludge contains few biodegradable organic substances,
a higher moisture content and poor porous biomass matrix.
Due to their widespread availability, straw and sawdust are
commonly used as bulking agents in sludge bio-drying or
composting to provide favorable free air space (FAS) and
regulate the moisture content (Mohajer et al., 2009; Iqbal
et al., 2010). Most studies attribute the enhancement of
composting efficiency by bulking agents to optimization of
the physical structure of composting material, but few
studies have considered the biodegradation of bulking agents

* Corresponding author. Tel./fax: 86 21 6598 6104.

E-mail address: solidwaste@tongji.edu.cn (P.-J. He).
0043-1354/$ e see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.watres.2011.01.014

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during the process (Zorpas and Loizidou, 2008; Tremier et al.,

2009; Yanez et al., 2009). Indeed, some studies assume that
these materials are recalcitrant, and their contribution to
organic degradation can be neglected (Yamada and Kawase,
2006).
Straw and sawdust are rich in lignocellulose and the
degradation of the plant cell walls of these materials is often
inefficient. This is because most polymers of cellulose and
hemicellulose are either insoluble or blocked by the insoluble
matrix (Dinis et al., 2009). However, given a specific environment and sufficient time, such recalcitrant organic materials
might be exploited more or less. It has been reported that
cellulose was more extensively degraded than hemicellulose
and lignin by microbial isolates as inoculants during composting of pepper plant waste and rice straw. Furthermore, if
the microorganisms were selected appropriately for the
characteristics of the raw material, the final lignin content
could be decreased by 14.3e24.3% (Vargas-Garca et al., 2007).
Petric studied poultry manure composting using different
percentages of added wheat straw and reported that in 13
days, the organic matter losses were 34.3, 38.8 and 25.1% in
samples containing 26.5, 17 and 12% (dry basis) added straw,
respectively. However, it was difficult to explain that adding
more wheat straw gave higher biodegradable carbon (Petric
et al., 2009).
In fact, many reports have implied that bulking agents play
a significant role as carbon sources or a substrate (Vuorinen,
2000). These studies have all mentioned that C/N ratio is an
important parameter influenced by bulking agents, indicating
that the bulking agents participate in mineralization (Chang
and Chen, 2010). However, all of these studies have focused
on the biochemical evolution of the mixtures, while the
contribution of the bulking agents has been unclear until now
(Marche et al., 2003; Zhang et al., 2010). The composting
materials are divided into easily biodegradable fraction,
slowly biodegradable fraction and inert fraction without distinguishing the substrate and bulking agents (de Guardia et al.,
2008). Only Mason stated that woodchips likely made
a substantial contribution to the biodegradable volatile solids
pool in bovine manure composting with a high moisture
content of 80% (Mason et al., 2004).
Sludge bio-drying is an approach of biomass energy utility
and temperature is the most important indicator. High
temperatures (>55  C) enable the moisture to shift to vapor
and enhance the vapor pressure of the air-flow passing
through the matrix to carry more moisture out (Frei et al.,
2004; Navaee-Ardeh et al., 2006). Thus the biodegradation
potential of a bulking agent would significantly influence the
bio-drying process by the bio-generated heat. Also the physical structure and moisture content of the materials are
influenced by the decay of bulking agents. Moreover, when
compared with composting (40e60 d), sludge bio-drying
requires much less time (13e18 d) (Roca-Perez et al., 2009).
Therefore, the objectives of this study were as follows: 1) To
investigate the biodegradation potential of straw and sawdust
separately compared with sludge itself under conditions
similar to those used for sludge bio-drying; 2) To analyze the
mechanisms resulting in the difference in biomass degradability; 3) To evaluate the bio-generated heat contributed by
bulking agents in bio-drying.

2.

Materials and methods

2.1.

Dewatered sludge and bulking agents

The dewatered sewage sludge was obtained from a local

municipal wastewater treatment plant in Shanghai, China.
The plant treats 75,000 m3 d
1 of wastewater (93% domestic
and 7% industrial sewage) using anaerobiceanoxiceoxic
process. Sludge was dewatered by centrifuge with addition of
organic flocculating agents. Chopped rice straw of 0.5e3 mm
and powdery sawdust were used as bulking agents. Sawdust
was the by-product of a wood working manufacturing facility
produced by crushing various types of wood. The characteristics of the raw materials are presented in Table 1.

2.2.

Experimental method

2.2.1.

Sludge bio-drying process with different bulking agents

The bio-drying process was conducted in column reactors

made of PVC plastic with volumes of 85 L (Fig. 1). The outer
wall of each column was wrapped with 100 mm thick hollow
cotton for thermal insulation. A layer of straw was covered
on the materials at the top of the column to prevent heat
loss and vapor condensation. A perforated baffle with
a 2 mm mesh was fixed above the bottom to support the
materials and facilitate aeration. A whirlpool pump (XGB-8,
Penghu Co., China) and a gas-flow meter (LZB-10, Shanghai
Instrument Co., China) were used for aeration. A time-based
aeration control system was adopted for intermittent O2
supply with a frequency of 10 min run/20 min stop. The airflow rate was 0.084 m3 h
1 kg
1 (wet basis), which was
relatively higher in bio-drying than composting to enhance
the moisture loss.
Three trials with different bulking agents were run: sludge/
straw/sawdust (Trial A), sludge/straw (Trial B) and sludge/
sawdust (Trial C). The ratio of sludge/bulking agent was 5:1
(w/w, wet basis) and the total weight of feedstock was 18 kg.
For Trial A, the proportion of sludge:straw:sawdust was 5:
0.33: 0.67. Because this study was designed to evaluate the
degradation potential of bulking agents, attempts were made
to avoid differences in physical structures resulting from
straw and sawdust. Namely, the volume of the feedstock was
not very large and the materials were turned every 2 days to
homogenize the materials. During the bio-drying process,
matrix temperature was monitored using a thermometer
(WMY-01 C, Huachen Co., China) with sensors located at the
top, middle and bottom of the matrix.

Table 1 e The characteristics of the raw materials.

Sludge
Moisture content (%)
VS (%, dry basis)
TOC (%, dry basis)
TN (%, dry basis)
Calorific value
(MJ kg
1dry matter)

78.4
66.3
35.6
6.24
163







0.53
0.18
0.35
0.10
0.71

Straw
11.0
88.5
39.6
1.01
158







0.25
0.19
0.05
0.08
1.83

Sawdust
9.01 
96.2 
47.7 
0.514 
179 

0.31
0.21
0.01
0.002
0.99

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w a t e r r e s e a r c h 4 5 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 2 3 2 2 e2 3 3 0

Fig. 1 e Experimental equipment for sludge bio-drying.

The aerobic degradability of straw and sawdust was investigated separately through incubation at constant temperature
(Barrena et al., 2009). To provide the bulking agents with
a similar environment as that used in bio-drying, the moisture
content of straw and sawdust was adjusted using the supernatant of mixed sludge from the aeration tank, which simultaneously functioned as an inoculant. The solid content of the
supernatant was 0.528 g L
1 and the adjusted moisture
content of the straw and sawdust was 77.3  0.053 and
71.6  0.012, respectively.
About 14 g (dry weight) of sludge, straw and sawdust were
placed into 1.5 L Erlenmeyer flasks and incubated hermetically
in 35  C and 50  C incubators. To ensure aerobic respiration of
the materials, the sludge was spread on the inner wall of the
flask to form a thin layer (Fig. 2). The straw and sawdust were
spread dispersedly on the bottom of the flask and enough free
air space can be formed. Before sealing, the flasks were
aerated with fresh air. During the incubation, about 50 mL of
gas was extracted from the flasks at intervals of 12 h or 24 h
and the O2 content was measured using a detector (CYS-1,
Xuelian Co., China). After sampling, fresh air was aerated into
the flasks again and the incubation was continued. The total

incubation time was 16 days and all tests were conducted in

duplicate.
The OUR (mg O2 g
1VS h
1) was calculated as:

OUR

21%
C  V  32  1000
22:4  Wvs  t

(1)

where C is the O2 content in the flask after a period of time(t);

21% is the O2 content of the fresh air, which is regarded as
the initial value by the O2 detector; 32 is the molecular weight
of O2 (g mol
1); V is the volume of the flask (L); Wvs is the
weight of the volatile solid at time t (g); t is the period of
time (h).

70
65
Average temperature of matrix ( C )

2.2.2. Separate aerobic respiration and degradation test of the

three materials

Turning

60
55
50
45
40
35
30
25
20

Room temperature
0

10

12

14

Time (d)
Trial A: Sludge/Straw/Sawdust
Trial B: Sludge/Straw
Trial C: Sludge/Sawdust

Fig. 2 e Erlenmeyer flasks for aerobic incubation of sludge,

straw and sawdust separately with the intermittent
replacement of fresh air.

Fig. 3 e Temperature evolution of sludge bio-drying with

different bulking agents (Trial A: Straw and sawdust; Trial
B: Straw; Trial C: Sawdust).

2325

w a t e r r e s e a r c h 4 5 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 2 3 2 2 e2 3 3 0

Table 2 e Mass balance of the sludge and bulking agents mixture after 13 days of bio-drying.
Trials

Trial A
a

Total mixture (kg)

Dry matter (kg)
Moisture (kg)
VS (kg)
TOC (kg)
TKN (kg)
COD (kg)

Trial B
a

Trial C
a

Initial

Final

Removal ratio

Initial

Final

Removal ratio

Initial

Final

Removal ratio

18.0
6.04
12.0
4.64
2.15
1.31
3.26

11.1
4.95
6.15
3.50
1.54
0.927
2.24

38.3%
18.0%
48.8%
24.5%
28.7%
29.0%
31.3%

18.0
5.67
12.3
4.20
1.92
1.39
3.06

9.34
4.69
4.65
2.90
1.39
0.988
2.09

48.1%
17.3%
62.3%
31.0%
27.9%
28.9%
31.6%

18.0
5.96
12.0
4.68
2.29
1.23
3.50

11.2
5.10
6.10
3.77
1.67
0.981
2.45

37.8%
14.4%
49.3%
19.4%
26.8%
20.1%
29.9%

a Due to the heterogeneity of the mixture, there is a little variance between the measured value and the calculated value based on the
proportion of the raw materials (SD < 0.169). Here is the measured value.

2.3.

Analytical methods

oxygen demand (COD) was determined by dichromate oxidation (GB 9834e1988). A calorimeter (MTUM-A4, China) was
used to evaluate the calorific value.
After air-drying at 60  C, the samples were fractionated by
a modified version of the method proposed by Van Soest. (Van
Soest and Wine, 1967; Parnaudeau et al., 2004). The hot water
soluble fraction (W100  C) was extracted with distilled water
at 100  C for 30 min, after which it was extracted with a neutral
detergent at 100  C for 60 min as an additional soluble fraction
(SOL). The hemicellulose-like (HEM), cellulose-like (CEL) and
lignin-like (LIG) fractions were sequentially obtained

35

Sludge
Straw
Sawdust

12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Time (h)

Oxygen uptake rate (mg O g VS)

7
50

Sludge
Straw
Sawdust

6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0

50

100

150

200

Time (h)

250

300

350

Cumulative oxygen consumption (mg O g VS)

Oxygen uptake rate (mg O2

VS h )

14

Cumulative oxygen consumption (mg O g VS)

Determination of the moisture content of samples was conducted after drying at 105  C for 24 h. Volatile solids (VS) were
analyzed at 550  C for 5 h. The C and N content of the materials
were analyzed using an element analyzer (Vario EL , Elementar, Germany). The total organic carbon (TOC) was
analyzed using a TC/TN analyzer with a solid sample module
(TOC-V CPN, TNM-1, SSM-5000A, SHIMADZU, Japan). The total
Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) was analyzed using an auto Kjeldahl
determination system (8400, FOSS, Sweden). The chemical

700

35

Sludge
Straw
Sawdust

600
500
400
300
200
100
0
0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Time (h)

50

Sludge
Straw
Sawdust

700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Time (h)

Fig. 4 e The respective oxygen uptake rate and cumulative oxygen consumption of sludge, straw and sawdust at 35  C and
50  C.

2326

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Results and discussion

3.1.
Operation of the sludge bio-drying process with
different bulking agents
The average temperature of the bottom, middle and top of the
matrix during the sludge bio-drying process is presented in
Fig. 3. The temperature increased rapidly and reached the
peak values of 54.6  C, 51.4  C and 54.7  C in Trial A, B and C,
respectively in 2 days, after which a tendency to decrease was
observed, despite of turning. An obvious second temperature
peak appeared at 5e6 d during trial B when straw was used as
the only bulking agent. The temperature for all trials was
maintained at a medium level for about 9 days, while it
decreased rapidly during the last 2 days. Overall, trial B conducted using straw as the sole bulking agent produced the
highest temperature, while trial C with sawdust produced the
lowest value.
The initial higher temperatures of Trial A and C can be
attributed to the larger specific surface area of the sawdust,
while straw increased the duration of the process. Shin and
Jeong explained that the secondary temperature peak is an
indication of cellulose degradation after readily degradable
matter is consumed (Shin and Jeong, 1996). Another possible
reason was speculated for the second peak is recovery of the
thermophilic microbial population, and turning can also
improve the aerobic conditions and cause a second temperature rise (Petric et al., 2009). However, in this bio-drying
process, the matrix temperature was relatively low than the
usual composting process due to the greater aeration, so the
influence of recovered activity of thermophilic microbial
population should be neglected. Turning also likely had little
influence on the second temperature increase due to the
frequent turning made a favorable aerobic conditions and
homogeneous mixture.
Table 2 presents the mass balance of the mixture before
and after the process. After 13 days of bio-drying, the water
removal ratio of trial A, B and C was 48.8%, 62.3% and 49.3%

Biochemical fractions ( g 100 g-1 DM)

100

90
a: Sludge
b: Straw
c: Sawdust

70
60

ASH
LIG
CEL
HEM
SOL
W100C

50
40
30
20
10

100

0d

16 d, 35C

16 d , 50C

Fig. 5 e Biochemical fractions (Van Soest method) of

sludge, straw and sawdust before and after 16 days of
aerobic incubation at 35  C and 50  C.

(2)

a b

a b

a b

a b

a b

90
80

35C

70

a: Straw
b: Sawdust

60
50

ASH
LIG
CEL
HEM
SOL
W100C

40
30
20
10
0

96

192

288

384

a b

a b

Time (h)
a b

a b

a b

90
80

50 C

70

a: Straw
b: Sawdust

60
50

ASH
LIG
CEL
HEM
SOL
W100 C

40
30
20
10
0



1
DM DM$VS DM$1
VS

dW
dVS
dASH

In which, BD is the total bulk density on a wet basis (kg m
3).

dW, dVS and dASH are the density of water, volatile fraction and
inorganic fraction (ash) respectively. dVS and dASH were
assumed to equal 2.5  103 and 1.6  103 kg m
3. The results
were that the initial FAS for Trial A, B and C was 60.2%, 69.7%
and 52.0%. After 4 days bio-drying, the values were 61.7%,
71.8% and 53.3%. At the end of the process, the values were
62.6%, 73.5% and 55.2% respectively. They were in a range of
adaptive requirement in the composting of mixtures (Ruggieri
et al., 2008). On one hand, water removal increases the FAS; on
the other hand, degradation of organic matters makes the
materials collapse and decreases the FAS. The change of FAS
depends on that which effect is predominant. The FAS in this
study all increased indicating that the influence of water
removal was larger than that of biodegradation.

100

80

FAS 1
BD$

Biochemical fractions ( g 100 g-1 DM)

3.

and the total water loss was 5.88, 7.42 and 5.94 kg respectively.
The VS loss ratio of the mixture was 24.5, 31.0 and 19.4% for
trial A, B and C, respectively. During the process, the moisture
and VS content all decreased most rapidly for Trial B when
straw was used as the bulking agent. The loss ratio of the VS,
TOC, TKN and COD of the mixture were all highest for Trial B.
More biodegradable organic matters generated more heat
resulting higher temperature, which in return enhanced the
organic matters degradation.
The free air space (FAS) of the matrix was calculated by Eq.
(2) (Richard et al., 2004; Ruggieri et al., 2009; Iqbal et al., 2010).

Biochemical fractions ( g 100 g -1 DM )

following the AOAC standard using a crude fiber extractor

(FiberteCap, 2023; Foss, Sweden). The biochemical fractions
were expressed as g 100 g
1 of DM (dry matter).

96

192

288

384

Time (h)

Fig. 6 e Evolution of biochemical fractions (Van Soest

method) of straw and sawdust during 16 days aerobic
incubation at 35  C and 50  C.

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Table 3 e The volatile solid (VS) loss ratio of the sludge, straw and sawdust after 16 days of aerobic incubation at 35  C and
50  C.
Materials
0d

Sludge
VS (%, dry basis)
VS (g)
VS (%, dry basis)

16 d

VS (g)
VS loss ratio (%)

35
50
35
50

35
50
35
50

C

C

C

C
C
C

C

C


3.2.
The aerobic respiration of bulking agents compared
with sludge
After the raw materials were mixed and degraded, it was
difficult to isolate them from each other completely. Even
though the sludge could be washed off from the straw, the
residual straw only represented the fractions that had not
been degraded. Specifically, the wheat straw apex was more
readily attacked than the basal portion. After the bio-drying
process, visual evidence of degradation was observed at the
exposed surface of the straw, while no visible decay was
observed at the cut surface (Dresboll and Jakob Magid, 2006).
Therefore, in this study, the bulking agents were incubated
separately in a similar environment with in sludge bio-drying
to investigate the respective degradability.
The oxygen uptake rate (OUR) and cumulative oxygen
consumption of the three materials during 16 days of incubation are presented in Fig. 4. The results revealed that sludge
obtained its highest OUR of 12.1 mg O2 g
1VS h
1 during the
initial 0e6 h when incubated at 35  C, after which the OUR
decreased rapidly to below 2 mg O2 g
1VS h
1 in 50 h. At 50  C,
the highest OUR of 5.68 mg O2 g
1VS$h
1 was delayed until
144 h. This was likely because additional time was required for
the microorganisms to acclimatize themselves to the higher
temperature. For sludge, the rapid decrease in the OUR after
peak respiration and the lack of a second peak indicated that
the sludge bio-drying process cannot last long unless the
bulking agents provide additional bio-generated heat.
Straw showed strong biodegradability as a bulking agent.
The maximum OUR of 2.14 and 4.75 mg O2 g
1VS h
1 was
obtained at 18 h at 35  C and 50  C, respectively. Moreover,
there were two peak values observed when straw was used as
the bulking agent, regardless of temperature, and the second
peak appeared at around 120 h at 35  C and 200 h at 50  C.

Straw

Sawdust

66.3
2.61
2.68
57.3
57.1







0.18
0.09
0.00
0.58
0.65

88.5 
7.39 
6.99 
85.6 
84.7 

0.19
1.36
0.29
0.12
0.18

96.2 
14.1 
14.2 
96.5 
96.4 

1.78
1.74
31.9
35.1






0.10
0.20
1.61
0.00

5.70 
5.00 
22.9 
28.5 

1.00
0.27
0.72
1.01

15.6  0.48
15.1  0.09

10.7  0.67

6.66  1.27

0.21
0.35
0.25
0.02
0.04

During the bio-drying process, there was also a second peak in

the temperature profile. These results suggest that the organic
fraction of straw was degraded during the bio-drying process
and contributed to the biomass heat, even though the conditions of flask incubation and the bio-drying process were not
completely the same.
Sawdust in flask showed poorer biodegradability than
straw and sludge. The maximum OUR of sawdust was achieved at the 18 h, and was 0.286 and 0.332 mg O2 g
1VS h
1 at
35  C and 50  C, respectively. Although the OUR of sawdust
was low, a second peak value also existed.
The cumulative oxygen consumption of sludge during 16
days of incubation was greater than that of straw and sawdust
(Fig. 4). However, it is important to note that the VS content of
the sludge was much lower than that of straw and sawdust.
Therefore, during the bio-drying process, the available carbon
source from the bulking agent for heat generation should not
be ignored.

3.3.
Organic matter change for interpreting the
difference of biomass degradability
The distribution of Van Soest fractions makes it possible to
characterize the bio-accessibility of different organic materials. As shown in Fig. 5, the easily soluble fractions W100  C
and SOL in sludge were obviously larger than in straw, and
much larger than in sawdust. This difference explains why
the highest initial OUR was observed for sludge. Previous
studies have also reported that the soluble fraction from wood
chips was negligible when compared to the soluble fractions
from sludge (de Guardia et al., 2008).
During incubation, the CEL fraction in straw showed
a remarkable reduction, while in sawdust, little reduction was
observed (Fig. 6). The content of W100  C and SOL in sawdust

Table 4 e The initial and end calorific value of the sludge, straw and sawdust after 16 days aerobic incubation.
Calorific value

Sludge
Initial

MJ kg
1 DM
MJ kg
1 VSa

163
246

Straw
Final

Initial

35  C

50  C

159
277

161
264

158
179

Sawdust
Final

Initial

35  C

50  C

156
182

155
183

a The calorific value per unit VS was calculated based on the VS content in Table 3.

179
186

Final
35  C

50  C

195
202

185
192

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Table 5 e Evaluation of bio-generated heat contributed by every material including sludge, straw and sawdust based on the
feedstock of the bio-drying process.
Trial A

Dry matter of feedstock (kg)

Initial VS (kg)
Final VS (kg)a
Bio-generated heat (MJ)
Contribution (%)

Trial B

Trial C

Sludge

Straw

Sawdust

Sludge

Straw

Sludge

Sawdust

3.24
2.15
1.43
142
80.6

0.89
0.788
0.585
34.2
19.4

1.82
1.75
1.75
0.00
0.00

3.24
2.15
1.43
142
58.3

2.67
2.36
1.76
102
41.7

3.24
2.15
1.43
142
100

2.73
2.63
2.63
0.00
0.00

a It is the average of the values at 35  C and 50  C.

decreased markedly, while in straw and sludge it changed

little. There was also a small change with the content of HEM in
the three materials (Fig. 5). These findings demonstrate that
the soluble fractions of W100  C and SOL were the main
substrates attacked directly by microorganisms, which
accounts for the initial OUR peak. The CEL fraction in straw was
transferred to the soluble fractions and was then utilized by
microorganisms, resulting in a high level of aerobic respiration,
while CEL in sawdust was more recalcitrant (Komilis, 2006;
Amir et al., 2008). Leconte stated that the carbonous materials determined the length of the thermophilic phase,
regardless of the mixing ratio (Leconte et al., 2009). A previous
report also stated that the soluble and cellulose-like fractions
in straw were the most biodegradable (Vargas-Garca et al.,
2007; Mottet et al., 2010). Komilis once stated that the retardation of CEL biodegradation is thought to be primarily due to
physical inhibition related to the sheathing of cellulose by
lignin rather than due to a chemical inhibition (e.g. sorption of
cellulolytic enzymes onto lignin). Lignin is present between
cellulose fibrils, decreasing the available surface area and
preventing ready access to the relatively easily degradable
cellulose by the invading microbes and enzymes (Komilis and
Ham, 2003).
After 16 days of aerobic incubation, the VS loss ratio of
straw was not much lower than that of sludge (Table 3), while
the VS of sawdust was almost unchanged and even increased
slightly. It may have adsorbed some organic matters during
the incubation.

3.4.
The potential contribution of bulking agents to biogenerated heat
The bio-drying process aimed to exploit the energy available in
biomass for water removal. Due to the high solid content and
VS content of straw, the contribution of its biomass energy
should be considerable. The bio-generated heat was calculated
based on the biodegraded volatile solid (BVS), namely the VS
loss (Gea et al., 2007). Many previous studies have recommended different values of combustion heat (Hc, MJ kg
1BVS)
based on the different nature of wastes. However, all recommended Hc values were about the mixture of substrates and
bulking agents (Haug, 1993; Navaee-Ardeh et al., 2006; Mason,
2009). In this study, the calorific value of the initial and final
material was measured and then used to calculate the
combustion heat per unit VS was calculated (Table 4).
The VS loss ratios of the mixture in Trial A, B and C during
13 days of bio-drying were 24.5, 31.0 and 19.4% (Table 2),

respectively, which were in the range of the values observed

during 16 days of incubation (Table 3). Therefore, the average
VS loss ratios obtained in the incubations at 35  C and 50  C
could be used to evaluate the potential heat bio-generated
during the bio-drying process (Table 5). Because there was no
VS loss measured in sawdust incubation, it was assumed that
sawdust contributed no bio-generated heat to the bio-drying
system. The contribution of straw was approximately 19.4% in
Trial A and 41.7% in Trial B. Moreover, as greater amounts of
straw were added, higher temperatures were obtained and
more energy was exploited.
When the lignocellulose-rich materials were used as
bulking agents during composting of easily biodegradable
substrates, the contribution of their biomass degradation was
negligible. Adhikari stated that for food waste composting
with chopped wheat straw, a higher temperature profile was
achieved under a higher food waste/straw ratio (2:1e8.9:1)
(Adhikari et al., 2009). Conversely, sludge contains a low
proportion of easily biodegradable organic materials (Lu et al.,
2008). Based on the results presented here, the contribution of
biomass energy in straw could be exploited due to its large
biodegradation potential. Therefore, straw is of great importance for sludge bio-drying.
In this study, the dewatered sewage sludge used was raw
sludge without anaerobic digestion. According to Gea et al.
(2007), the organic matter content of anaerobic digestion
sludge (52.6%, dry basis) was lower than raw sludge (60.4%, dry
basis) and, consequently, organic matter suitable for degradation could be more abundant in raw sludge. Initial value of OUR
for raw sludge was clearly higher than that for anaerobic
digestion sludge (Barrena et al., 2005; Gea et al., 2007). So if the
anaerobic digestion sludge was used for bio-drying, the contribution of bulking agent degradation will be more significant.

4.

Conclusions

The agriculture and wood wastes are preferable bulking

agents for sludge bio-drying, while these lignocellulosic-rich
materials are typically assumed to be poorly degraded. When
compared with composting, sludge bio-drying starts at
a relatively high moisture content (68e72%) and lasts for
a short time (12e16 days). This study investigated the
biodegradation potential of straw and sawdust separately
through aerobic incubation tests under conditions similar to
sludge bio-drying. The results showed that straw presented
strong degradability, especially at 50  C, while the

w a t e r r e s e a r c h 4 5 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 2 3 2 2 e2 3 3 0

degradability of sawdust was poor. The initial OUR of sludge

was high, but it decreased rapidly within 50 h. The respiration
of straw lasted longer and showed a second peak value at
about 120 h, which was considered to be related to the CEL
fractions in straw. Based on these findings, it can be inferred
that in sludge composting or bio-drying process, slowly
biodegradable fraction is from some bulking agents rather
than sludge itself, which contribute substantial amounts of
bio-generated heat to enhance the matrix temperature.
Therefore, when selecting a bulking agent it is important to
consider its physical structure as well as its biodegradability to
improve the efficiency of bio-drying.

Acknowledgment
The authors express appreciation to the following: 1) The Key
Special Program on the S&T for the Pollution Control and
Treatment of Water Bodies (No.2008ZX07317, No.2008ZX07316);
2) China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No.20090450732); 3)
Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality
(No.09R21415600).

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