Harnessing renewable energy from municipalsewage sludge: A comprehensive review

Management of municipal sewage sludge generated in wastewater treatment plants is a majorproblem in many countries. Wastewater treatment involves sludge production, and sludgedisposal may cause substantial environmental damage. The increasing energy consumptiontrend in recent years has been a consequence of population growth, industrial development,and increased demand for fossil fuels. This has exacerbated the energy crisis, increasedgreenhouse gas emissions, global warming, and climate change, highlighting the need forrenewable energy sources. The high energy content and nutrient-rich characteristics ofsewage sludge have attracted engineers' attention towards its valuable utilization for energyrecovery. This review discusses various energy recovery methods from sewage sludge,including incineration, gasification, pyrolysis, and anaerobic digestion, along with studying thecharacteristics of municipal sewage sludge. Among the above methods, thermal treatments(incineration, gasification, and pyrolysis) are recommended due to their quick and highresponse. As gasification is performed in supercritical water conditions, no sludge drying isrequired, so it is a suitable method for extracting energy from sewage sludge

Harnessing renewable energy from municipalsewage sludge: A comprehensive review Keywords:

Energy recovery , Municipal sewage sludge , Wastewater treatment plant , Sludgemanagement.