Concentration of dilute sewage sludge slurry using EB crosslinked fast response temperature sensitive poly (vinyl methyl ether) hydrogel

Electron beam (EB) irradiation technique has been utilised to create non-homogeneous fast response temperature sensitive poly (vinyl methyl ether) (PVME) hydrogels. The crosslinked hydrogels were swollen in dilute sewage sludge samples at room temperature and dewatering was achieved by deswelling the hydrogels at 323 K. The results show that 1g gel could remove 9 to 12g of water from 25g of sludge, in ten cycles. The effect of various factors such as swelling/deswelling cycle time, solid content of sludge on the removal efficiency of water removal process has been investigated. (author)