A Improving the Waste-activated Sludge Dewaterability by Combined Microwave Irradiation and β-Cyclodextrin Pretreatment

Microwave irradiation and beta-cyclodextrin were investigated for sludge dewatering with combined conditioning in this study. Capillary suction time (CST) and specific resistance of filtration (SRF) were used to evaluate the sludge dewaterability. Protein, polysaccharide contents in supernatant and zeta potential were determined in an attempt to explain the observed changes in the conditioning process. With a combination of beta-cyclodextrin and microwave irradiation pretreatment presented clear advantages over beta-cyclodextrinconditioning alone for improving sludge dewaterability. It showed that with the pre-conditioning of microwave irradiation, the dosage of beta-cyclodextrin could reduce by 40% and the amount of protein and polysaccharide significantly increased in the sludge supernatant.