Analysis shows significant differences in sludge quality across urban and industrial sewage treatment plants, highlighting heavy metal concerns.
The current study aims to analyze the sludge characteristics of typical anaerobic–aerobic (AO) process sewage treatment plants (WWTPs) in the Taihu Lake basin, China. The study found that the majority of WWTPs employed plate and frame filter press dewatering with polyacrylamide as a flocculant material. T‐tests for organic matter and calorific value revealed a significant difference ( p ≤ 0.05) between urban and industrial WWTPs, with urban WWTPs being higher overall. The correlation analysis revealed that Cr, Cu, Pb, and As were significantly positively correlated ( p ≤ 0.001), whereas the principal component analysis revealed that the heavy metals in principal component 1 consist of As, Pb, Cu, Hg, and Cr (49.2% contribution), probably due to their common origin from electroplating, dyeing, and printing. The potential ecological risk assessment revealed that the levels of Cd, Hg, and Cu in sludge and sewage need to be strictly regulated.
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Li et al. (2025) studied this question.
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