Enhanced stabilization of digested sludge during long-term storage in anaerobic lagoons

The goal of this work was to study changes in anaerobically stored digested sludge under different lengths of storage time to evaluate the quality of final product biosolids. The analyses of collected data suggest the organic matter degradation occurrence in the anaerobic environment of the lagoon approximately within the first year. After that, the degradation becomes very slow, which is likely caused by unfavorable environmental conditions. The performance of lagoon aging of digested sludge was also compared to the performance of lagoon aging of anaerobically digested and dewatered sludge. It was concluded that both of these processes result in biosolids of comparative quality and that the former provides more economical solution to biosolids handling by eliminating the need for mechanical dewatering.