TG-FTIR Analysis of Sewage Sludge: Influence of Moisture and Atmosphere

Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), coupled with Fourier transform infrared analysis (TG-FTIR) of sewage sludge was carried out to investigate the influence of moisture and oxygen on gas evolution during pyrolysis of sewage sludge. Wet sewage sludge with moisture of 86.47(wt. %) was collected from Shanghai, China. Wet sewage sludge and air dried sewage sludge were used in TG-FTIR analysis, while combustion (air flow) and pyrolysis (nitrogen flow) were separately introduced to achieve comparison. In condition of dry sewage sludge pyrolysis, there were two peaks representing release of separately moisture and volatile. Weight lost 85% in the temperature range of 25-600 °C while the main volatile matters were released before 600 °C. When air flow was introduced, a third peak of char combustion occurred. Wet sewage sludge made no much difference, except for the relatively outstanding peak of moisture release. Temperature regions for each stage were the same for wet and dry sewage sludge from TG curve. However, from the FTIR analysis, ammonia has two peaks between 50 and 450 °C in pyrolysis while ammonia has only one peak between 50 and 300°C.