Disinfecting and Stabilizing Biosolids Using E-Beam and Chemical Oxidants

The objective of this project was to demonstrate the disinfection and enhanced stabilization of municipal biosolids when high energy, 10-million electron volt (10 MeV) electron beam technology is coupled with oxidants such as chlorine dioxide and ferrate. Results indicate that 10 MeV E-beam is capable of cost effectively inactivating bacterial and viral pathogens in aerobically and anaerobically digested biosolids. This suggests that when E-beam is combined with ferrate, significant reductions of microbial pathogens, estrogenic compounds and biosolid stabilization can be achieved. In the future, wastewater treatment plants can be high-value resource recovery operations, not just sites for treatment and disposal of municipal wastes. Published by WERF. 148 pages. Online PDF. (2010)

Originally funded as WERF project U4R06.