Carbon footprints of incineration, pyrolysis, and gasification for sewage sludge treatment

Huimin Chang, Jiangyi Yuan, Yan Zhao*, Valentina Bisinella, Anders Damgaard, Thomas H. Christensen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Thermal technologies have gained increasing attention in sludge management. This study applied life cycle assessment to assess the impacts to climate change of ten technological configurations (TCs) treating sludge with incineration, gasification, and pyrolysis. We used distributions of process parameters for quantifying the associated uncertainties and considered different energy exchanges. In a 55 %-fossil energy system, the TCs with various thermal processes showed impacts to climate change in a wide range of −2000 to 2000 kg CO2 eq/t total solid. A probabilistic comparison indicated that with a 10 %-fossil energy system, TCs with gasification and pyrolysis showed a > 95 % probability of performing better than TCs with incineration. Energy consumption and dewatering parameters contributed significantly to the uncertainty due to their large variation and sensitivity. This study emphasized the potential of optimizing key parameters and provided evidence from a climate change perspective for better technological selection and development in sludge management.
Original languageEnglish
Article number107939
JournalResources, Conservation and Recycling
Volume212
Number of pages11
ISSN0921-3449
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2025

Keywords

  • Global sensitivity analysis
  • Life cycle assessment
  • Sewage sludge
  • Thermal technologies
  • Uncertainty analysis

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