Recently, production of sewage and wastewater sludge have increased sharply with the population density and related industrial activity. As a result, studies of sludge treatment and reduction have been conducted and a pre-treatment method that uses thermal hydrolysis has emerged as a solution to this problem. To address problems with the thermal hydrolysis pre-treatment process, the deaeration and nitrogen recovery processes have been set up together, thus generating factors that inhibit dewaterability. In this study, the effect of pre-treatment, deaerated sludge on dewaterability-inhibiting factors (pH, temperature, aeration rate) was evaluated and alternative solutions were prepared. First, the dewaterability improvement effect increased rapidly at 190°C or higher when thermal hydrolysis pre-treatment was applied. Then, 1 L of thermal hydrolysis pre-treatment reactants at 190°C were injected into 1, 5, and 10 L/min air flows at 50°C, but no significant difference in capillary suction time (CST) or time to filter (TTF) was found. The dewaterability improved when the temperatures of the pre-treatment reactants varied between 30, 50, and 70°C under aeration at 5 L/min. However, when the pH was increased to 7, 9, or 11 at 5 L/min and 50°C, the dewaterability worsened by at least 10 times relative to the hydrolysis pre-treatment reactants. The zeta potential decreased from -30 mV to -50 mV as the pH increased. Thus, the stabilities and dispersities of the reactants increased due to the repulsive force of the particles. This was confirmed to be the cause of poor dewaterability. A coagulant can be used to solve to this problem, or the deaeration process can be placed after solid-liquid separation and the heat of thermal hydrolysis can be extracted via heat exchanger.

The chlorination pattern of naphthalene vapor when passed through a 1 cm particle bed of 0.5% (mass) copper (II) chloride (CuCl2) mixed with silicon dioxide (SiO2) was studied. Gas streams consisting of 92% (molar) N2, 8% O2 and 0.1% naphthalene vapor were introduced to an isothermal flow reactor containing the CuCl2/SiO2 particle bed. Chlorination of naphthalene was studied from 100 to 400 °C at a gas velocity of 2.7 cm/s. Mono through hexachlorinated naphthalene congeners were observed at 250 °C whereas a broader distribution of polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) including hepta and octachlorinated naphthalenes was observed at 300 °C. PCN production was peak at 250 °C with 3.07% (molar) yield, and monochloronaphthalene (MCN) congeners were the major products at two different temperatures. In order to assess the effect of a residence time on naphthalene chlorination, an experiment was also conducted at 300 °C with a gas velocity of 0.32 cm/s. The degree of naphthalene chlorination increased as a gas velocity decreased.

The generation of TiO2 nanoparticles by a thermal decomposition of titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) was carried out experimentally using a tubular electric furnace at various synthesis temperatures (700, 900, 1100 and 1300℃) and precursor heating temperatures (80, 95 and 110℃). Effects of degree of crystallinity, surface area and anatase mass fraction of those TiO2 nanoparticles on photocatalytic properties such as decomposition of methylene blue was investigated. Results show that the primary particle diameter obtained from thermal decomposition of TTIP was considerably smaller than the commercial photocatalyst (Degussa, P25). Also, those specific surface areas were more than 134.4 m2/g. Resultant TiO2 nanoparticles showed improved photocatalytic activity compared with Deggusa P25. This is contributed to the higher degree of crystallinity, surface area and anatase mass fraction of TiO2 nanoparticles compared with P25.

This study examined the catalytic destruction of 1,2-dichlorobenzene on V2O5/TiO2 nanoparticles. The V2O5/TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by the thermal decomposition of vanadium oxytripropoxide and titanium. The effects of the synthesis conditions, such as the synthesis temperature and precursor heating temperature, were investigated. The specific surface areas of V2O5/TiO2 nanoparticles increased with increasing synthesis temperature and decreasing precursor heating temperature. In addition, the removal efficiency of 1,2-dichlorobenzene was promoted by a decrease in heating temperature. However, the removal efficiency of 1, 2-dichlorobenzene was decreased by an anatase to rutile phase transformation at temperatures 1,300℃.