There are two primary sludge drying methods such as the direct heating microwave method and the indirect heating steam one. In this study, the drying treatment facility at sewage treatment plant A applied both of these drying methods. The research aimed to investigate the optimal operation approach for the drying facility, considering the input sludge and the moisture content data after the drying process. Moisture content and removal rate data were executed at the research facility from January 2016 to December 2018. First, the microwave, a direct heating drying method, performed intensive drying only on the outer surface of the sludge by directly applying heat to the sludge using far infrared rays, so effective sludge drying was not achieved. On the other hand, the steam method of the indirect heating method used steam from a gas boiler to maximize the utilization of the heat transfer area and reduce energy of the dryer, resulting in an effective sludge drying efficiency. The sludge moisture content brought into the sludge drying facility was about 80%, but the moisture content of the sludge that went through the drying facility was less than 10% of the design standard. Therefore, the steam method of the indirect heating method is more effective than the microwave method of the previous direct heating method and is more effective for maintenance It has proven that it is an efficient method of operating construction facilities.

This study was intended to investigate microwave drying characteristics of sweet potato. Two different shaped sweet potato samples (slice and shred with 6 and 9 mm in thickness, respectively) were dried under different microwave power ranging from 90 W to 900 W. Moisture ratio, drying rate, effective moisture diffusivity, dielectric properties and change in color during drying of the samples were determined. The domestic microwave oven was modified for drying of the samples. For ventilating water vapor during microwave drying, the small centrifugal fan was installed on the left upper side of microwave oven. Six well-known drying models were applied to figure out the best model for describing microwave drying curve of sweet potato. A non-linear regression analysis was used to calculate model constants. The applied models were compared based on the coefficient of correlation and root mean square error. Dielectric properties of fresh and dried samples at different drying time were measured using performance probe connected to vector network analyzer. The results showed that drying time of both samples was significantly decreased with an increase in microwave power, however, as compared with the sample shape, drying time of shredded samples was shorter than slice sample. The dried sample by 900 W was scorching and indicated the worst quality in terms of color. The Page model was most suitable for describing experimental drying data. The effective moisture diffusivity changes obtained from Fick’s diffusion method was between 0.057 ×10-8 and 2.353 × 10-8 The moisture diffusivity was increased with an increase in microwave power. The measured dielectric properties of sample at different drying time varied depending upon moisture contents of dried samples.

This research is a basic researching process for producing solid fuel that mixing paper sludge and Heat Transfer Medium Oil. Under the presence of Heat Transfer Medium Oil, paper sludge is heated and dried with home appliance microwave for comparing drying efficiency and energy efficiency of different types of drying method. As a result, Heat Transfer Medium Oil and paper mixing case of drying method, OMD, is the most efficient way to shorten the time for evaporating moisture in the paper sludge. In addition, heat transfer effect and density is increased with adding Heat Transfer Medium Oil by microwave. Future more, OMD's energy cost for evaporating whole moisture is 78% cheaper than MD. Also, OMD process shows the best energy efficiency with comparing other process. Evaporation rate of paper sludge evaporation process with microwave is 11.66% increased by adding Heat Transfer Medium Oil 150g. Preheating Heat Transfer Medium Oil or improving different ways injecting Heat Transfer Medium Oil is a good way to increase a rate of initiative moisture evaporation process.