The effect of sewage sludge irradiation and addition of starfish as a dewatering agent on the efficiency of composting was investigated using saw dust as a bulking agent. Results indicates that the temperature of EB sludge cake (electron beam irradiated sludge cake) and EB-SF sludge cake (electron beam irradiated sludge cake mixed with star fish powder) composting piles rose up to 62 ~ 66oC within 1 day and maintained high temperature of 52 ~ 55oC for more than 3 days, which was much higher than that of the control. The electron beam irradiation and addition of star fish accelerate the composting. The control sludge cake composting pile needed 35 days to reach the criteria of mature rate for composting, (Final C/N ratio)/(Initial C/N ratio) of 0.75, while EB-SF sludge cake composting plie required 11 days. This means that maturing compost could be highly improved by irradiating sludge cake or by adding star fish powder. The pH of the composting pile of sludge cake with addition of waste star fish powder rose 1 pH unit higher than that of the control during the entire operation, showing that the star fish has a good buffering capacity. The pH of the final matured compost was above pH 7, satisfying the standard of soil conditioner. The G.I. values of Chinese cabbage and lettuce with composts from EB sludge cake and EB-SF sludge cake composting pile ranged 88 ~ 99, satisfying a safety level (G.I. 80) in plant growth. After 60 days operation for composting 4 different types of sludge cakes, each compost was able to meet the Ministry of Agriculture's Standards of Compost.

This study was carried out to evaluate effect of sludge characteristics (pH, SVI, anaerobic storage, wet density and growth phase) on the sedimentation of bulking sludge of paper manufacturing plant. The results showed that mix bulking sludge with sewage sludge (10-60%) caused the decrease of SVI, the settled sludge concentration was increased. Increase of anaerobic storage time (0 to 8 day) was increased SVI, sedimentation performance was deteriorated. The sedimentation was improved by addition of loess (0.2-5.0 g/L), because wet density of sludge was increased and SVI was decreased. At an exponential phase, the ratio of sedimented/growthed sludge concentration was decreased, the ratio was increased after stationary phase.

An effective technique of sludge separation is required for excess sludge of sewage or wastewater plant. The separation of bulking sludge of paper manufacturing plant was studied using DAF(Dissolved Air Flotation) system. The effects of parameters such as nozzle type, A/S(air/solid) ratio, pressure, injection time of pressured water and saturation time were examined. The results showed that the best nozzle type was flat which had small orifice hole. The optimum A/S ratio and pressure were 7.070×10-3(recycle ratio of pressured water : 20%) and 5 atm, respectively. Injection times of pressurized water around 20-25 sesc and flotation time of 30 min appeared to be optimal for the DAF operation. The order of performance of packing was 18 mm > 22 mm > 32 mm.