INVESTIGATION OF POSSIBILITIES FOR UPCYCLING INSTEAD OF DISPOSAL SEWAGE SLUDGE

Wastewater treatment using biological sludge/microorganisms is one of the oldest methods of wastewater treatment, but it is still used today because of its effectiveness. Waste sewage sludge is an inevitable by-product of aerobic wastewater treatment, and it consists from a set of microorganisms, mostly bacteria, which through their metabolism reduce the organic load of which waste water is composed; products of the metabolism of microorganisms as well as non-degraded organic and inorganic substances found in waste water [1,2]. In the usual process of purifying waste water by aerobic processes, biological, also known as „activated“, sludge is separated from the process and goes to further treatment of thickening and stabilization. Sludge stabilization can be aerobic or anaerobic depending on the way of the sludge treatment. Some of the ways of using sludge are: biogas production, incineration, composting, use in agriculture, etc [3,4]