Thermal behavior of sewage sludge derived fuels

The utility of sewage sludge as a biomass fuel is taken as an approach to deal with global warming. Thermal characterization of this new type of fuel is a premise before it is practically used in real facilities. Four sludge derived fuels were examined by thermal calorimeters (TG-DTA, C80, and TAM) at temperature ramp and isothermal conditions. Heat generation at low temperature was found in some sludge species. The corresponding spontaneous ignition was measured in an adiabatic spontaneous ignition tester at 80 °C. The reason of the thermal behaviors of the sludge fuels was discussed. The critical temperature of large scale pile-up was predicted.