Full-scale application of the UTN process to reduce sludge production in wastewater treatment

In the last decades, sludge reduction is receiving increasing attention from the wastewater sector due to the increasing costs for its disposal and management. To date, sludge reduction could account for 25-65% of the total operational costs of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Thus, a constant attention towards technology able to reduce sludge production is being put. The aim of this study is to show the first full-scale application of the patented process, titled UTN (University of Trento) process, to reduce sludge in WWTP. The experimentation, which lasted for seven months, was performed in a 6000 AE WWTP (Mantova, Italy). A timely monitoring has allowed us to evaluate results of the full-scale application of the process in terms of sludge reduction and performance of the process. The monitoring period was compared to a reference period before the upgrading of the plant. In particular, 30% reduction of sludge production was obtained due to the implementation of the UTN process.