[Relationship of evaluation indexes of sludge dewatering performance under different conditioning programs].

Performances of different sludge conditioners are difficult to evaluate due to the use of various evaluation indexes. Taking several traditional sludge conditioners, e.g. PAM, FeCl3 and inorganic composite conditioners as examples and five evaluation indexes include specific resistance to filtration (SRF), capillary suction time (CST), sludge settling performance, water content of sludge cake and dewatering efficiency, were investigated respectively in order to study the correlation among those indexes. The results indicate a significant positive linear correlation between SRF and CST (R2 values are 0.96 and 0.93, respectively) after adding different types of conditioners or different amount of conditioners. While they can precisely reflect plate and frame filter press efficiency, but they fail to predict the effects of centrifugal dewatering. Sludge settling performance presents the similar tendencies with SRF and CST. Since there is only limited correlation rather than strict correspondence between water content of sludge cake and dewatering efficiency. Thus, both factors should be considered synthetically in optimizing dosage performances.