The employment of drying beds is an excellent option for dewatering of UASB reactor discarded sludge, because of their simple operation and low construction costs. This paper presents an anaerobic sludge dewatering process analysis of the most influential phenomenon based on drying beds simulation. Therefore, some considerations were made about sludge characteristics and behavior during each dewatering stage. A mathematical model for dewatering process representation obtained from experimental data is also suggested.
sludge dewatering; drying beds; anaerobic sludge; modeling