Optimizing the Hydrothermal Carbonization of Sewage Sludge—Response Surface Methodology and the Effect of Volatile Solids

This study focuses on identifying the optimum conditions of sewage sludge hydrothermal carbonization by Box–Behnken Design and on the effects of volatile solids on heating value and on process water load. To get insight into the solid and process water characteristics, we applied the Box–Behnken Design on the hydrothermal reaction temperature (190, 220, 250 °C), reaction time (0.5, 2.25, 4 h) and pH (3.9, 5, 6.1). The response surface of the liquid phase revealed decreasing dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations with increasing temperature from 9446 mg/L (190 °C) to 7402 mg/L (250 °C) at 4 h reaction time. For the same hydrothermal conditions, NH₄-N concentration increased from 754 to 1230 mg/L. Reaction temperature was identified as the most important process parameter, whereas reaction time and pH had only minor effects. Moreover, linear coefficients of the models were more decisive than the interrelation and quadratic coefficients. Volatile solids (VS) of the feedstock were found to significantly influence both the load of the process water and the change in heating value of the hydrochars. Process water load increased steadily with higher VS. The heating value only increased with more than around 65–80% VS in feedstock.