Deliverable D1.2 - Midterm report of AOP and enhanced stabilization processes

The activities reported in this deliverable aim at establishing a good set of innovative stabilization processes to produce sludge of good quality, in terms of reduced presence of pathogens, biodegradable matter and organic micropollutants. The report is divided into different research activities with the scope to develop and optimize innovative processes to improve sludge stabilization and removal of pathogens and micropollutants. For this scope, the microbial processes underlying the hygenization and stabilization performances of innovative sludge treatments were also evaluated. One of the main objectives of this work was the assessment of hygenization performances of the intensive stabilization processes for the production of sludge to be used in agriculture with or without restrictions. In details the capacity of these treatment processes to remove microbial indicators and index pathogens with different survival capacity was analysed by culture based methods. The achievement of the requirements proposed in the 3rd draft Working Document on Sludge (2000) for the production of sludges to be used without restrictions was also evaluated. The reduction of viral indicators (somatic coliphages) and viral pathogens (enteroviruses) was studied for the validation and evaluation of the new treatment processes regarding pathogen removal. Comparison of the removal of the proposed viral indicator respect to the pathogen was one of the objectives of this work.