Textile Plant's Land-applied-sludge Odor is Controlled

A textile plant in the Southeast was leasing farmland for the application of its waste treatment plant sludge. The sludge had a high concentration of ammonia and H2S that prohibited its being spread--except on rare atmospherically ideal days--on a field adjacent to the plant under lease from a farmer. Then too, the sludge that the plant was stockpiling was creating frequent odor complaints from the occupants of a nearby housing development

Program
The textile plant contacted Odor Control Technology to evaluate the problem and develop solutions

The company conducted a preliminary site survey. It then devised odor-control systems that would allow the textile plant to apply either fresh or stockpiled sludge without causing complaints from the surrounding community.

Fresh sludge. This sludge deposits directly onto a conveyor, which fills a storage hopper that feeds the spreader trucks. While on the conveyor, the sludge is sprayed with odor-control chemical. The filled trucks then proceed to the land-application site where they apply their contents with no need for supplemental odor-control chemical.

Stored sludge. The spreader trucks accept sludge from the pile--so the sludge has had no odor-control treatment. The spreader trucks are retrofitted with a small chemical tank, electric pump, and a two-nozzle atomizing manifold (see photo) that applies chemical as the sludge is spread. The truck-mounted chemical tank is refilled after each pass to minimize the weight on the truck during the spreading process.

Results and Conclusions
An odor panel made up of the farmer (on whose leased land the sludge was applied), neighbors, and plant personnel attested to the effectiveness of the odor-control systems during field trials for treating both stored and fresh sludge.

The systems therefore were adopted.

The plant has been land-applying the sludge without complaints about odors since the beginning of 1999. The sludge pile that had been building for about three years is gradually receding as the spreader s alternately apply fresh and stored sludge.

The systems have saved the textile plant from extensive and repeated fines as well as significant investment in hauling and land-filling the sludge.

Contact: Odor Control Technology, Owen Foster, 2394 Monroe Drive, Gainesville, GA 30507. Tel: 770-538-0350; Fax: 770-538-0359

Edited by Paul Hersch