The Use Of Benchmarking In Sludge Management

In the day-to-day wastewater treatment plants operation activity, the economic aspects concerning the wastewater treatment and sludge generated by the treatment processes are seen as more and more important in the last period of time. In this respect, the benchmarking can be extremely useful in improving and increasing efficiency of the operation of the wastewater treatment plants, in general, and sludge management, in particular. Implicitly, important decisions are necessary concerning the treatment technologies and storage and/or re-use of sludge investment needs. Sludge management requires an integrated approach, in which local circumstances must be considered as well as the evolution of the quantity and quality of the sludge, the cost of different disposal/re-use solutions and monitoring needs. Concerning these, by comparing some key-indicators concerning the quantity and quality of sludge, the disposal and re-use costs and the control parameters, the benchmarking has a beneficial impact on the performance evaluation and improvement.