Asia-Pacific Conference on Biotechnology for Waste Conversion 2016 (BioWC 2016) ,
5-8 December 2016, Hong Kong SAR, P.R. China
The objective of this study was to investigate the potential for biodrying or compostability of water-based paint sludge. Four reactors were operated. Reactors R1, R2, and R3 contained paint sludge, wastewater treatment sludge from a food industry as nitrogen source, and bulking agents (sunflower stalk, peanut shells and corncob, respectively) with ratios of 4:4:2. Reactor R4 contained only paint sludge and bulking agent at a ratio of 8:2. The highest temperatures obtained with the reactors varied between 46.5oC and 50.1oC. Highest dry matter and organic matter losses were 21.7% and 21.0%, respectively. Paint sludge lost about 50% of its volume during the composting process. It can be inferred from the results of this study that biodrying before incineration at cement kilns or composting can be promising waste management options for water-based paint sludge from automotive industries.