Geosynthetics June/July 2021 - 33

Case Study
Dewatering of sludge from
a sewage treatment plant
with geotextile tubes
By M. Müller, E. A. Guanaes, D. Vidal and M. R. Freitas
W
ater is an important resource for people's quality of life and is indispensable
for several uses, including desedentation. However, this resource
is finite and available in small quantities in the quality of fresh water, at
liquid state and on the surface. Therefore, rivers and lakes, providers of surface
water resources, must be treated and kept clean, and protected from pollution.
Even with people's knowledge of the importance of water, the scenario is
just the opposite, with surface water resources being treated unsustainably,
receiving loads of effluents, such as domestic and industrial sewage, and being
constantly degraded. Due to this scenario, Ghisi (2006) states that several
countries, including Brazil, will suffer from problems and insufficiencies in
the distribution of potable water to their populations.
Seeking to collaborate with the maintenance of water resources, regulating
agencies, fiscally responsible for the quality of the water and the effluents
that it receives, seek to maintain the current state or improve the quality of
the water bodies. In Brazil, the regulatory agency is the Conselho Nacional
do Meio Ambiente (CONAMA) (National Environment Council) and the
supervisory agent, for example in the state of São Paulo, is the Companhia
Ambiental do Estado de São Paulo (CETESB) (Environmental Co. of the
State of São Paulo). But despite a resolution and enforcement, pollution and
negligence still occur in rivers and lakes across the country.
The water made available to the population as potable is treated in water
treatment plants (WTP) and, after being used, is then classified as sewage and
again treated, now in sewage treatment plants (STP). If water is used for industrial
purposes, additional treatment steps may be required, and, in such cases,
wastewater treatment should be performed at industrial wastewater treatment
plants (IWTP) (Di Bernardo and Dantas 2005). The treatment plants seek to
comply with Resolution 430 of CONAMA (2011) and then return the treated
effluent to water bodies (Marçal and Silva 2017).
However, in the cleaning processes of the treatment plants, significant
amounts of wet waste (sludge) are generated, which have low solid content.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
GEOTEXTILE TUBES FOR
A BRAZILIAN SEWAGE
TREATMENT PLANT
OWNER
CIA de Saneamento do Estado
de São Paulo (SABESP)
LOCATION
Boituva, São Paulo, Brazil
CONTRACTOR
Freitas Guimarães Construções LTDA
DESIGN ENGINEER
Saneflora
GEOSYNTHETICS PRODUCT
SoilTain PP 105/105 DW P 100 L150
geotextile tubes
GEOSYNTHETICS MANUFACTURER
HUESKER
M. Müller is CEO at SALUS Dewatering
Engineering in São José dos Campos, São
Paulo, Brazil.
E. A. Guanaes is product manager at HUESKER
in São José dos Campos, São Paulo, Brazil.
D. Vida is professor at the Instituto
Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA) in São
José dos Campos, São Paulo, Brazil.
M. R. Freitas is professor at the Universidade
Estadual Paulista " Júlio de Mesquita Filho "
(UNESP) in Guaratinguetá, São Paulo, Brazil.
All figures courtesy of HUESKER.
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