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Kampala: 180 samples of mixed origin and containment types

Figure 1.1.7. Characteristics of faecal sludge in Kampala, Uganda, from 180 samples taken in
2013 and 2014 (Strande et al., 2018).

Exercises
1. List benefits of faecal sludge management, benefits of sewer-based solutions, and benefits
of hybrid approaches to city-wide inclusive sanitation.
2. A third of the world’s population sanitation needs are fulfilled by faecal sludge
management. In what range of income level countries can you find faecal sludge
management? Choose from the alternatives below (a-c), multiple answers are possible.
a) Low-income countries
b) Middle-income countries
c) High-income countries
3. What is the difference between excreta, faecal sludge and wastewater?

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4. Explain the difference between sewered and onsite sanitation systems.

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5. Read the following statements and discuss how characteristics of faecal sludge could be
affected.
a) It is the rainy season, and a community has unlined pit latrines in sandy soils.
b) A septic tank was initially only connected to a toilet, but has now also been connected
to a shower and sink in the bathroom.
c) A pit latrine that was originally built for one family is now being used by 25 people
due to increasing population density.
d) An ablution block at a school is connected to an ABR (anaerobic baffled reactor), and
since recently the grey water from the school kitchen has also been treated in the ABR.
e) Pit latrines service the employees at a factory, which are emptied every other week.
6. What are reasons why faecal sludge may include more solid waste than wastewater?
7. The faecal sludge management service chain is illustrated below (©Eawag-Sandec). Name
each of the steps, and briefly explain.

8. Two engineers are discussing the quantities of faecal sludge in a community in order to
properly size a new treatment plant. One engineer is of the opinion that per capita urine
and faeces production should be used. The other that the total volume of faecal sludge
that is emptied from onsite containments should be used. Who do you agree with, and
why?
9. Many practitioners that are new to faecal sludge management initially have the perception
that faecal sludge coming from dry toilets is very thick. Can you explain why this is not
necessarily true, and what they should expect from faecal sludge characteristics?
10. Briefly list and describe the parameters that affect faecal sludge characteristics during
containment?

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 Exercises
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1. If you are working in a city that has clear sludge disposal and effluent standards for faecal
sludge treatment plants, could you still apply the engineering design approach?
2. What are the three steps of the engineering design approach?
3. For faecal sludge management to operate smoothly it requires interactions amongst
stakeholders at every step of the service chain. List stakeholders that are relevant to the
engineering design approach.
4. In the faecal sludge management context explain
a) Planning
b) Management
c) Technology
5. Explain why an integrated approach to community and city-wide faecal sludge
management (including planning, management and technology) is important.
6. Describe the concept of the engineering design approach.

Assignment
Faecal sludge management in Wulugu, Fakeland
Tasks
You are an engineering consultant and have been hired by the government to propose a
concept for a second faecal sludge treatment plant in Wulugu city. Use your expertise and
apply the engineering design approach to answer the questions at the end of the case study,
based on the information presented. The information in this case study is based on
information collected in a city in West Africa; however, some information has been modified.
City profile
Wulugu is a city in the eastern part of Fakeland, 450 km from the capital. Wulugu is the
fourth largest city in Fakeland in terms of population and economy. 20 years ago, the
population was 335,000. Currently, the population is estimated to be 949,200 inhabitants.
Climatic conditions
Wulugu region is characterized by a transitional tropical climate, meaning there are two well-
differentiated seasons: the rainy season (May to October) and the dry season (November to
mid-April).
Economic profile
Wulugu is the economic hub of the eastern region of Fakeland. Mining and construction
companies are the two biggest formal employers. A large-scale cement factory is located 40
km south of the city centre, and there are also several large-scale brick production companies.
The cement factory feeds fuels automatically into kilns with a blower device. Both use any
available form of solid fuel to meet their energy demand, which is greater than 40 tons/day.
There are numerous poultry and cattle farms in the region, and the majority of the residents
also practise subsistence farming in small urban plots. In low-income areas of the city, wood
collected from the surrounding forest is the major cooking fuel.

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Sanitation stakeholders
The national sanitation corporation, FNSC, is a state company that is responsible for ensuring

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adequate sanitation. The city council and FNSC are collaborating to improve and support
good sanitation practices in the area, for example, on how to safely manage manual emptying
and to reduce informal operations. There is an emptying association of four private service
providers with a total of 10 trucks, customers call the companies when their containment fills
up, and they have also started working in collaboration with FNSC and the city council to
formalize the sector.
Existing sanitation situation
A recently completed SFD (shit flow diagram) reported 70% of the excreta in the city is
unsafely managed, with 100% onsite sanitation. There is currently one faecal sludge treatment
plant with a capacity of 250 m3/day, but it is overloaded by at least 20%. The treatment plant
is too difficult for trucks in many parts of the city to reach during the day due to traffic
congestion, which results in illegal dumping directly in the urban environment. 65% of the
population are using pit latrines, and 35% septic tanks. FNSC and the city council are
subsidising construction of septic tanks, rather than pit latrines, because they feel it will protect
groundwater sources, and have developed a guideline for septic tank construction and
operation and maintenance.
A Q&Q study was conducted four years ago prior to the design of the existing faecal sludge
treatment plant. The faecal sludge in Wulugu has a relatively high TS, and a relatively low VS
fraction, and is mainly dark brown in colour. Based on the SFD, Q&Q study, transect walks,
field observations from the existing illegal dumping sites that are most commonly used, and
the volumes of faecal sludge that are currently being discharged at the existing faecal sludge
treatment plant, an accumulation rate of 95 L/cap.year was established for septic tanks and 50
L/cap.year for pit latrines. These accumulation rates were developed based on weighted
averages taking into account different accumulation rates for areas with different income level
and available water connections. Based on total coverage of pit latrines and septic tanks
reported in the SFD, the overall weighted average for the city is 66 L/cap.year.
There is a sanitation master plan, which includes construction of a wastewater treatment plant
that will serve 20% of the population within the next five to eight years. There are four public
toilets located at central markets, and one at the bus station; all are operated by the private
sector. The sludge is also emptied by the mechanical emptying service providers. The public
toilets are in a good hygienic and infrastructural state and are frequently used by both women
and men. The costs to use the toilet or the urinal are 0.1 US$ or 0.05 US$, respectively.
Collection and transport
It is estimated that 55% of the emptying that is done is by mechanical service providers in the
emptying association, and 45% manually, either by service providers, or by households
themselves (6%). A recent study has estimated that emptying frequencies are distributed as
15% empty two times a year, 10% empty once a year, 20% empty every second year, and
55% empty every third year or more.

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Figure 1.2.2. A truck desludging a household pit latrine.

The emptying service providers report that business is profitable, especially in the rainy season
(up to 10 trips a day). The cost of mechanical emptying is 30-60 US$, depending on the
volume emptied. Most of the trucks are modified used trucks purchased from operators in the
capital city. Since the faecal sludge treatment plant opened three years ago the truck business
has tripled.
Treatment and resource recovery
The existing treatment plant was commissioned three years ago, with a capacity of 250 m3 per
day. The primary treatment objective for the faecal sludge treatment plant is solid-liquid
separation for resource recovery of faecal sludge in agriculture; however, resource recovery is
not yet occurring. For treatment of the liquid fraction from dewatering there are waste
stabilisation ponds, and the treated effluent is discharged to a nearby river.
The existing faecal sludge treatment plant is operating 6 days a week (Monday to Saturday)
and is open from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm. The peak flows are unknown, but the peak hours are
between 8-11am. The total available land area is 40,000 m2, and the currently operating
treatment plant including office space takes up 30% of the total area available.
Monitoring is required by the national environmental protection agency, FAKEPOL. FNSC
does their own sampling and laboratory analysis of the effluent from the waste stabilization
ponds, and reports these values to FAKEPOL. There are existing national guidelines for
discharge into water bodies. There is an initiative from the Ministry of Sanitation and Hygiene
to also develop guidelines for the disposal of sludge.
Currently resource recovery is not taking place; however, the long-term plan is to make a
fertilizer product with the dewatered sludge. Pelletizing with the addition of nitrogen is being
considered, to increase market demand. A study is planned to determine if fertilizer should be
marketed to individuals for subsistence farming or to commercial farms.

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Based on the provided information answer the following questions, and identify where
more information would be useful. There are multiple correct answers.

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1. What information in the case study is useful for setting treatment objective(s) and
performance goal(s)? Based on this, suggest appropriate treatment objective(s) and
performance goal(s).
2. What information should be used to establish quantities and qualities (Q&Q) for the
annual evaluation of adequate treatment capacity? Why?
3. What information would be useful to select a location for a second faecal sludge treatment
plant? What treatment technologies would you consider? Why?
4. What are the greatest gaps in information in the case study that would be helpful for
making more informed decisions on future solutions for faecal sludge management?
5. How would you plan to gather additional data?

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Exercises

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1. Adequate sanitation services can help prevent the transmission of pathogens. By
identifying the faecal-oral transmission pathways public health can be protected. Use the
‘f’ diagram above and explain the routes of contamination for each of the ‘f’ words.
3

2. Explain stabilization as a treatment objective. State whether stabilized or unstabilized

faecal sludge is wanted for agricultural use and energy use, respectively.
3. Pathogen inactivation is important to protect public health. How does storage kill
pathogens? (hint: pathogen inactivation mechanisms)
4. What would be different in your approach to nutrient management if the faecal sludge
treatment effluent is used for irrigation or if it is disposed of into a surface water body?
5. Stabilization and nutrient management are interlinked. Describe why, and give two
nutrients that are relevant to faecal sludge effluent.
6. When faecal sludge management is poorly managed it has a negative impact on the
environment, and the public health. Link the potential negative impacts in the list below
with the component of the faecal sludge that is responsible for the negative impact. Each
bullet point can have more than one component.
Faecal sludge components; pathogens, organic material, nutrient and water.
‐ What makes people sick?
‐ What component can increase algae in surface water and lead to the death of aquatic
organisms?
‐ What makes faecal sludge smell bad?
‐ What makes faecal sludge heavy and voluminous to manage?
‐ What component increases the risk of water contamination?
‐ What component attracts rats and flies?
7. Why do treatment objectives ensure the protection of public and environmental health?
8. Explain how the treatment objectives as a concept contribute to the protection of public
health, and to the protection of environmental health.
9. In the absence of regulations for the treatment of faecal sludge, working with the
concepts of treatment objectives can be very beneficial. Explain why.
10. Assuming that the intended enduse for treated faecal sludge is to produce pellets to feed
an electricity producing gasifier. Discuss the appropriate treatment objective(s).
11. Assuming that the intended enduse for treated faecal sludge is co-compost which will be
applied on edible crops. Discuss the appropriate treatment objective(s).
12. Assuming that the intended enduse for treated faecal sludge includes the use of effluent
for the irrigation of fruit trees. Discuss the appropriate treatment objective(s).
13. Discuss the importance of dewatering as a treatment objective during faecal sludge
treatment.
14. You are the faecal sludge professional of a treatment plant. The water body outside the
faecal sludge treatment plant indicates BOD levels over the regulatory limits. These have

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 led to depletion of oxygen in the surface water. What treatment objective(s) needs to be
further enforced and/or evaluated in the faecal sludge treatment modification?
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a) Dewatering
b) Stabilization
c) Nutrient management
d) Pathogen inactivation
15. Draw a line to link the events with the treatment objectives. The events can be linked to
more than one treatment objective.
Events Treatment objectives
Cholera outbreak Dewatering
Increased diarrheal diseases Stabilization
Fish die off in a lake Nutrient management
Expensive transport of faecal sludge Pathogen inactivation
with high water content
High nitrate levels in faecal sludge effluent
contaminate drinking water sources
16. Assuming the intended enduse for treated faecal sludge is biochar as cooking fuel. Based
on a multi-barrier approach, explain what barriers can be put in place to further protect
public health.

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Figure 2.2.1 Ammonium and ammonia distribution as a function of pH (Kunz et al., 2016).

Exercises
1. For the protection of public health, pathogen inactivation is crucial. Briefly describe three
physical mechanisms for pathogen inactivation. Explain each with one sentence and
include a treatment technology where relevant.
2. Unplanted and planted drying beds are two established faecal sludge treatment
technologies. What are the treatment objectives for both of these technologies? Specify the
treatment mechanism for each of these treatment objectives.
3. Filtration and drying are physical processes of dewatering used in faecal sludge
management.
a) What is the difference between them?
b) Name one treatment technology that uses both filtration and drying as dewatering
processes.
4. Stabilization of faecal sludge can occur through biological and chemical mechanisms. Give
a treatment technology example for each of these stabilization processes that use biological
and chemical mechanisms.
5. The end product of a faecal sludge treatment plant in a city is to be used as biofuel. The
thermal drying process is used to remove excess water in the dewatered sludge. The end
product of the treatment process is found to contain very low level of pathogens. What is
the possible mechanism that resulted in pathogen inactivation? Indicate whether it is a
physical, biological or chemical mechanism.
6. Evaporation and transpiration are physical mechanisms that are involved in the dewatering
of faecal sludge. Differentiate between the two processes, indicate in which treatment
process they are involved and state four factors that affect evaporation.

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7. For the following treatment processes, indicate whether the mechanisms involved are
physical, chemical or biological.

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- Pathogen inactivation by composting
- Stabilization by anaerobic digestion
- Dewatering by addition of organic polymers
- Stabilization by composting
- Dewatering by centrifugation
- Pathogen inactivation by ammonia addition
8. Thermal drying is a physical mechanism used to further remove water from dewatered
sludge. Give two factors that influence the rate of drying of the sludge.
9. Briefly explain mineralisation, and specify whether it is a physical, chemical or biological
mechanism.
10. Ammonia treatment, which is a chemical process of pathogen inactivation, is dependent
on the pH of the sludge. Explain how pH affects the process of pathogen inactivation by
ammonia.
11. In a pit latrine that has been abandoned for two years, the number of Helminth eggs is
found to be three orders of magnitude lower than that of a similar septic tank that is
emptied every six months. Give a possible explanation why.
12. At a treatment plant in Ghana, two drying beds are used for drying faecal sludge that is
discharged from two different sources. The first drying bed is loaded with faecal sludge
with a TSS concentration of 1,200 mg/L and the second with faecal sludge with a TSS of
550 mg/L. Determine which one of the drying beds will have a higher filtration rate, and
why?
13. Filtration is used in unplanted drying beds for separating the solids and liquids in faecal
sludge. During filtration, solids are trapped on the surface of the filter. Operation can lead
to clogging and reduction in filtration efficiency.
a) As the senior engineer at the treatment plant, explain how clogging can be prevented.
b) What are the critical parameters that have the greatest effect on the filtration
efficiency?
14. As a plant supervisor, you have the option of choosing between two different dewatering
technologies, one that uses centrifugation and another that uses thermal drying.
a) What will influence your choice of technology?
b) Based on your selection, state the advantages of the selected mechanism and the
limitation of the other mechanism not selected.
15. During your field visit in Senegal, you observed that the inhabitants periodically add
quicklime to their pit latrines with the idea that it reduces the odour in the toilet. As an
engineer, explain the mechanism and function of the quicklime.

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 CRTC has compared what is most beneficial in terms of resource recovery, and is currently
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operating the unplanted drying beds and selling the dewatered faecal sludge to a near-by
co-composting plant. The faecal sludge treatment plant is currently under capacity. In the
future, as the loadings increase, the planted drying beds will also be used, as they require a
smaller footprint for increased loadings of faecal sludge. Revenue from the sale of dewatered
sludge offsets operation and maintenance costs, and in the future this can also include
harvested plants from the planted drying beds.

The steps to prepare the dewatered sludge to be sent to the co-composting plant are:
- Dewatered sludge is manually removed from the drying beds and stored in a shed.
- In the shed the dewatered sludge is broken down into smaller pieces.
- The sludge is then sieved to remove any inorganic wastes.
- The sieved sludge is packed into bags which are sold and transported to the co-
composting plant a few kilometres away.

Practical Action emphasises that continuous monitoring of the co-composting product is

important. They plan to establish an onsite laboratory to make sure that the final
endproduct has adequate pathogen removal. Their number one goal is always protection
of public health.

Exercises
1. a) What resource recovery treatment product is depicted in Figure 2.3.6?

Figure 2.3.6 Faecal sludge treatment plant in Dakar, Senegal.

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 b) What resource is provided by this treatment product?
c) What product type(s) can be provided by this treatment product?

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d) How is this product used?
2. Explain how the products of the following treatments can be used and give one example
for each:
a) Planted drying beds
b) Unplanted drying beds
c) Waste stabilization ponds
3. You are the operator of a small-scale faecal sludge treatment plant that is selling the
dewatered solids and the treated effluent from a gravel bed to a nearby farmer. What type
of monitoring plan do you need to ensure the protection of human and environmental
health? What parameters would you measure?
4. What could be a benefit of making pellets with dewatered sludge, compared to selling the
dewatered sludge as it is? What are the potential negative aspects?
5. Explain why brick factories might be interested in the dewatered solids from unplanted
drying beds.
6. a) What resource recovery treatment product(s) is depicted in Figure 2.3.7?

Figure 2.3.7 Faecal sludge treatment plant in Jhenaidah, Bangladesh.

b) What resource is provided by this treatment product?

c) What product type(s) can be provided by this treatment product?
d) How is this product used?
7. Treatment technologies can deliver a treatment product that can be recovered as a
resource. Complete the following sentences; multiple correct combinations of answers are
possible.

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 a) Black soldier flies are a(n) ____________ treatment technology for faecal sludge and
produce ___________ that can be used as animal fodder.
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b) ________________________ is/are an established treatment technology and

produce dewatered (dried) sludge as a treatment endproduct that can be used for
________________________.
c) The effluent from a waste stabilization pond can be used for ____________ purposes
or in ______________.
d) ____________ produced from faecal sludge can be directly used in cooking stoves, or
converted into ____________.
e) ____________ can come in many forms, for example powder and ____________;
the important resource is the ____________.
8. The use of dewatered faecal sludge in land applications is common in many countries.
a) What important factors should be considered before using faecal sludge for land
applications?
b) Discuss different levels of pathogen reduction for agriculture depending on the type
of crop: 1) food crops that do not come into contact with the sludge and are peeled
prior to eating, and 2) direct application to edible crops.
9. Even if it is technically possible to transform faecal sludge into a treatment product there
are several other factors that need to be considered. Apart from the appropriate treatment
technology to generate a product, what else do you need to consider?
10. The municipality of a densely populated city with 200,000 inhabitants has decided to
invest in a faecal sludge treatment plant, and hopes to incorporate resource recovery. There
is a large banana plantation next to the proposed site, which are sold in the capital city 15
km away. The main source of water for irrigation is a nearby lake that also supports a local
fish market.
a) Suggest resource recovery options for use.
b) What considerations should be evaluated prior to the selection of a resource recovery
option?
11. Use the columns below to link together the correct resource with its application(s) and
also with the important faecal sludge characteristics.
Resource Application Important faecal sludge characteristics
Ash
Cadmium
Calorific value
Carbon dioxide
Biogas E-coli
Energy Briquettes Fat
Food Fertilizer Helminth eggs
Nutrient Insect larvae as animal feed Lead
Water Irrigation Methane
Pellets Minerals
Soil amendment Nitrogen
Phosphorus
Potassium
Protein
Salinity

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 Market volume (US$/year) Market growth (%)

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Fertilizer 190 million - 10% (decrease)
Animal feed 11 million 4%
Solid fuel 3 million 45%

The resulting graph looks like this:

Figure 2.4.2 Market volume and market growth plotted to evaluate market attractiveness.

Step 7: Compare products

Researching the information in this case study has helped us to understand the situation in
Ba Ria, and it can also help to interpret the graph. The interviews with the various
stakeholders in the market also provided information on their attitude towards using faecal
sludge products, and on the actual situation ‘on the ground’. The market volume of
fertilizers accounts for more than 90% of the total estimated market volume in Ba Ria.
Chemical fertilizers are also encouraged by the local authorities. Even with an estimated
shrinkage in the market growth, fertilizers are a safe option for resource recovery from faecal
sludge treatment products in Ba Ria. Nevertheless, both animal feed and solid fuel for brick
production also have potential if the treatment product can meet the user demands.

This information is only one part of deciding on relevant resource recovery options. It only
provides input on the financial/market demand side. Factors such as local infrastructure,
laws and regulations, social preferences, and technical capacity must also be considered
when deciding on a final resource recovery strategy.

Exercises
1. Why would someone use the MDA?
2. What is the definition of treatment products?
3. What is the number one goal of resource recovery from faecal sludge?
4. Market growth is difficult to predict; give one example on how it can be determined.

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 5. The MDA is only one tool in a whole process when designing treatment options for faecal
sludge. Many factors need to be considered together with the MDA tool. Name three
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other factors that should be considered when deciding on faecal sludge treatment options.
6. The product of market volume and market growth gives the market attractiveness; what
is the definition of market volume?
7. Under which treatment product category do protein, and plants from planted drying beds
fall?
a) Material
b) Nutrients
c) Food
8. Which treatment products belong to the resource recovery category ‘Energy’? Choose one
of the following four answers.
a) Biogas, animal fodder and black soldier fly larvae
b) Solid fuels, electricity and soil conditioner
c) Electricity and building materials
d) Electricity, biogas and solid fuels
9. Practice with step 2: ‘Identify potential product application’. Name three different types
of users that could use the treatment product protein from black soldier flies.
10. You are searching for data on the market volume of the substitute product compost.
Therefore, you are looking for the number of compost suppliers in your city. Where would
you look for this information?
11. This is the market attractiveness plot for all substitute products of the faecal sludge
treatment product solid fuel in one city. How would you evaluate this plot? Write
something about each substitute product.

12. The market attractiveness plot can also be simplified to show several treatment products
combined in one plot. In a city in South Asia, electricity has a high market volume and a
high market growth. Protein for animal fodder has a smaller market volume, but also a
reasonable market growth, though not as high as electricity, see graph below. The state is
the only electricity provider in the city, but it has extremely lengthy procedures to get a
licence to feed electricity produced from faecal sludge back to the grid. Based on the

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 provided information, would you choose electricity or protein as the most suitable
treatment product? Explain your answer.

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13. Betty and Sophie are discussing the market attractiveness plot below.

Betty says: “I would select electricity as the most attractive treatment product, because the
market volume is very high, and there is still a 2% growth in the market.”
Sophie says: “I would select biogas. Although the market volume is not very large, the
market growth is high and it is therefore expected that in the coming years the market
could yield more revenue.”
Who do you agree with and why?
14. The hypothetical city of Delfinia is planning to build a faecal sludge treatment plant. They
want to determine treatment objectives first, and want to know which treatment product
has the highest potential in the city. They decide that the best way to do that is to apply
the Market-Driven Approach. Below is a list with info about Delfinia. Plot and compare
the market attractiveness for the markets of all the given treatment products, and based
on your plot, discuss what treatment product(s) you would advise them to produce.

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 Biogas:
‐ The sole supplier of gas in the country is the company Banoligas. They have a
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monopoly on all gas resources. Their total sales revenue within the country is €234
million, of which Delfinia composes 21%.
‐ Banoligas is absolutely not interested in using/selling biogas.
‐ The market for natural gas is projected to grow by 3.5% in the coming 5 years.
Fertilizer:
‐ The Ministry of Agriculture just published a report which predicts that the market
for fertilizers will develop by 3% over the next 5 years.
‐ The price of fertilizer at supplier A is €15 per unit.
‐ The total sales of fertilizer supplier B is €6.3 million per year.
‐ Fertilizer company C is a new fast-growing player in the market, and sells €4.4
million per year.
‐ Fertilizer supplier A sells 1.5 million product units per year.
Solid fuel:
‐ Since the gas market is dominated by only one player, other companies are starting
to look into new fuel options. As a result, the solid fuel market is expected to grow
by 5%.
‐ Solid fuel options in Delfinia are corn hobs and charcoal.
‐ Each year, farmers sell 800,000 bags of corn hobs.
‐ The combined amount sold by all the small charcoal sellers is 385,700 kg.
‐ A bag of corn hobs costs €4, which contains 2 kg. A bag of charcoal costs €3.5,
which contains half a kg.
Building materials:
‐ Due to stagnating infrastructure policies, 1% growth is expected in the building
material market in the coming years.
‐ Only 1.2% of the building material market can be replaced by a faecal sludge
treatment product.
‐ There are many large and small companies that sell all kinds of building materials
that could be substituted by a faecal sludge treatment product (e.g. bricks and road
construction).
‐ The total market volume for building materials in Delfinia is €1.14 billion.

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 Chapter 2.5

Technology
Collection and transport
technologies
Miriam Englund and Linda Strande

Learning objectives
 Explain why urban areas rely on a range of collection and transport technologies
 Identify existing established technologies for collection and transportation
 Understand considerations for implementation of collection and transport
technologies based on the local context
 Give examples of how the design and operation of onsite technologies can ease
collection

Textbook
Available at www.sandec.ch/fsm_book
 Strande, L., Ronteltap, M. and Brdjanovic, D. (2014). Faecal Sludge Management
- Systems Approach for Implementation and Operation.
Free online course (MOOC)
Available at www.eawag.ch/mooc
 Introduction to Faecal Sludge Management. MOOC series by Eawag and EPFL.
Modules ‘Collection and transport technologies’, ‘Advances in collection’, and
‘Transport’.
Further Eawag-Sandec publications
Available at www.sandec.ch/fsm_tools
 Gensch, R., Jennings, A., Renggli, S. and Reymond, P. (2018). Compendium of
Sanitation Technologies in Emergencies.
 Schoebitz, L., Bischoff, F., Lohri, C., Niwagaba, C., Siber, R. and Strande, L.
(2017). GIS analysis and optimisation of faecal sludge logistics at city-wide scale in
Kampala, Uganda. Sustainability, 9(2), 194.
 Tilley, E., Ulrich, L., Lüthi, C., Reymond, P. and Zurbrügg, C. (2014).
Compendium of Sanitation Systems and Technologies. 2nd edition. Dübendorf,
Switzerland, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag).
www.sandec.ch/compendium

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 When a customer wants their containment emptied they call the municipality. The
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municipality assigns the job to one of the emptying companies. The company is given a
voucher from the municipality that includes the address of the emptying service, and it is
also valid for free discharge of the collected sludge when handed in at the faecal sludge
treatment plant. The customer pays the service provider, and the service provider can keep
the entire payment. In this way the municipality ensures sludge is delivered to a treatment
plant and is not dumped in the environment, and it prevents unknown sources of sludge
from being discharged.

Exercises
1. Match the photos (1-4) to the descriptions (a-f). More than one description can apply to
each photo.

1) 2)

3) 4)

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 a) A metal rod for solid waste removal
b) An access point to a containment

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c) A manual collection and transport method
d) Personal protective equipment
e) A mechanical collection and transport technology
f) A gauge to measure volume in the tank
2. Illegal dumping of faecal sludge is harmful to public and environmental health.
a) Name reasons why this practice exists.
b) Name actions that can be taken to reduce this practice.
3. List the pros and cons of manual and mechanical collection and transport options.
4. In your opinion,
a) What will drive innovation in collection and transport?
b) What could be potential solutions for existing challenges with collection and transport
of faecal sludge?
5. What factors need to be taken into consideration when designing for a collection and
transportation solution for an area?
6. You need to design a faecal sludge collection program for an informal settlement with very
thick faecal sludge. The informal settlement is densely populated and most pathways are
not navigable by truck. Explain the considerations and your recommendations.
7. Solid waste in onsite containments is very problematic for the collection of faecal sludge;
explain how the amount of solid waste in containments could be reduced.
8. Describe the faecal sludge collection and transport process from a household to a
treatment facility. List the necessary tasks in chronological order.1
9. Personal protective equipment is very important for the emptier to use; what other barriers
could be put in place during collection and transport services to protect the public health
of the residents and workers?
10. Name the stakeholders and roles involved in the collection and transport operation.
11. Give the reason why unlined pit latrines are not recommended, and suggest modifications
for an improved design.
12. The discharge fee at the faecal sludge treatment plant in the area where you are working
is too high for collection and transport services to afford. Therefore, illegal dumping in
nearby canals, rivers and fields is common. The trucks that do reach the treatment plant
also complain about the distance from the city. Discuss improvements to the
infrastructure that should be implemented.

1
Adapted from Introduction to Faecal Sludge Management: Trainer manual (2016) by CAWST and Eawag-
Sandec. www.cawst.org and www.sandec.ch. Licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

61
 13. Read the following scenarios and propose solutions to resolve them2.
Technology

Scenario Solution

Households do not have enough money to pay for

the collection and transport service.

Faecal sludge is too thick for the collection and

transport service to pump out. The onsite
sanitation technology is close to overflowing.

The faecal sludge treatment facility (owned by the

public sector) is charging a discharge fee which
private service providers cannot afford. As a result,
they are illegally dumping faecal sludge into the
street, nearby canals, rivers or lakes. Sometimes
they dump the faecal sludge into a sewer manhole,
which is not a sustainable option as it can cause
wastewater treatment facilities to fail.
Households cannot afford the fee charged by the
service providers for emptying because of their
transport costs to the treatment facility.

The household is located in an informal

settlement. The pathways are too narrow and not
maintained. It is difficult for a vacuum truck to
access the household.

2
Adapted from Introduction to Faecal Sludge Management: Trainer manual (2016) by CAWST and Eawag-
Sandec. www.cawst.org and www.sandec.ch. Licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

62
Exercises

Technology
1. The development for faecal sludge treatment technologies is divided into three different
levels.
a) Why are treatment technologies divided into these levels?
b) Name the three levels of development for faecal sludge treatment technologies.
Explain with one sentence what each level means.
2. Name three treatment technologies that have nutrient management as a treatment
objective.
3. Treatment technologies have different fields of application. Propose treatment technology
options for:
a) Faecal sludge that has not undergone significant stabilization
b) Faecal sludge stabilized in the containment
4. Name three transferring treatment technologies.
5. It is important to consider the mass balance for each technology in a treatment chain in
order to know the loads moving from one technology to another. Assume an unplanted
drying bed with 25 m x 7 m area, loaded with 52.5 m3 faecal sludge with a concentration
of 80 g TS/L, resulting in a 8 cm dewatered sludge layer with a concentration of 292 g
TS/L. Further assume an effluent concentration of 3 g TS/L.
a) What is a mass balance? And why is it useful?
b) Draw a mass balance situation sketch. Assume no evaporation takes place.
c) How much leachate would the unplanted drying bed produce with a kg TS mass
balance?
d) Draw a new mass balance situation sketch including evaporation. How does
evaporation affect the system?
6. A large brick factory is located close to a community, and a demand for faecal sludge as a
fuel was identified. Clearly state the treatment objectives and a suitable treatment chain.
7. Give three examples of potential mechanical dewatering treatment technologies for faecal
sludge that are being transferred from wastewater treatment.
8. Mechanical faecal sludge dewatering is a transferring treatment technology and still needs
some additional research for optimal use in faecal sludge treatment. What are the main
constraints with mechanical dewatering in faecal sludge treatment?
9. In theory, when designing faecal sludge treatment, effluent and treated sludge standards
are the target. In some cases, stringent standards are challenging to fulfil, which leads to
designs with expensive and high technology treatment options. High technology
treatment could be difficult to integrate in areas with a lack of consistent electricity supply
or adequate funds for skilled staff and maintenance work. Argue in 200 words for the
relevance of protecting public health and therefore designing treatment that can
realistically be implemented and operated. Include a discussion about the trade-off
between high technology treatment solutions vs. gravity flow treatment.

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 10. You and a colleague are designing a faecal sludge treatment plant in a densely populated
area. Close to the community there is a small-scale vegetable farm. Your colleague shows
Technology

you his suggestion, see Figure 3.1.3. The treatment objective is pathogen inactivation and
therefore he proposes a combination of lime treatment and vermifiltration. This also
reduces the amount of solids and results in soil amendment for the vegetable farm.
c) What are the challenges with his suggestion?
d) How could the process flow in Figure 3.1.3 be rearranged for a better treatment
performance?

Figure 3.1.3 Process flow diagram of a proposed faecal sludge treatment solution.

11. Use the engineering design approach to select which faecal sludge treatment technology
or combination of technologies you would implement in the following scenarios. Your
answer should include an explanation of why you selected the technology or technologies,
including resource recovery and treatment objectives.
a) You need to design a treatment plant for a peri-urban community with lots of available
land. The climate is semi-arid. Goat and cattle farming are an important industry, as
is the farming of fodder crops. A recent census reported that 85 % of onsite systems
are septic tanks and 15 % are pit latrines.
b) A densely populated urban area requires a treatment plant. A large market is located
in the community, which produces a steady stream of organic waste. The market has
a high demand for propane cooking fuel. About 40 % of the community is serviced
by public toilets. The climate is tropical.
c) In a city located along a river, horse-riding tourism is very common and the horse
owners are struggling to find food for the horses. They currently use grass cut from
the riverside but it is not adequate, especially during the dry season. The hotels for the
tourism bring a lot of faecal sludge from septic tanks with a large proportion of
greywater that is currently discharged into the river. Most of the septic tanks are
installed without an overflow system and quickly fill up.
d) The inhabitants in a dense urban area are farmers. They are struggling to grow their
crops due to the poor soil structure. There is a large market located in the community,
which produces a steady stream of organic waste. The climate is tropical.
e) A small city in West Africa is considering how to manage their faecal sludge. The
majority of onsite sanitation systems in the city are pit latrines. The main economic
activity is in service industries, and there is lots of subsistence farming. The climate is
arid. The city has no space for disposal, and there is a strong taboo on faecal sludge
use.

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12. In Figure 3.1.4 you can see a configuration of a faecal sludge treatment plant. Write down
each technology’s treatment objective and discuss the overall treatment set-up.

Technology
Figure 3.1.4 Process flow diagram of a faecal sludge treatment plant.

13. Each treatment technology has its purpose, but it is also important that the selected
treatment technologies combine well together. Look at Figure 3.1.5 and point out
mistakes that the process engineer has made in the planning.

Figure 3.1.5 Process flow diagram of a faecal sludge treatment plant.

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Exercises

Technology
1. What is the treatment objective of settling-thickening tanks? Give one example of why
you want to achieve it.
2. Settling, thickening and flotation are the three fundamental mechanisms describing how
settling-thickening tanks operate. What is the end result of the three fundamental
mechanisms?
3. For the construction of settling-thickening tanks, it is important to size the faecal sludge
inlet and supernatant outlet properly to avoid inadequate treatment.
Explain the purpose of a baffle, and how the flow characteristics affect the settling.
4. Depending on the age of the faecal sludge, the solid-liquid separation performance varies.
Start with explaining why and give an example of a faecal sludge source where decreased
solid-liquid separation can occur.
5. For the design of settling-thickening tanks, we are interested in the TSS. The TSS will
settle in the bottom which will increase the volume of the thickened faecal sludge and this
will govern the total tank volume. How many percent of the total suspended solids
typically stay in the tank and how much passes out of the tank with the effluent?
6. The main treatment objective for settling-thickening tanks is solid-liquid separation. Both
effluent and solids require further treatment. Give an example of further treatment and
what treatment objectives they should have, depending on the enduse.
7. Why is a loading cycle longer than 10 days not recommended when unloading is carried
out using pumps?
8. If pumps are not used for moving the settled sludge for further treatment, how is it done?
a) Describe how emptying without pumps is typically done.
b) List two pros and two cons for manual vs. mechanical faecal sludge removal.
9. How can settleability be tested prior to designing a settling-thickening tank?
10. Design parameters specific to settling-thickening tanks are settling velocity and settling
efficiency. How can settling efficiency be measured?
11. Monsoons, dry seasons and many other weather conditions will affect treatment
performance. How can thickened sludge volume, tank dimensions and inflow velocity be
affected by increased rainfall
12. Draw a settling-thickening tank with lines depicting flows and explain the impact that
decreased settling velocity will have on the flow velocity and treatment performance.
13. How could a design allowing for manual emptying vary from one designed for pumping?
And how will the operation and maintenance be affected?
14. Draw a mass flow diagram of the incoming faecal sludge to a settling-thickening tank and
its outputs. Then explain how the effluent treatment will be affected by decreased settling
efficiency.

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 Design and calculate
15. Faecal sludge characteristics are highly variable, and even with a proper assessment of
Technology

quantities and qualities (Q&Q), it is still challenging to accurately estimate loadings. For
example, in one faecal sludge treatment plant the settling-thickening tank was designed
for 100 m3 FS/day, 700 kg TSS/day, a thickened sludge concentration of 110 g TSS/L,
and a loading period of 10 days. However, during operation it actually received 340 m3
FS/day and 1,700 kg TSS/day. The peak inflow was designed as 20% higher than the
average flow, which correlated with reality. The faecal sludge treatment plant is open 6
days a week and 10 hours per day. The design was based on 80% settling efficiency, and
an Imhoff cone test showed an actual TSS concentration of the thickened sludge of 140 g
TSS/L. Assume a settling velocity of 0.5 m/h.
a) Calculate the tank dimensions needed for both scenarios (design and operational
values).
b) List the operation and maintenance required for settling-thickening tanks.
16. You are in charge of a bench scale test of the sludge settleability. You conduct a SVI test
with sludge from septic tanks which has a TSS concentration of 7.2 g/L. The results were
that after 60 minutes the settled volume was 220 mL/L. Now calculate the SVI and argue
if it is reasonable as settling, and whether the design of a settling-thickening tank is
reasonable.
17. You have been asked to send in a design suggestion for a settling-thickening tank. The
tank needs to be dimensioned to receive 300 m3 faecal sludge daily, and you can assume a
peak flow of 400 m3 faecal sludge daily, with 10 h operation per day. Assume the values
in the table below.

Sludge layer Depth [m] TSS [kgTSS/m 3]

Scum 0.5 135
Supernatant 0.5 4
Separation 0.5 50
Thickened sludge To be calculated 120

Also assume:
Settling velocity = 0.5 m/h
Settling efficiency = 80 %
Incoming TSS = 7 kg TSS/m3
Calculate the tank depth required for a loading period of:
a) 30 days
b) 6 days
c) Discuss which loading period is most appropriate for these faecal sludge
characteristics. Also discuss how the TSS concentration of the supernatant could be
affected by an increased loading period.

78
18. The hotels close to the treatment plant where you work are closed for renovation, so no
more FS from the hotels is currently being discharged. The hotels have septic tanks that

Technology
are normally frequently emptied with typically dark brown sludge without a strong odour.
Following this change, the sludge properties at your treatment plant have also changed,
since the treatment plant now only receives faecal sludge with a lighter brown colour and
a strong smell. You have also observed that the settling velocity has increased. Explain
what has happened and how this will affect the tank operation (hint: faecal sludge qualities
and settling velocity).
19. In your city the average total solids concentration for pit latrines is 14 g TS/L and slightly
lower for septic tanks. A lot of illegal dumping of faecal sludge is taking place and a volume
of 140 m3 per day needs be allocated to treatment. A new treatment plant will be built in
your city, and you have been asked to propose a design for a settling-thickening tank for
faecal sludge with average TSS concentration = 10 g TSS/L and thickened sludge TSS
concentration = 120 g TSS/L.
Peak flow coefficient: 1.6
Settling efficiency: 80 %
The treatment plant is scheduled to operate 7 hours per day, 6 days a week.
The Sludge Volume Index is 25 mL/g.
Make reasonable assumptions for data that is not given.

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Technology

Table 3.3.3 Final operating design parameters for Devanahalli faecal sludge treatment plant.
Parameters Unit Values
Estimated discharge volume m3 /loading 2.5
Solids loading rate kg TS/m2.yr 185
Total number of beds no. 10
Hydraulic loading rate m/loading 0.2
Size of each bed m2 5.8 × 2.1
Total area required m2 128
Feeding frequency days Alternative days
Drying period days 15-20

Exercises
1. Describe three differences between planted and unplanted drying beds.
2. What are and are not the treatment objectives of unplanted drying beds? Explain.
3. When designing unplanted drying beds there is a trade-off between solid-liquid separation
performance, available land space, and total solids concentration of the faecal sludge.
Name three conditions in which unplanted drying beds are NOT optimal.
4. The purpose of dewatering is to separate solids and liquids in the faecal sludge. Drying
can then, for example, be achieved by evaporation. Explain and describe where each
mechanism (dewatering, drying and evaporation) occurs during the treatment process
with unplanted drying beds
5. Drying beds can follow settling-thickening tanks in a treatment chain. Which four
parameters do you need to know about the design and characteristics of the settling-
thickening tank to design drying beds?
6. Explain how dewatered faecal sludge is removed from unplanted drying beds, and list all
the equipment required during the operation, including safety equipment.
7. What infrastructure is recommended for easy removal of dried solids from unplanted
drying beds, and is frequently neglected?
8. The filter media in unplanted drying beds typically consists of layers of sand and gravel,
which increase in particle size from top to bottom. What are the maintenance issues
specific to the filter media? Which design consideration increases the likelihood of
appropriate maintenance of the filter media?
9. If no leachate is flowing from the drainage system of a drying bed what could be the cause?
What steps should the plant operator take?
10. Prior to designing unplanted drying beds, which site-specific parameters should be
evaluated in a laboratory?

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11. What three features are missing from this schematic, and what consequences will this have?

Technology
12. What are three positive and three negative aspects for the usage of volume or kg Total
Solids when discussing capacity for faecal sludge treatment plants? Include terms such as
faecal sludge variability, emptying, adequate treatment and transportation.
13. Climates with high ambient temperature and low relative humidity are optimal for drying.
In climates with frequent rainfall, dewatering and drying times can be prolonged. In rainy
climates, a cover over the drying beds should be considered. Name four design parameters
for adequate roofing of unplanted drying beds.
14. Even if it is highly recommended not to, operators could still be tempted to increase
hydraulic loading rates to temporarily increase the amount of faecal sludge that can be
loaded onto drying beds. How do different hydraulic loading rates influence total drying
time?
15. Faecal sludge from onsite containment that is emptied frequently is less stable than faecal
sludge that has been stored for years. How is the treatment performance of unplanted
drying beds likely to change with an increase of unstable faecal sludge coming in? What
steps can be taken to ensure system performance?

Design and calculate

16. Sizing of unplanted drying beds should be based on the faecal sludge origin and its TS;
drying beds are commonly loaded with faecal sludge from several technologies. However,
it is preferable to have separately allocated drying beds for the settling-thickening faecal
sludge and the faecal sludge emptied from stabilization ponds. During the rainy season
the drying time is 30 days, while in the hotter/dry season it is only 15 days. The treatment
plant typically operates 6 days a week.
Settling-thickening tank output data
40 m3/day
40 g TS/L FS
Stabilization pond output data
0.8 m3 of wet faecal sludge/day
18 kg TS/day
a) Draw a process flow for a typical treatment system including screening, settling-
thickening tank, drying beds and waste stabilization ponds.
b) How much surface area is required for adequate treatment to fulfil a solid loading rate
of 250 kg TS/m2.yr or a 30 cm hydraulic loading?
c) How many drying beds are needed to support the operation?

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 17. What is the drying bed surface area that is required for loading of 1,584m3 faecal sludge
per drying cycle from a settling-thickening tank? Assume a hydraulic loading rate of 0.3
Technology

m and a solids loading rate of 300 kg TS per square meter and year, and that the incoming
faecal sludge has a concentration of 80 kg TS/m3.
18. Two engineers are discussing required surface area to treat a daily flow of 20 m3 faecal
sludge/day with a TS concentration of 45 g TS/L. The first one states that you need 1,667
m2 while the other argues for 1,404 m2. Both of them assume a hydraulic loading rate of
0.3 m/loading, solid loading rate of 200 kg TS/m2.yr and a total drying cycle of 25 days.
The faecal sludge treatment plant is assumed to be open 6 days a week. Determine who is
right and discuss why one of them is wrong.
19. How does the total solids concentration of faecal sludge affect the required drying bed
surface area? When should the design be governed by:
a) solids loading rate?
b) hydraulic loading rate?
Do two calculations and illustrate your answers based on 12,000 mg TS/L and 100,000
mg TS/L; all other assumptions should be the same.
20. Two engineers are discussing the surface area required to treat a daily flow of 20 m3 faecal
sludge/day with a TS concentration of 45 g TS/L. The first engineer says that you need
1,667 m2 while the other argues for 1,404 m2. Both of them assume a hydraulic loading
rate of 0.3 m/loading, solid loading rate of 200 kg TS/m2.yr and a total drying cycle of 25
days. The faecal sludge treatment plant is assumed to be open 6 days a week. Determine
who is right and discuss why one of them is wrong.
21. Available land is a common challenge for urban faecal sludge treatment plants.
a) You are asked to evaluate the number of drying beds required to treat incoming faecal
sludge based on total drying times. Assume 8 days’ drying time, that one bed per day
is loaded, and operation is 5 days a week. Make time assumptions for the loading and
unloading time.
b) After your first estimate, you discover that it needs to be increased by 3 days’ total
drying time to account for removal of dewatered faecal sludge. How do your
assumptions change when you take this into account?
22. Calculate the required number of beds based on the surface area, with the following
assumptions:
‐ Qs = 20 m3/day
‐ CTS = 50 g TS/L
‐ HLR = 0.2m
‐ SLR = 300 kg TS/m2.yr

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Technology

Determine the number of beds required to operate and maintain the planted drying beds.

= 6/2 =3 beds minimum < 2,808/300 = 9.36 beds ~ 10 beds.

Since the maximum area per bed is 300 m2, the number of beds, including a safety
factor results in 10. We will load 3 beds per day.

Validate that the hydraulic loading for each application is within the range
7.5 – 20 cm/loading.

= 75 [m3 FS/d] / (3 300)[m2]= 0.08 m/d

We need 10 beds, 2,808 m2 and a hydraulic loading rate of 8 cm to treat the volume of
daily incoming faecal sludge.

Exercises
1. What are the treatment objectives of planted drying beds? Explain them.
2. Explain the mechanisms of the dewatering process in planted drying beds.
3. One possible operational problem that can occur with planted drying beds is ponding due
to the faecal sludge forming a crust on the surface when drying. Explain how this can be
managed.
4. How can effluent from planted drying beds be further treated? Is this needed?
5. Give five characteristics that plants used in drying beds should have.
6. The planted drying bed has three operational stages in its operational cycle.
a) Draw a process flow of the planted drying bed operational cycle and the estimated
time for each phase.
b) Explain the appropriate operation during the first phase.
7. One treatment objective for planted drying beds is stabilization of the faecal sludge. When
and how does that happen? And how can you account for that in your design?
8. Sludge loading rates can be based on hydraulic loadings or the amount of total solids.
What do you need to know in order to calculate the required surface area based on solids
loading rates?
9. As head engineer at a faecal sludge treatment plant you get a call from your plant operator
saying that your plants have started to wither. What could be the possible reasons, and
what is your plan of action?

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10. You have just designed a new faecal sludge treatment plant and finished the infrastructure
for your planted drying beds. Describe step by step how you will initiate the treatment

Technology
technology.
11. A festival is coming to town in 4 weeks, and the population in the city is expected to
increase by 150% for 2 months. You are in charge of the faecal sludge treatment plant in
the area and decide to triple the capacity of the planted drying beds by constructing new
planted drying beds. Is this a good idea or not, and why?
12. An existing faecal sludge treatment plant uses planted drying beds with a faecal sludge
accumulation rate of 50 – 70 cm per year. Determine how high the freeboard needs to be
if desludging happens every fifth year.
13. You are designing a faecal sludge treatment plant and the client wants to know the
required surface area. The treatment plant has an influent faecal sludge TS of 30 kg TS/m3,
operates 6 days a week and receives 50 m3 faecal sludge a day. Typha Augustifolia is
suggested and can be operated with a solids loading rate of 250 kg TS/m2.yr and the
hydraulic loading rate is suitable as 7.5 – 15 cm with a loading frequency of twice a week.
14. You are evaluating new plant species for your large-scale planted drying bed. For one of
the plants species, trials from other cities recommend a loading frequency of 1 – 3 times
a week. Use operational data of 40 m3 faecal sludge a week and per bed, and assume that
each bed has an area of 250 m2.
a) Calculate loading depths for different loading frequencies (1, 2, 3 times a week).
b) What other parameters apart from hydraulic loading will influence the planted drying
bed?
15. In urban areas there is always limited land available for construction of faecal sludge
treatment plants. There is 8,000 m2 available for planted drying beds; will that be enough
for treatment of faecal sludge from the city of Duckholm? Assume a solids loading rate of
200 kg TS/m2.yr.
Duckholm
Population: 1,250,000
Faecal sludge produced: 62 m3 /cap.yr
Wastewater connection: 20%
Accumulated faecal sludge: 70 L/cap.yr
TS concentration: 30 kg TS/m3 FS
16. Your sanitary process engineer shows you calculations and size estimations for a future
planted drying bed. What went wrong?

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 Exercises
Technology

1. Co-composting and composting are established technologies to produce soil amendment.

Co-composting is an established faecal sludge treatment technology, but why is it more
favourable to co-treat faecal sludge than compost it independently?
2. What is/are the treatment objective(s) of co-composting?
3. Name the three most relevant operational parameters for co-composting with faecal sludge
and explain why they are relevant.
4. Prior dewatering is required in order for the faecal sludge to be suitable as an input material
for the co-compost. Both the ambient temperature and the temperature inside the
composting pile impacts the operating moisture content.
a) What is the main reason for the dewatering step prior to co-composting?
b) Discuss different options on how to regulate temperature inside a co-compost pile.
5. How does the particle size of dewatered faecal sludge, the organic matter, and the oxygen
concentrations in the co-compost affect performance? Write one sentence each.
6. The co-composting cycle has three phases: the active stage/thermophilic, cooling stage/
transformation and maturation stage. Why is it important that the co-compost has
matured before applying on soil?
7. Pathogen inactivation is one of the treatment objectives when designing for co-compost.
Most often Ascaris eggs are used as an indicator for whether the faecal sludge is adequately
treated or not; why?
8. Name two advantages and two disadvantages for each of the three different compost
technologies: aerated static piles, windrow composting and in-vessel composting.
9. Why is it normally not possible to compost faecal sludge without a co-feedstock?
10. Explain with a graph how pH and temperature change over time during the co-
composting lifecycle. What happens to the pathogen inactivation if temperature increases?
11. Moisture content, temperature and C:N ratio are the most important design parameters
for co-composting. Name three design variables that affect the output of the co-compost.
12. One argument against co-composting with faecal sludge is that you decrease the
performance of the full composting process. Give three advantages of co-composting with
faecal sludge compared to other input materials.
13. Discuss why it is important to consider C:N ratios and moisture content together.
14. Composting can be used to treat faecal sludge and other wastewater-derived solids and to
produce a product suitable for use as a soil amendment. If the ambient temperature is
20°C, and we measure a compost temperature of
a) 50°C
b) 60°C.
How many days are required to ensure the composted material is pathogen-free?

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15. With 50,000 kg faecal sludge per pile, how can a C:N ratio of 30:1 and a moisture content
of 50 % be achieved in a co-compost with a mixture of market waste and faecal sludge

Technology
with the following characteristics?

N [%] C [%] m [kg] MC [%]

Faecal sludge 1.5 15 50,000 50
Market waste 1.5 40 ? 65

a) Calculate the needed mass of market waste to obtain a 30:1 ratio.

b) Calculate the operating ratio (actual ratio) between faecal sludge: market waste and
compare it with the recommended 1:3.
c) Calculate the moisture content for the mixture and compare to the recommended
40-60 % range.
16. Two drying beds, each with an area of 125 m2 and a dewatered faecal sludge depth of 15
cm, need to be further treated in a co-compost.
a) How much market waste is needed with an assumed volume ratio required of 1:3
faecal sludge : municipal solid waste?
b) What area for the full treatment process (co-composting and storage) is required if we
assume a co-compost cycle of 8 weeks and a drying-bed cycle of 4 weeks?
17. What moisture content and C:N ratio can be expected with the input given in the table
below? Evaluate whether the C:N ratio and moisture content are within the ranges of
40-60 % for moisture content and 20-30:1 for the C:N ratio. If not, make a plan of action!

C N Moisture content m
[%] [%] [weight %] [kg]
Faecal sludge 11.4 1.1 42 25
Household waste 30 1.4 50 75

18. You have 300 m2 on which to build your co-compost facility, next to a prior dewatering
unit. In the city there is available market waste to use as co-compost input together with
the faecal sludge. How much dewatered faecal sludge can you receive? Assume a 1:3 ratio
faecal sludge : market waste.

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 Exercises
Technology

1. What are the reasons why co-treatment of domestic centralized wastewater and faecal
sludge fail? Provide an example.
2. Faecal sludge and domestic wastewater can have very different characteristics. Name three
characteristics, and how they could impact subsequent treatment steps in a wastewater
treatment plant.
3. The risk of failure with co-treatment can be high, resulting in the inadequate treatment
of BOTH wastewater and faecal sludge streams. However, there can also be benefits if
properly implemented and operated. Name three.
4. Provide an example of how gravity sewer infrastructure can be utilized for transport of
faecal sludge to treatment plants, and provide benefits and challenges of this approach.
5. There are two ways of integrating faecal sludge into a wastewater treatment plant if the
existing infrastructure has adequate capacity. Describe both of them including drawing a
process flow.
6. BOD is a common metric used for influent of wastewater treatment. Explain potential
problems with basing co-treatment of faecal sludge on BOD measurements.
7. When designing for co-treatment each treatment unit in the entire treatment chain needs
to be carefully evaluated for treatment performance and capacity. List five concerns when
designing co-treatment for a conventional activated sludge treatment chain (e.g. primary
settling, activated sludge, secondary clarifiers, mechanical dewatering of sludge, and
anaerobic digestion).
8. Anaerobic treatment technologies are commonly used in both wastewater and faecal
sludge treatment.
a) List anaerobic wastewater treatment technologies that could be considered for
co- treatment of faecal sludge.
b) List three common parameters that can result in overloading in co-treatment with
anaerobic treatment technologies.
9. Provide a brief overview and description of the required steps in a planning process for
implementation of co-treatment.
10. Daily loadings of faecal sludge at treatment plants typically have a quite different pattern
to domestic wastewater, presenting a challenge for co-treatment. Explain why, and provide
management solutions.
11. Faecal sludge is frequently classified as fresh or digested, and as low, medium or high
strength. You are operating an anaerobic wastewater treatment plant, and you are asked
to start receiving digested, high-strength faecal sludge. What are your concerns?
12. If co-treatment of faecal sludge is attempted at a wastewater treatment plant that is already
at full capacity, what are potential outcomes? Provide at least five scenarios with a brief
description.
13. You are monitoring the effluent of a conventional activated sludge treatment plant that
has started receiving faecal sludge. Effluent COD values are too high. What are the
possible explanations?

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14. You are working at a treatment plant co-treating faecal sludge and wastewater. The current
design is that incoming faecal sludge is treated together with the solids handling of the

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wastewater (see S4 in Figure 3.6.1). The treatment plant effluent values have increased
significantly and you determine based on monitoring that it is due to the incoming faecal
sludge. You therefore decide to implement dewatering pre-treatment prior to adding the
faecal sludge into the treatment stream.
a) Provide three examples of faecal sludge pre-treatment options for dewatering.
b) Write a description of how you would implement the modifications and subsequent
monitoring steps.

Figure 3.6.1 Points of faecal sludge (septage) addition to a wastewater treatment plant, taken
from the EPA Handbook on Septage Treatment and Disposal (USEPA, 1984).

15. You are operating unplanted drying beds with a total surface area of 1,000 m2. The actual
operational solids loading rate is 100 kg TS/m2.yr, but the design capacity is
250 kg TS/m2.yr. How much additional faecal sludge per day can the unplanted drying
beds receive, if the TS concentration is 12,000 mg/L? Assume the plant is operating 7 days
a week, and also has the capacity for the additional leachate treatment.
16. Based on the wastewater treatment chain in Figure 3.6.1, if you are adding dewatered
faecal sludge from geo-textiles, where in the treatment chain would you integrate the
liquid and solid flows? What information do you need to find out prior to process
integration?
17. You are a professional engineer, and are asked to develop an approach to evaluate the
possibility of co-treatment for an existing treatment plant. Describe in 200 words the
important steps to take, and what needs to be considered.

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 Exercises
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1. Give three potential effluent treatment technologies and describe the respective process
for each of the technologies in two sentences.
2. Name four concerns when treating faecal sludge liquid effluents.
3. Why and how are faecal sludge effluent characteristics different from wastewater effluent?
Give three key considerations and why they matter.
4. Waste stabilization ponds are common effluent treatment technologies.
a) Name the types of waste stabilization ponds that are normally designed in series and
their treatment objectives.
b) What is the benefit of working with ponds in series?
5. How do the high ammonia concentrations in faecal sludge affect waste stabilization
ponds?
6. What is the primary purpose of an anaerobic baffled reactor?
7. Horizontal flow constructed wetlands and planted drying beds (or vertical flow
constructed wetlands) can both be used for the biological treatment of effluent from faecal
sludge treatment plants. Explain the two different treatment technologies, how they can
be designed and operated, and their treatment mechanisms.
8. Especially in water-scarce regions, water reclamation of the effluent is beneficial, for
example in irrigation or fish cultivation. Name three water quality parameters that are
important to monitor for these purposes, and what risks their monitoring is managing.
9. An aerobic maturation pond is a common effluent treatment technology in combination
with anaerobic and facultative ponds. What treatment objective is the aerobic maturation
pond possibly designed for? Explain the process in brief.
a) Stabilization
b) Pathogen inactivation
c) Nutrient management
10. The variability of TSS and TS of faecal sludge treatment plants effluent is important.
What would be the impact of an increase in their concentration on the operation and
maintenance of liquid effluent treatment technologies such as anaerobic filters or ABRs?
11. Explain the function and treatment mechanisms of an anaerobic filter.
12. Effluent from faecal sludge treatment technologies can have high ammonium
concentrations that complicate biological treatment processes, which is challenging in
facultative ponds. How does the high ammonia concentration decrease treatment
performance on facultative ponds?
13. You are a fish farmer operating a faecal sludge treatment plant in Honduras. You have
noticed that the organic matter in the effluent is far too high, resulting in anaerobic
conditions (depleted oxygen) in the fish ponds. The current system consists of an
anaerobic digester, followed by a planted drying bed for treatment of the digestate, and
the effluent is discharged into the fish ponds. Give a treatment technology and where you
would place it that will help you to reduce the organic matter.

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14. At a faecal sludge treatment plant, a series of anaerobic baffled reactors and anaerobic
filters are connected as effluent treatment following a settling-thickening tank. Effluent

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with increased TSS is coming out from the settling-thickening tank, and as a consequence,
the anaerobic filter has started to clog. Give two possible measures to handle the situation.

Settling-thickening tank Anaerobic baffled reactor Anaerobic filter

(Images: Tilley et al., 2014).

15. Treated liquid effluent can typically be used for irrigation purposes. Name and describe
two treatment technologies that can be used for managing nutrient levels in liquid effluent
for irrigation purposes.
16. Faecal sludge that is discharged at treatment plants can have highly variable characteristics.
One influencing parameter can be the storage time. How can faecal sludge characteristics
with short-term (days) or long-term (years) storage in onsite containment differ, and what
are some possible implications for the treatment technologies?

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An integrated planning approach must incorporate the entire sanitation service chain from
toilet (user interface) to resource recovery or safe disposal of the faecal sludge. The faecal sludge
management planning framework is shown in Figure 4.1.2 ‘FSM planning from A to Z’ which
outlines the 26 sub-steps in greater detail. Refer to chapter 17 Planning integrated faecal sludge
systems by Reymond, P. in the book Faecal Sludge Management - Systems Approach for
Implementation and Operation (Strande et al., 2014).

Exercises
1. The integrated approach suggests conducting exploratory studies (first step). Why is the
exploratory study so important before moving on to detailed pre-feasibility studies?
2. The faecal sludge management framework includes preliminary studies. Why is
stakeholder interaction and an initial launching workshop involving all the primary
partners considered essential?
3. During the feasibility study, activities (amongst others) such as faecal sludge quantity
and quality, site pre-selection and cost parameters are established.
a) Who is best placed to conduct such a holistic feasibility study in a given context?
b) What are important factors for the site selection of a future faecal sludge treatment
plant?
4. During the detailed project development an action plan is prepared.
a) Define three areas of a badly developed action plan that can lead to problems later
on.
b) Who could be responsible for implementing the action plan?
5. How can we guarantee a high quality and transparent bidding process during the
tendering process?
6. The final step of the integrated planning process is project implementation, and the
monitoring and evaluation of it. A crucial step, as several aspects can lead to mistakes
and undesirable outcomes. How can we ensure high quality construction of the final
hardware?
7. Which is the more important cost factor for the long-term operation of a faecal sludge
treatment plant?
a) Capital expenditure/implementation costs, or
Planning

b) Operational expenditure?

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4. Anaerobic digestion is a common and well-proven technology for organic waste and
primary and secondary sludge. Discuss the pros and cons of anaerobic digestion as a faecal

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sludge treatment technology.
5. In an anaerobic digestion process, the feed was found to contain heavy metals that inhibit
the activity of methanogens. Explain what is likely to occur in the reactor.
6. Failures in anaerobic digestion treatment are often caused by a lack of operational support
and maintenance. Identify common problems with operation and maintenance and
suggest ways to avoid them.
7. How can the organic loading rate influence the pH and how can this influence methane
production?
8. During anaerobic digestion, part of the organic matter is converted into biogas and the
outgoing sludge is referred to as digestate. Give an example of end-use for the digestate,
also include suggestions on further treatment options if required prior to end-use.
9. What are the potential measures to reduce the impact of variability of faecal sludge
feedstock on digester operation?
10. A bio-methane potential (BMP) test should be conducted prior to design of an anaerobic
digester. What is a BMP test and what conclusions can you draw based on the BMP test?
11. You are working as a plant engineer at a faecal sludge treatment plant; your boss tells you
that they want to change the operation from mesophilic to thermophilic temperatures.
a) List the pros and cons of thermophilic digestion.
b) Discuss the challenges of operating thermophilic temperatures on faecal sludge
treatment.
12. The total organic carbon concentration of septic tank sludge is 5,000 mg/L. What is the
preferred nitrogen concentration range if the sludge is to be used for digestion?
13. You are working as a plant operator and one of your daily duties is to ensure that gas
production is stable. This time, you see that gas production has decreased significantly.
a) Give three potential reasons for the decreased gas production.
b) Choose one of the three reasons and explain how you will correct it
Design and calculate
14. Anaerobic digesters can be successfully used on different complexity levels of
implementation. Extra benefits are the products which are the gas, that potentially could
be used to produce electricity, and outgoing digestate which could after further treatment
be used as a soil amendment. To reach this point there are several necessary steps: correct
design, an operation and maintenance plan and of course a secure supply of feedstock that
can result in methanogenic bacteria growth.
a) What are the three levels of complexity of faecal sludge anaerobic digestion systems,
and by which criteria are they differentiated?
b) Find three key arguments each, for an anaerobic digester with a medium complexity
of implementation and an anaerobic digester with a high complexity of
implementation.
c) Identify what is needed to make the treatment successful, include key operation and
maintenance procedures. Highlight how you can monitor the treatment performance.

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 15. You have been asked to design an anaerobic digester since there is a need for more faecal
sludge treatment capacity in a neighbourhood in your city. The idea of an anaerobic
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digester came from the government. They have identified a demand for cooking fuel in a
small city in Bangladesh. You got funding to conduct a pre-study of faecal sludge
quantities and qualities and a BMP test in the city. The relevant results from the pre-study
are found in the table.
Use the data from the table and
a) Calculate the methane potential
b) Make calculations and decide if the incoming faecal sludge is enough to serve the
neighbourhood with cooking fuel. Use the BMP test result in a).

Parameter Result
Households 100 households
Expected faecal sludge discharge at the treatment plant 10 m3 FS/day
Faecal sludge TS 8 g TS/L FS
Faecal sludge VS 4.1 g VS/L FS
CH4 282.9 mL CH4/L FS
Cooking fuel demand 900 CH4/household per day

16. The bio-methane potential (BMP) test defines the relation between the volume of
methane that can be extracted per mass of degradable matter. Common units are litres of
CH4 per g of TS, VS or COD. How would you compare the units and what could be the
differences between them?
17. You are an engineer, designing an anaerobic digester system in Nepal. How many people
would your digester need to serve in order to produce enough biogas to power an industrial
burner for 8 hours/day? Use data from the digester in table 5.1.2.

Table 5.1.2 Biogas applications and their gas consumption rate (Vögeli et al., 2014).
Biogas application Consumption rate [L/h]
Household cooking stove 200 – 450
Industrial burner 1,000 – 3,000
Gas lamp, equivalent to 60 W bulb 120 – 150
Generation of 1 kWh of electricity with biogas/diesel mixture 700
Digester Values
Tank volume [m3] 10
Number of users [cap] 115
Total faeces [kg/d] 46
Total flush water [L/d] 345
Total urine [L/d] 172.5
Total feed [L/d] 564
Active slurry volume [L] 7,500
Hydraulic retention time [d] 13.5
Gas production [m3 biogas /day] 4

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18. Based on data from the digester in the table, what tank volume is required to fuel cooking
stoves for a neighbourhood of 10,000 people? Assume that a cooking stove consumes

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200-450 L gas per hour and that a household consists of six people using the cooking stove
for 3 hours a day.

Digester Value
Tank volume [m3] 10
Number of users [cap] 106
Total faeces [kg/d] 42
Total flush water [L/d] 318
Total urine [L/d] 159
Total feed [L/d] 519
Active slurry volume [L] 7,500
Hydraulic retention time [d] 14.5
Total gas production [m3 biogas /day] 5

19. The hydraulic retention time is the average time the digestate stays in the reactor.
Anaerobic digesters for organic waste in tropical climates usually have a hydraulic
retention time of about 30 days. If you have a treatment system receiving approximately
5 m3 faecal sludge every week, what tank volume must the digester have to keep a hydraulic
retention time of 30 days? Why do we use a hydraulic retention time and what is the
biggest influence on the hydraulic retention time?

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 Chitosan:

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Optimal dose 2.5 2.5

.
10 kg TS 25 g chitosan 0.025 kg chitosan

15 US$
0.025 kg chitosan
kg chitosan

0.38 US$ to condition 1 tonne of FS with chitosan

Moringa oleifera:
Optimal dose 375 375

375 g M. oleifera
10 kg TS 3,750 g M. oleifera 3.75 kg M. oleifera
1 kg TS
30 US$
3.75 kg M. oleifera
kg M. oleifera

112.5 US$ to condition 1 tonne of FS with M. oleifera

By calculating the costs, in this example chitosan is clearly more economical to use for
conditioning faecal sludge than Moringa oleifera. Before making a final decision about the
conditioner dose and selection, a risk-based management approach should be considered,
including partnership with a research institute, and a risk-management strategy should be
adopted to ensure that there would be no decline in faecal sludge treatment quality if
conditioners did not function well at full-scale.

Exercises
1. What is/are the treatment objective(s) of conditioning?
2. Why does unconditioned faecal sludge not work with dewatering technologies such as
filter presses (transferring) and geotubes (innovative)?
3. How can you determine the optimal conditioner dose for faecal sludge?
4. Which faecal sludge would you expect to require a higher conditioner dose: unstabilized
faecal sludge from a public toilet cesspit, or relatively stabilized faecal sludge from a
household septic tank?
5. Name two inorganic conditioners and two polyelectrolyte conditioners. How are these
two types of chemicals different from one another? How are these two types of chemicals
the same?
6. When would it be inappropriate to use conditioners to aid faecal sludge dewatering?

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 7. How would you expect the addition of a polymer conditioner (at the optimal dose) to
impact the COD in the supernatant after settling for 30 minutes compared to
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unconditioned faecal sludge?

8. What would you do differently to determine the optimal conditioner dose in the
laboratory, depending on whether you were interested in improving the settling-
thickening performance or the dewatering speed on the drying beds?
9. Presented below are the results of jar tests for two different conditioners. You are
operating a full-scale faecal sludge treatment plant with limited capacity and resources
for determining the optimal conditioner dose for every new batch of faecal sludge.
Which conditioner would you select and why?

10. Presented below is data collected from jar tests conditioning faecal sludge with chitosan,
lime, and commercial cationic polymer flocculant, along with price data for each
conditioner.

Conditioner cost Dose SRF TSS in supernatant

Conditioner
[US$/kg] [mg/g TS] [x1012 m/kg] [g/L]
0 42.8 3.6
0.5 38 2.5
1 36.8 1.7
2 25.7 0.9
Chitosan 20
3 13.8 0.5
5 2.1 0.2
8 1.9 0.07
15 6.8 1.3
0 42.8 3.6
1 18.4 2.1
3 6.8 0.7
Lime 0.15 5 2.3 0.3
10 1.9 0.2
15 1.9 0.08
25 1.9 0.08
0 42.8 3.6
0.05 30.7 2.8
0.1 15.9 0.8
Commercial
0.25 7.8 0.3
cationic polymer 2.6
0.5 0.6 0.01
flocculant
0.75 0.2 0.02
1 3.9 0.3
1.25 10.9 0.8

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a) Calculate the optimal dose for each conditioner in terms of
‐ Standard resistance to filtration (SRF)

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‐ Supernatant TSS reduction
Use the following equation to calculate the optimal dosage, remembering that the optimal
dosage is usually based on > 75% reduction.

SRF/TSS SRF/TSS
% reduction 100%
SRF/TSS

b) If your treatment goal is to reduce the dewatering time on drying beds, which
conditioner(s) would you select to further test at the pilot-scale, based on cost and
performance?

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 In a refugee camp setting, low-tech processes that consume no or limited electricity are

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preferred. In this case, the incoming faeces comes from container-based sanitation systems
where faeces and urine were separated at source. Source-separated faeces commonly has a
lower ash content and a higher calorific value than faecal sludge that has been stored in
onsite sanitation systems (Andriessen et al., 2019). Sanivation inactivates pathogens in the
faeces with a solar thermal treatment system at 65°C. The dried faeces is then used as a
binder (with water) to produce briquettes with charcoal dust, which is also a waste product
that is available in the camp. Further drying is done on drying racks. Charcoal dust has a
high calorific value, and can thus help to improve the quality of the briquettes. The
resulting briquettes are on average 22 MJ/kg. Other (carbonized) biowaste streams can
also be used for manufacturing briquettes.

Exercises
1. Which of the following treatment products can be used as a solid fuel?
a) Biogas
b) Dewatered faecal sludge
c) Dried faecal sludge
2. Name two benefits of solid fuel from faecal sludge as a resource recovery option.
3. Who could be the endusers of faecal sludge solid fuels?
4. Explain in your own words what carbonization is.
5. What is the biggest challenge of carbonized faecal sludge?
6. Which technologies could be suitable when there is no space available for drying?
7. You want to produce a solid fuel from faecal sludge with a calorific value of 14 MJ/kg and
an ash content of 22%. Your engineer proposes to dry the sludge with a solar drying system
(unplanted drying beds with greenhouses and a fan to distribute the warm air) and then
pelletize the dry sludge.
a) Do you agree with her? Why (not)?
b) What information is missing to make a more informed decision?
8. The mayor of a neighbouring city sees the positive results of producing solid fuel from
faecal sludge in your city, and wants to implement the same system. The faecal sludge has
a calorific value of 11 MJ/kg and an ash content of 52%. Do you think the mayor should
implement the same system? If not, could you propose another solution (based on the
information provided)?
9. During the raining season, the incoming sludge is more dilute (3% dryness). Knowing
this, what would you change in the treatment system: unplanted drying beds with
greenhouses and a fan to distribute the warm air followed by pelletizing of the dry sludge?

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 10. Consider faecal sludge with the following characteristics:
- Dryness 30%
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- Calorific value 16.1 MJ/kg

- Ash content 39%
The enduser requires a powdery fuel for combustion in kilns. What solid-fuel producing
technology would you choose and why?
11. Consider faecal sludge with the following characteristics:
- Dryness 11%
- Calorific value 17 MJ/kg
- Ash content 31%
The endusers are households that are sceptical of using a faecal sludge product. They are
currently using charcoal to cook with. Two engineers are arguing about whether a solid
fuel made of faecal sludge is appropriate or not.
a) What social (behaviour change) solutions might be required?
b) What solid-fuel producing technology would you choose and why?

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Technology

Case study 5.4.1 Why black soldier flies are still an

innovative faecal sludge treatment technology
Doctoral studies by Moritz Gold, Eawag and ETH Zurich

Reliable and economic operation of a BSF larvae facilities typically relies on a variety of
different biowastes as feedstock. These biowastes can be a combination of faecal sludge,
fruit and vegetable wastes (e.g. from markets), house and restaurant waste, brewery and
milling wastes. Currently, operating with this variety of biowastes is a challenge, as
nutrients and microbes that differ between these biowastes result in variable process
performance (e.g. time that larvae need to develop, amount of larvae produced from one
unit of biowaste).

A doctoral thesis at Eawag and ETH Zurich is focussing on understanding the influence
of different nutrients and microbes on BSF process performance. Similar to composting,
which uses the carbon and nitrogen ratio to identify a suitable process window, the research
is working towards identifying metrics for BSF processing. This metric is probably different
to the one developed for other treatment technologies based on microbes which can use
several forms of carbon and nitrogen for their metabolism, because BSF larvae development
relies on proteins, amino acids and available carbohydrates (Gold et al., 2018).

The anticipated output is a guideline that treatment operators can use in the future to
identify formulations of different types of biowaste for reliable treatment process
performance. This would contribute to meeting treatment objectives and producing
marketable treatment endproducts from faecal sludge.

Exercises
1. What are the treatment objectives when treating faecal sludge with:
a) Vermicomposting
b) BSF treatment
2. One common reason for using vermicompost and/or BSF treatment is the resource
recovery and revenue potential from the treatment endproduct. Name endproducts of
treatment from:
a) Vermicomposting
b) BSF treatment
3. You are a treatment plant operator that want to sell the BSF larvae as animal fodder to
farmers. What parameters will tell you how many kilos of dried larvae can be expected
from the incoming faecal sludge?
4. Prior to the design of either vermi or fly larvae treatment, it is important to conduct trials
to determine and optimize operating conditions. List the operational parameters that
should be monitored and evaluated, and briefly explain why.

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5. Name and explain two differences between vermi and fly larvae treatment.

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6. Protection of public health is the most important treatment objective for faecal sludge
treatment.
a) Describe what protective measures can be taken for employees during the treatment
process and for protection of public health in vermi and fly larvae treatment.
b) Describe further treatment requirements of vermicompost and BSF prior to enduse.
7. Worms and larvae are living organisms and will only feed, grow and reproduce in suitable
environmental conditions. Name five environmental parameters that are important for
the growth of these organisms.
8. How can treatment systems based on vermi and fly larvae treatment deal with the large
fluctuations of incoming quantities and qualities of faecal sludge?
9. The recommended moisture content of feed for vermi and fly larvae feed is 60-90%. How
can the moisture content of the feed adapt in
a) Dry climates
b) Moist climates
10. High levels of ammonia in faecal sludge could potentially upset worms and larvae. Why?
11. In your opinion, what should be considered when creating laws and regulations regarding
the sale of treatment products from vermicompost or black solider fly larva? Discuss in
200 words.
12. You are operating a faecal sludge treatment plant that receives faecal sludge from public
toilets that have short retention times and high total solids content. Next month, you will
also start receiving faecal sludge from household septic tanks that are emptied on average
every ten years. What preparations should you take prior to the changeover in feed, to
maintain adequate treatment and ensure the process is not disturbed?
a) For vermicompost
b) For BSF larva
13. How many BSF larvae are required to treat 100 m3 faecal sludge per day that has been
dewatered to a TS concentration of 60 kg per m3 faecal sludge? Assume feeding of the
larvae every fourth day, a larvae density of 40,000 larvae/m2 container, and a feeding rate
of 100 mg wet FS per larva and day.
14. You are operating a faecal sludge treatment plant, and decide to use BSF to reduce solids
for disposal, and to generate revenue from resource recovery. Assume the mass reduction
of the initial faecal sludge to be 50% by dry weight, and that the treatment unit will receive
faecal sludge six days a week. How much faecal sludge is remaining after three weeks with
a daily loading of 10 m3 faecal sludge dewatered to a moisture content of 70%?

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Exercises

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1. What is the reason for pathogen inactivation in
a) Lime stabilization
b) Ammonia treatment
2. Stirring of the mixture of lime slurry and faecal sludge is a requirement to ensure the
treatment performance. Why?
3. Lime is dosed on the basis of the TS content of faecal sludge. One potential challenge with
this method is the variability of TS content in the faecal sludge. Discuss how this challenge
could be addressed if it is not possible to measure TS.
4. After 2 hours of lime stabilization at pH >11, the faecal sludge solids will be disposed of
by either incineration or burial. Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of both options.
5. You are working in a warehouse selling hydrated lime to organizations operating lime
stabilization in a refugee camp. One of the organisations calls you and says that something
is wrong with the hydrated lime since the whole bag is hard as a stone; what do you answer?
6. An appropriate chemical quality is a key consideration for successful treatment in lime
stabilization and ammonia treatment. Typically when purchasing lime at a local market,
there will be a trade-off between price and quality. What determines the quality of lime
used for faecal sludge treatment?
7. Studies show that diluting the hydrated lime with water, prior to adding it to the faecal
sludge, facilitates the pH increase and reduces the amount of hydrated lime required.
Discuss the reasons for this.
8. Personal protective clothing and water access are important factors when conducting lime
stabilization and ammonia treatment. List common personal protection equipment and
describe in one sentence why they are needed.
9. Ammonia treatment is not always sufficient with high water contents for successful
treatment. What is the reason?
10. Two engineers are discussing potential vessels for ammonia treatment. One suggests a
square open basin, to facilitate mixing and monitoring of the process. The other one
suggests a sealed container. Which engineer is right and why?
11. Ammonia treatment results in more beneficial treatment products compared to lime
stabilization. Explain why, and give two examples of potential treatment products from
ammonia treatment.
12. You are asked to design a time and space-efficient faecal sludge treatment option for a
slum area on the outskirts of a densely populated city with 20,000 inhabitants. The space
is very limited and the weather very unstable; fluctuations of ±10 °C are common.
Disposal in a few small-scale brick factories is the only end-use alternative. Ammonia
treatment and lime stabilization are suggested. Which of the two treatment options would
you recommend? Give at least three reasons why.

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 13. You are conducting a jar test to find out if a dosage of 20 %, 25 % or 30 % of hydrated
lime per kg TS is most suitable. Each jar is filled with 1,000 mL faecal sludge with a TS
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content of 6 g/L faecal sludge.

a) How much hydrated lime powder with a content of 80 % Ca(OH)2 is required for
each dosage?
b) How do you know which test is best?
14. How much hydrated lime is required if you have 5 m3/day incoming faecal sludge with a
TS content of 10 g/L faecal sludge? Jar tests showed that dosing of 20 % Ca(OH)2 per dry
mass of faecal sludge would be sufficient, and the lime powder on the market contains
86 % Ca(OH)2.
15. You are asked to calculate the required volume (in m3) of a reactor tank for one day of
incoming faecal sludge. Also, discuss the challenges resulting from the required volume.
Calculate the amount of hydrated lime and water required to treat 8 m3 faecal sludge/day.
Use the information summarized in the table below:

Parameter
Incoming faecal sludge 8 m3 faecal sludge per day
Lime slurry ratio 1 kg lime to 3 L water
Lime dosage 0.2 kg lime to 1 kg faecal sludge
TS of incoming faecal sludge 4 g TS/L faecal sludge

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