Dairy sludge was collected from a wastewater treatment plant near Limerick, Ireland. The samples were specifically collected from the post-DAF section, where a combination of several filtered dairy waste streams is present. The moisture content of the sludge was measured using the oven dry method (CEN/TS 15414-1:2010) (
15414-1:2010, 2010 ), and it was found to be 79%. No water addition is required as the high moisture content present in the sludge allows for water to act both as a reactant and a catalyst for HTC reactions. The carbon and nitrogen contents were measured using a
LECO 828 CHN Analyzer calibrated with Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), and the data was used to calculate the HHV according to the following empirical equation (
Merckel
et al., 2019):
Khalaf N., Shi W., Fenton O., Kwapinski W, & Leahy J.J. (2023). Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of dairy waste: effect of temperature and initial acidity on the composition and quality of solid and liquid products. Open Research Europe, 2, 83.