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Generally, sludge exists with high moisture content. De-water is the first and crucial step in disposal processes such as land filling, composting, building materials, and incineration. Currently, there are many studies on sludge drying by different heat transfer modes such as conduction and convection. But in most studies, the sludge drying was carried out under an atmosphere of air, which had disadvantages in high-energy consumption and an abundant quantity of exhaust. Superheated steam drying has been used to dehydrate a variety of products, including meat, grain stillage, lignite, and wood, because of environmental protection, non-oxidation, and higher drying efficiency advantages. The purpose of this study was to investigate the drying characteristics of superheated-steam on a thin layer of sludge. Thin layer drying experiments of sludge samples with different thicknesses under a series of superheated steam temperatures were carried out. Sludge samples were collected in a local wastewater treatment plant after mechanical dewatering. The size of the sludge samples were taken over an area of 100 mm×100 mm, having thicknesses of 2, 4, 6, and 10 mm, respectively. The temperatures of superheated steam were controlled by the amount of the access heaters. The experiments of superheated steam drying were conducted at 160, 200, 240, and 280°C, respectively. Relations between the model parameters and temperature and thickness for the moisture ratio of sludge in relation to drying time were determined. The results showed that sludge samples were not oxidized or burnt after superheated steam drying even at high temperatures. The dense crack and rough surface of sludge during superheated steam drying were beneficial to the drying process. At the beginning of the drying process, the mass of the samples increased due to superheated steam coming in contact with the cold surface of the sludge as the initial temperature of the sludge is close to room temperature (around 20°C). As a result, the drying time of sludge samples to reach a certain moisture content increased. The increase in the mass of condensation water and drying time was greatly influenced by the temperature of superheated steam. As a result, the higher the temperature, the smaller the increase. However, the increase was hardly influenced by the thickness of sludge. The Effective moisture diffusivity was calculated by using Fick’s second law. Thin layers of sludge formed by superheated steam drying having thicknesses of 2, 4, 6, and 10 mm had effective diffusion coefficient variations of 2.0641×10-9-8.8527×10-9, 4.3738×10-9-1.6626×10-8, 6.6082×10-9-2.46×10-8, and 1.1916×10-8-4.0806×10-8 m2/s at the temperature 160-280°C. The linear relationship between the natural logarithm of the effective diffusion coefficient and reciprocal of temperature was built based on the Arrhenius empirical formula. The activation energy values of 2, 4, 6, and 10 mm thicknesses of sludge were 26.250, 22.032, 21.894, and 20.961 kJ/mol. A valuable reference for the parameter optimization and equipment design of sludge superheated steam drying was provided by the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]