Evolution of nitrogen/oxygen substituted aromatics from sludge to light and heavy volatiles

Thermal treatments of sludge lead to the emission of carcinogenic aromatics, which has already attracted the attention of researchers for years. However, until now the evolution of substituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), especially those with high molecular weight, during thermal treatments of sludge was not paid enough attention even though some of them are more toxic than their parent PAHs. To comprehend the generation of substituted PAHs, in particular that of heavy substituted PAHs, volatiles released from the pyrolysis of three sludge at three temperatures were comprehensively analyzed. The results show oxygen-substituted PAHs (O-PAHs) and nitrogen-substituted PAHs (N-PAHs) are the most abundant light substituted PAHs at 450 °C, while PAHs containing both nitrogen and oxygen atoms (NO-PAHs) and O-PAHs are the dominant substituted aromatics in heavy components. With the temperature increased, condensation degree and content of substituted PAHs in light and heavy components both increase due to condensation effect. Deamination and deoxygenation of NO-PAHs also enhance content of O-PAHs and N-PAHs, respectively. At 850 °C, nearly all heavy components derive from the condensation of light molecules instead of the direct decomposition of sludge. Aromatics, especially N-PAHs, are the dominant compounds in both light and heavy components. Calcium compounds in sludge can greatly affect the formation of substituted PAHs at high temperatures.