Research progress and development trends of sludge co-combustion technology

作者：Junjie Gao, Zifan Shen, Haibo Wu, H. P. Wei, Zixin LU, Shahong Zhu, Tuo Zhou · 发表于：Sustainable Carbon Materials · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.48130/scm-0026-0006 · 被引用次数：2 · 研究领域：Thermochemical Biomass Conversion Processes、Chemical Looping and Thermochemical Processes、Coal and Its By-products

With the rapid increase in sludge generation and the tightening of environmental regulations, efficient sludge treatment has become a critical issue for sustainable waste management and carbon reduction. Among the available methods, sludge co-combustion has emerged as an effective approach for resource recovery and emission control. In this review, the evolution and current status of sludge co-combustion technologies worldwide are summarized, emphasizing their growing importance in clean energy systems. The physicochemical characteristics of various sludge types—such as high moisture content, low calorific value, high ash fraction, and heavy metal enrichment—are compared to illustrate the necessity of pretreatment. Furthermore, based on results from laboratory-, pilot-, and industrial-scale studies, the effects of sludge co-combustion ratio on combustion efficiency, operational stability, as well as heavy metal migration and ash characteristics are systematically analyzed. The results indicate that maintaining a relatively low co-combustion ratio (generally ≤ 20%) ensures stable operation and high thermal efficiency, while allowing most heavy metals to be effectively retained in solid ash phases; in contrast, higher co-combustion ratios may intensify heavy metal enrichment in fly ash and alter ash physicochemical properties. Finally, future research directions are proposed, focusing on integrating multi-scale experiments with modeling approaches to better understand the coupl...