This paper determined cations and anions concentrations, Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN), and heavy metals content in sewage sludge collected from the drying beds of wastewater treatment plant in Gaza. The aim was to test the possibility of using this sewage sludge as an alternative source of mineral fertilizers. Many instruments were used in this work: flame photometry (K, Na), EDTA titration (Ca, Mg), the turbidity method ( ) , spectrophotometer (turbidity), ascorbic acid method (orthophosphate), titrimetric method (Cl<sup>﹣</sup>), inductive coupled plasma analyzer (ICP, heavy metals). All the processes of experiments and analyses were described clearly for reference. Results showed that concentrations of Na<sup>﹢</sup>, K<sup>﹢</sup>, Ca<sup>2﹢</sup> and Mg<sup>2﹢</sup> were 28.93, 2.53, 271 and 177 mg/kg respectively whereas were 0.434, 18.59, 0.87 and 0.026 g/kg respectively. The concentrations of Fe, Cu, Pb, Zn and Mn were 125.12, 172.56, 76.88, 218.73 and 157.56 mg/kg respectively. These results indicate that sewage sludge from Gaza contained high fractions of most plant nutrients accordingly, and it may be advantageous to use the sludge as a natural source of plant fertilizers.
KeywordsSludgeCationsAnionsTKNHeavy Metals
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