Enhancing the Dewaterability of Oily Cold Rolling Mill Sludge Using Quicklime as a Conditioning Agent

[Image: see text] The high moisture and viscosity characteristics of oily cold rolling mill (CRM) sludge led to limitations in its recycling. In this paper, the results of using quicklime as a conditioning agent to improve the dewaterability of the oily CRM sludge cake were reported. Quicklime was selected as the best conditioning agent through conditioning–dewatering experiments because it could effectively reduce the viscosity of oily CRM sludge and improve the dewaterability of the oil sludge filter cake. The optimal conditioning effect was obtained when the quicklime dosage was 10%, the temperature was 60 °C, the liquid/solid ratio was 1.5:1, and the time was 30 min. The reduction of specific resistance to filtration was 95.9%, and the coefficient of compressibility of the filter cake decreased from 1.11 to 0.89. The dewatering rate increased from 9.0 to 52.6%. The oily CRM sludge cake formed an incompressible rigid porous structure because of conditioning with quicklime. In addition, after conditioning with quicklime, the oil content, chemical oxygen demand, and turbidity of the filtrate decreased, and the composition of the dried filter cake met the requirements of ironmaking raw materials. Using quicklime to condition the oily CRM sludge provided a green approach to waste recovery and sustainable management.