1. What is the problem that needs to be solved in this paper?

The problem that needs to be solved is the release percentages of Phosphorus (P), Nitrogen (N) and
organic compounds from waste activated sludge.

2. What have other researchers done to try to solve this problem?

Other researcher tried to solve the release percentages of Phosphorus (P), Nitrogen (N) and COD from
waste activated sludge with thermal and ultrasonic treatment.

3. Why haven’t they solved it? Or why is their solution not good enough?
 They can’t solve because they only focused on the solubilization of P, N and organic compounds
but not on their selective release.

 Their solution not good enough because Mechanical sludge treatment, such as ultrasound, was
not effective for the selective release of P, N and organic compounds, given that the composition
of the supernatant was similar to that of sludge. However, recent research revealed that the
release percentages of P and N were much higher than organic compounds when thermal
treatment was used.

4. What is the solution in this paper or what new information have you found? How is it different from previous
solutions?
 The solution in this paper is selective release of Phosphorus (P), Nitrogen (N) and organic
compounds from waste activated sludge (WAS) with combined thermal and alkali treatment.
 We find new information from this paper that selective release of Phosphorus (P), Nitrogen (N)
from has a beneficial effect on nutrient recovery with crystallization processes and it can also
enhance anaerobic sludge digestion.
 The last solution is different from previous solutions. The Phosphorus (P) was most effectively
released from waste activated sludge (WAS) followed by Nitrogen (N) and organic compounds
with combined thermal-alkali treatment and the release rates were positively associated with
NaOH concentration while temperature gave only a marginal effect. The ratios of T-N/T-P and
COD/T-P were negatively associated with NaOH concentration. High NaOH concentration
created cavities on the surface of WAS, and these cavities accelerated the release rate, but
reduced selectivity. But well known that ultrasound treatment breaks or ruptures cell
membranes or walls with cavitation bubbles for sludge hydrolysis or pretreatment. In this case,
it is thought that intracellular compounds are released randomly and the selective release of any
compound is not possible to occur.

5. How exactly and under what conditions is your solution better than other proposed methods?

6. Even if your solution was not totally successful, what exact knowledge has it contributed to the field, and
what are the implications of this research for your field?

7. What other knowledge is lacking concerning this research problem and should be studied in future research?