Method for treating wastewater sludge

A method of treating wastewater sludge to provide a fertilizer for agricultural lands which can be applied directly to the lands which consists essentially of the following steps:

• mixing said sludge with at least one alkaline material;
• wherein , the amount of added material mixed with said sludge being sufficient to raise the pH of said mixture to at least 12 for at least 72 hours , ;
• concurrently with the high pH pH, heating the mixture to at least 50° C., but not at a temperature sufficient to cause sterilization, the amount of heat being sufficient that the sludge stored in a static condition will be maintained at a temperature of at least 50° C. for at least 12 hours , ;
• and
• actively drying said mixture until a minimum solids concentration of 50% solids is reached,
• the amount of added material mixed with said sludge, the heating, and the length of time of drying being sufficient to reduce significantly offensive odor of the sludge to a level that is tolerable ;
• , to reduce animal viruses therein to less than one plaque forming unit per 100 ml of said sludge ;
• , to reduce pathogenic bacteria therein to less than three colony forming units per 100 ml of said sludge ;
• , to reduce parasites therein to less than one viable egg per 100 ml of said sludge ;
• , to reduce vector attraction to said sludge ;
• and to prevent significant regrowth of the pathogenic microoganisms, while being insufficient to eliminate all beneficial non-pathogenic microorganisms from the sludge.