The disposal of sewage sludge using landfills and ocean dumping is no longer a viable option due to land scarcity and increasingly stringent environmental control regulations. As such, various efforts have been made to develop new sewage sludge recycling technologies. This work investigates the fundamental physical and chemical characteristics of rural type sewage sludge from Chungnam province in South Korea. The average moisture content, ignition loss, elementary analysis, and average heating value of the sewage sludge samples were examined. The average moisture content of the dewatered sludge was about 80%, while the organic matter was about 50% of the total solid sludge weight. The average heating value of a sewage sludge and petroleum coke waste mixture(1:1 weight ratio) was about 5,000 ㎉/kg, thereby indicating a high potential for energy recycling.