Separation technologies for sludge dewatering

Particles in sludge feeds interact strongly one with another to prevent settling and offer a significant resistance to filtration and compression. This leads to the need for dewatering forces to be compressive ones applied directly to the networked solid phase; sometimes shear forces can be an assist dewatering. Designs of filtration equipment most suitable for sludge dewatering have evolved to meet the intrinsic characteristics of sludges, the most important of which are their compressibility and fine particle sizes, which lead to cakes with extraordinarily high solids contents close to the filter medium. Hence, the membrane plate press, the belt filter and the decanter centrifuge have become most widely accepted machines for sludge dewatering. Filter presses tend to yield a drier solids discharge, but the level of dryness depends on the sludge properties. The same feed properties dictate the need for chemical pre-treatment to ensure the highest rates of dewatering and best clarity of filtrate, and correct choice of filter cloth is also crucial in these respects. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.