Sludge Dewatering General Information
The Big Picture Holistic Approach to Wastewater Treatment...What is Sludge Dewatering?
In all probability you already know that sludge dewatering is, as the name clearly implies, removing water from sludge, or as we say "dewatering" the sludge.
Sludge dewatering is typically the final step for industrial wastewater treatment processes and plants. After pH adjustment if needed, wastewater chemicals addition, liquid solids separation or a biological process, the remaining sludge is high in water content that can be reclaimed through sludge dewatering.
Why Dewater Sludge?
As stated above, to get the wastewater back so you can use it again. But that's not the only reason. You have to do something with that sludge and that can mean dumping it, which costs money. You pay by the ton. Water is heavy. So...if you remove as much water as possible, your dewatered sludge is lighter, weighs loss, and thus costs less to dispose of or landfill.
So dewatering sludge is useful to both reclaim usable water for your manufacturing or other facility, and to reduce tipping fees or cost of operation. Sludge dewatering saves you money.
How to Perform Sludge Dewatering...
The most common way to dewater sludge is to physically squeeze the water out of the sludge, or to put the sludge in a rotary screen or other centrifuge like device to spin the water out.
There is also the good old fashioned method of simply spreading the sludge out and letting it air dry. Sludge drying is also used as a post sludge dewatering step to get still more water out.
Sludge Drying
In addition to air and sun drying of sludge, you can use a sludge drier device or oven. Sludge driers are oven like equipment that actually bakes out the water instead of using the sun and air. The downside to sludge drying is that the water is gone and thus not reclaimed for use in your process, and the cost for the sludge drying process is only offset by the amount of tipping fee reduction, not necessarily a profitable endeavor.
Sludge Dewatering at Its Best
As you can see, sludge dewatering can be done well, and not so well. The bottom line is the water content. If you leave a lot of water in, you are left with a heavier sludge cake (if you get the sludge dry enough to cake) or a heavier sludge for disposal.
This cuts your costs and increases potential profits. Superior and efficient sludge dewatering is highly desirable.
Read more information about sludge dewatering.
Read more about sludge dewatering equipment...
