4.

Dewatering
• 4.1 Sludge drying beds
• 4.2 Belt press
• 4.3 Filter press
• 4.4 Centrifuge
• 4.5 New SA technologies

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4 Dewatering
4.1 Sludge drying beds
4.1.1 Advantages
– No chemicals required
– Ease of operation
– High dry solids %
4.1.2 Disadvantages
– High capital cost
– Labour intensive
• Mechanical equipment required for removal/handling
• Hard labour required
– Weather sensitive
– Possibility of odours
– Not effective in wet weather
– BNR supernatant return contains phosphates
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4. Dewatering
4.2 Belt press
4.2.1 Advantages
• High capacity
• Visual monitoring of the drying process
• Integrated and/or separate pre-thickening devices may
treat dilute sludge
• Moderate energy consumption compared with
centrifuges
• Moderate polyelectrolyte dosing required

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4. Dewatering
4.2 Belt press
4.2.2 Disadvantages
• Maintenance & operation intensive
– Labour intensive
– High level of technical expertise required from operational personnel
• High maintenance cost
• Belt replacement
• Large number of bearing sets
• High operational cost
• High level of technical expertise required from operational
personnel
• Travelling belts require tensioning & alignment
• Regular belt replacement due to tears and stretching
• Regular bearing failures
• High washwater requirement
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4. Dewatering
4.2 Belt press
4.2.2 Disadvantages Continue ( )

• Numerous items of ancillary equipment required

– Compressors for pneumatic belt tensioning & tracking
– Centralised automatic lubrication / manual lubrication of
bearings
– Pre-thickening of sludge required
• Sludge thickener
• Sludge holding/storage tank
– Washwater pumps & ancillaries
• Cannot use final effluent without filtration
• Lower DS production than centrifuge
• Not suitable for oily and fatty sludges
• Not cost effective / applicable technology for smaller
plants (<2Ml/d)
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4. Dewatering
4.3 Centrifuge
4.3.1 Advantages
• High capacity
• Low space requirement
• Continuous dewatering in an enclosed unit
• Unmanned operation
• Approx. 4% higher DS than achieved than with a belt
press
• Suitable for all sludge types (including oily/fatty sludges)

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4. Dewatering
4.3 Centrifuge
4.3.2 Disadvantages
• High capital cost
• High maintenance cost
– High speed of operation
– Vibration phenomena
– High level of technical expertise required from operational personnel
• Noize levels exceeding 85dB(A)
• High operational cost
– High level of technical expertise required from operational personnel
– High power consumption
• High polyelectrolyte consumption
• Operation - the dewatering process is not visible
• Not cost effective / applicable technology for smaller plants
(<10Ml/d)
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4. Dewatering
4.4 Filter press
4.4.1 Advantages
– Effective for inorganic sludge
– Low polyelectrolyte dosing required
4.4.2 Disadvantages
– High capital cost
– Not a continuous process
– High operational cost
• High level of technical expertise required from operational
personnel
• Manual batch process
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4. Dewatering
4.5 New SA Technologies
• Volute Dehydrator

Volute
Dehydrator
Video

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 4. Dewatering
4.5 New SA Technologies – Volute Dehydrator
4.5.1 Advantages
• Ease of operation
• Low maintenance cost
• Minimal space requirement
• Low washwater requirement
• Automated mechanical cleaning of apertures
• Low capital cost
- Dewater directly from reactor
- No pre-thickening of sludge required
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 4. Dewatering
4.5 New SA Technologies - Volute Dehydrator
4.5.1 Advantages (Continue)
• Low operational cost
- Low operational speed (<10rpm)
- Unmanned 24h operation possible
- Few moving parts
• Low energy consumption
• Suitable for all sludge types (including oily/fatty
sludges)
• Cost effective technology applicable to small WwTP
• 500kl/d - 10Ml/d

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 4. Dewatering
4.5 New SA Technologies - Volute Dehydrator
4.5.2 Disadvantages
• Low capacity
– Up to 10Ml/d plant per machine
• Polyelectrolyte dosing required

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