BAT for cost saving sludge dewatering

During the production route often side streams with by-products and/or waste streams appear as suspended solids in water. Depending on their physical properties the solids could be removed mechanically and dehydrated to desired moisture. The efficiency of waste streams/sludge dewatering is affected by the dewatering device, the conditioning of sludge and operating conditions. In this study the performance of an innovative dewatering technology, patented by Bucher Unipektin Ltd, which heart is a hydraulic press system (HPS), have been investigated. The use of common additives also had been investigated on the dewatering efficiency. The experiments performed using the Bucher HPS on different side streams/sludges achieved dry substance (DS) values of up to 50% w/w for organic biomass and up to 70% w/w for minerals. The results for the Bucher HPS showed that this practise is characterized by high dewatering performance and long service life with minimal maintenance, making the hydraulic press system a “Best Available Technique” (BAT) for processing municipal and industrial sludge, yielding filter cakes with the lowest possible moisture content.