Sludge Dewatering Systems

Regardless of the source, everyone wants to get as much water as possible out of their sludge, at the lowest possible cost. Seemingly low-cost solutions are less effective, proving to be fairly expensive once you factor in increased labor, slow process times, and the higher disposal costs of moist cakes and sludge.

Over time, consistently getting the driest cakes (regardless of influent solids percentage) with the least operator involvement will always translate to the most significant wins.

Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) Water Treatment and DAF Sludge Dewatering

Dissolved air flotation (DAF) systems are incredibly useful for handling particulate and impurities/contaminants that would otherwise be very hard to capture. But it can have expensive repercussions.

DAF water treatment works by injecting bubbles into an effluent stream. These collect on particulate in the effluent, floating them to the surface. This floated sludge is then periodically skimmed into a desludging trough. Meanwhile, the clarified water is drawn off the bottom of the tank.

DAF is popular in many applications. It can be used to filter a variety of fine suspended solids, fats, oils, and greases. It’s especially useful for filtering light particles that are difficult to settle out (such as algae and discoloring organics in drinking water). It’s also a good option when a process needs to reach exceptionally low effluent turbidity in low temperatures, or if minimizing chemistry (flocculants, coagulants, polymers) is a priority.

But the mess and high disposal costs associated with the solids skimmed off of the fluid can be significant. It’s a struggle to keep a DAF water treatment system cost-effective unless you are thoroughly dewatering the collected DAF sludge.

Custom Sludge Dewatering Centrifuges

Presses—especially belt filters and screw presses—dominate many wastewater treatment facilities. But they have their shortcomings: Belt filter presses take up a lot of space. All presses require near-continuous wash water, produce inconsistent cakes that trap moisture, and deal poorly with variable flows and particular sludges (especially those with high concentrations of oils, fats, and greases).

Trucent’s sludge dewatering solutions are tuned for waste stream pretreatment to reduce disposal volumes—and reduce costs. The centrifuge-based solutions offer more flexibility and can adjust to variable solids content with less operator interaction.

Our decanter centrifuges are optimized for continuous-flow and low-maintenance/low-energy operation in a compact design:

• Adjustable bowl and conveying speed allows you to balance process speed, separation, cake dryness, and outflow liquid clarity
• Adjustable influent feed allows for efficient management of a wide range of flow rates
• Variable frequency drive (VFD) control package ensures efficient performance, minimizes costs, and protects bearings from overheating and vibration
• Operation can be pre-set or controlled automatically; no need to change belts or pulleys

Your situation is unique. From materials in your wastewater to the industry, community, and facility in which you operate, every aspect can make each day entirely different from the last. No one can meet a unique blend of challenges with a generic set of solutions.

A Process-Oriented Approach to Custom Solution Design

We’re dedicated to a process-oriented approach to sludge. This has meant spending decades investing in diverse teams: experts in non-disposable media filtration, centrifuges, decanters, the fundamental physics and chemistry of fluid separation, wastewater treatment, and water reclamation. Our teams work with your team, finding the right interventions, using the right technology, matching it to the right application, and reducing your costs.

This process begins with a Trucent engineer walking your process: We come to your site and work our way through your entire system, sampling wastewater, and effluent at every important stage along the way. Those samples are then taken back to our labs for off-site analysis and solution design. Every Trucent wastewater and sludge dewatering treatment solution is pilot tested in our labs (and, if necessary, on-site as well.)

And we can go one step further. We can maintain an ongoing service and consultation relationship, helping you address new challenges as they arise.

No one else can offer this level of comprehensive service.

Every solution begins with a conversation. Contact us today to begin that conversation or schedule a no-obligation on-site consultation.