Mechanical dewatering applies pressure or centrifugal force to a conditioned sludge to drive off water and produce a transportable cake. The technology is selected on cake dryness, capture rate, throughput and operating requirement.
Continuous gravity-then-pressure dewatering giving moderate cake solids at low energy and high throughput.
Low-speed, low-energy presses well suited to oily and fibrous sludges with simple, enclosed operation.
Batch chamber presses giving the highest cake solids where dryness is critical.
The specific resistance to filtration governs how fast water passes the cake; conditioning lowers it.
Higher applied or centrifugal pressure drives more water out, up to the compressibility limit of the cake.
Capture rate measures the solids retained in the cake versus lost to the filtrate, a key performance metric.
Dewatering performance is judged on two linked numbers: cake dry-solids (typically 15 to 35 percent depending on sludge and technology) and solids capture (often 90 to 98 percent of feed solids retained in the cake). Conditioning, applied pressure and residence time trade off between them; pushing for very dry cake can lower capture as fines escape to the filtrate, so the design targets the economic balance for the disposal route.
Pre-assembled container plants for rapid deployment to remote and temporary sites.
Conveyors and skips for stackable cake transport and disposal.
Filtrate and washwater management returning captured streams to treatment.
Reynolds & Bauhm engineers complete sludge treatment trains — thickening, conditioning, dewatering, stabilisation and drying — matched to your solids and disposal route.
Our expertise spans multiple industries with sector-specific water treatment solutions.