Municipality

Installations for sludge dewatering

The dewatering phases in municipal processes are basically of biological sludge originated from purification processes. DIEMME Filtration has realized many complete installations of sludge purification regarding the processes of water purification, purification of waste waters and SUW (solid urban waste) treatment.

Water purification: production of potable water – sludge dewatering

In most cases, water provided to end users, given their high demand, comes from lakes (both natural and artificial), rivers and underground aquifers.
In order for it to become drinkable (potable), water is subject to a variety of processes commonly including chemical-physical treatment.
Chemical-physical treatment produces sludge as a by-product, which is dewatered using filter presses, to reduce the volume for disposal and recover additional water.

Purification of waste waters – sludge dewatering

Water used in human activities (domestic and municipal waste water) is collected by underground drainage systems (sewers) and directed to centralised plants for treatment in order to allow it to be safely discharged to the environment (or recycled). In these centralised plants, biological processes are harnessed to treat the waste water. A by-product of these processes is sludge with varying qualities, depending on the particular process. Filter presses are commonly used to dewater the sludge, thus reducing the volume and minimising the cost of disposal (or increasing the options for recycling).
Industrial waste water treatment also produces sludge as a by-product of the purification process. This sludge needs to be dewatered in order to make disposal both safe and economic. In this dewatering phase, filter presses are used extensively.

SUW (solid urban wastes) treatment – sludge dewatering

Solid wastes (domestic and industrial) are collected and brought to special sites where they are either buried in landfills or incinerated. 
In the first case, filter presses are used for dewatering sludge produced from the treatment of contaminated drainage water emanating from the landfill. In the second case, filter presses are used to dewater the slurry produced by “scrubbing” the flue gas from incinerators to minimise air pollution.