CENTRIFUGE

1 PURPOSE

The process of high speed centrifuging has been found useful to reduce the moisture in sludge to around
60 %. Usually the liquor from the centrifuge has higher solids content than filtrate from sand drying beds.
Return of this liquor to the treatment plant may result in a larger recalculated load of these fine solids to the
primary settling and sludge system and also in reduced effluent quality.

Centrifugal thickening and dewatering is a high-speed process that uses the force from rapid rotationof a
cylindrical bowl to separate wastewater solids from liquid (U.S. EPA, 1987). Centrifuges have been used in
wastewater treatment since the 1930s.Thickening before digestion or dewatering reduces the tankage
needed for digestion and storage by removing water. Dewatering removes more water and produces a drier
material referred to as “cake "which varies in consistency from that of custard to moist soil.

2 DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

Polymer mixed with water is fed into mixing tank and stirred and overflowed into polymer dissolving tank
and gets overflowed into the polymer storage tank and the flow is stopped when the fluid level reaches high.
The flocculating of polymer and sludge takes place in the feed pipe. The bowl is driven by the main motor
via VFD and the scroll is driven by the back drive motor and rotates in the same direction. There is a
differential speed between the bowl and scroll, the sludge enters into the centrifuge being a feed pipe and
gets distributed into the bowl via the feed port in the scroll body. The mixing slide rotates at high speed with
the volume, the solid is deposited on bowl wall, the sediment is scraped off the bowl wall via scroll conveyer
and get delivered out of the centrifuge through discharge port. The separated liquid is discharged by gravity
via an overflow weir. The whole separation process is continuously feeding and discharging.

3 KEY CHARACTERISTICS

 Centrifuge may offer lower overall operation and maintenance costs and can outperform
conventional belt filter presses.

 Centrifuge require a small amount of floor space relative to their capacity.

 Centrifuge require minimal operator attention when operations are stable.

 Low exposure to pathogens, aerosols, hydrogen sulphide or other odours.

 Centrifuge are easy to clean.

 Centrifuge can handle higher than design loadings and the percent solids recovery can usually be
maintained with the addition of a higher polymer dosage.

 Major maintenance items can be easily removed and replaced. Repair work is usually performed by
the manufacturer.

Page 1 of 1