ALDEC 550 Series
High Performance Decanter
• For sludges from municipal, industrial and potable water
treatment plants
• Reduces sludge volume
• Average capacity for normal dewatering duties 25 – 50 m3/h
• Cost effective performance
• Continuous operation and automatic control
• Compact, modular design
Alfa Laval offers the most cost-effective, high performance
solutions for waste water treatment plants. ALDEC treats high
throughputs of all sludges from very low (<1%DS) to very high
solids contents. No matter what is needed – lower polymer
consumption, lower life cycle costs, higher cake dryness or
clearer effluent and higher capacities – ALDEC can satisfy the
dewatering and thickening demands.
Enhancement Packages
The economics of sludge treatment operation may justify the
addition of one or more of the enhancement packages:
• Enhanced dewatering package – Achieve higher cake dry-
ness and lower sludge disposal costs.
• Enhanced thickening package – With this package it is pos-
sible to lower the polymer costs. Use of polymer is reduced
and is in some cases no longer necessary.
• Enhanced wear protection package – Maintenance costs
are reduced because of more wear resistant materials. This
prolongs the service intervals.
• Serviceability package – This package is a time saver offer-
ing increased ease of operation and maintenance.
• Power savings package – Reduce electricity costs through
power recovery.
Working Principle
Separation takes place in a horizontal bowl equipped with a
screw conveyor (1).
The sludge is fed into the bowl through a stationary feed tube
(2) and smoothly accelerated by the inlet distributor (3).
Centrifugal force causes sedimentation of the solids on the
wall of the bowl (4).
The conveyor and the bowl rotate in the same direction, but 2
3 5
at different speeds. This conveys the solids to the conical end 6 1 8
7 9 4
of the bowl (5).
Here the solids are lifted out of the liquid and are centrifugally
Design
dewatered before being discharged into the casing. The clari-
A compact, in-line frame carries the rotating part with main
fied liquid overflows into the casing through openings in the
bearings at both ends. Vibration isolators are placed under
end of the bowl (6).
the frame. The rotating part is enclosed in a casing with a
cover and a bottom section in which the solids and liquid out-
Drive System
lets are integrated.
An electrical motor and a V-belt transmission drive the bowl.
Power is transferred to the conveyor by means of a two- or
Materials
three-stage planetary gearbox (7).
Conveyor, inlet tube, outlets, and other parts in direct contact
The speed difference between the bowl and the conveyor is
with the sludge are made of stainless steel. The bowl is made
obtained by a fully automatic back drive system that compen-
of Duplex. The discharge ports (8) as well as conveyor flights
sates for variations in the incoming solids.
and feedzone are protected with highly erosion resistant
materials. The frame is made of mild steel with an epoxy
enamel finish.

Dimensions Optimisation
The ALDEC decanters can be adjusted to suit individual
sludge dewatering and thickening needs. Optimal separation
efficiency is found by first varying the feed rate, rotational
1325 mm

speed, polymer type and dosage. Then optimal balance

between liquid clarity and solids dryness is found by varying
Max. Max. the differential speed between conveyor and bowl and the
5035 mm (ALDEC 550) 1190 mm pond depth in the bowl (9).

Technical data ALDEC 556

Bowl diameter 480 mm
Total bowl length 2035 mm
Max. speed 3650 rpm
G-force 3574 G
Max.weight 5000 kg
Bowl material Duplex
Other parts in contact with sludge AISI 316
Typical main drive size 55 kW
Start method Star-delta or frequency converter
Sound pressure in free field dB (A) rel 20µ Pa 85

PD 41460 en1 / 0110

How to contact Alfa Laval

Contact details for all countries
are continually updated on our website.
Please visit www.alfalaval.com to
access the information direct.