I am involved with an electrochemical machining (ECM) process which creates metal (hydr)oxides. These are currently filtered out using a filter press but the cakes are only approx. 20 % solid. We are switching to a belt filter which should increase the %age solids in the cake. Is there an effective way to increase the %age solid in the cakes further? We have considered capturing heat from our ECM process as a way to partially dry the sludge; we are aiming to increase the metal (hydr)oxide %age to around 40 % weight so that we can recycle the sludge rather than dispose of it. The sludge also contains a high percentage of salt from the electrolyte used in the ECM process.
Any suggestions for sludge volume reduction/dewatering would be greatly appreciated (by both me and the environment). Many thanks in advance.
As per my knowledge, the belt filter has several zones and it requires spray water in each zone to successively wash out impurities from your process stream which then forms your cake. Thus, your residual sludge can be used as spray water so that the concentration of solids in the cake can be brought up. This would increase the solid content in cake and reduce your sludge volume.
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