title: Experimental analysis of centrifugal dewatering process of polyelectrolyte flocculated waste activated sludge.
abstract: The study experimentally investigated the centrifugal separation of moisture from activated sludge subject to cationic polyelectrolyte flocculation. An arm-suspended centrifuge was employed which allowed in-situ detection on all positions of interfaces of centrifuged sludge as functions of time. Experimental results revealed that, sludge flocculation would yield a significant sedimentation effect at the first phase of centrifugation. Therefore, not as suggested in conventional centrifugal-filtration models, the most significant moisture-removal stages included filtrate to flow through a wet cake. Moreover, an optimal rotational speed exists at which the moisture-removal rate reaches a maximum value. New theories/correlations are required to describe centrifugation dewatering of polyelectrolyte flocculated sludge.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei.
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D002498:Centrifugation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D004573:Electrolytes / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D005374:Filtration / Q000379:methods; D005427:Flocculation; D008853:Microscopy; D008956:Models, Chemical; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D004573:Electrolytes