Slashing Sludge Disposal Costs for Christmas Creek Sludge Facility
A major iron ore producer in Australia operates a number of sewage treatment plants, which all produce sludge.
A number of their sites utilise advanced MBR technology to treat the sewage to a high level for environmental discharge and/or partial reuse. Liquid biosolids produced from the sites are now transported to a centralised sludge management facility, and dewatered to produce a spadable cake for road transport.
Previously liquid sludge was transported but the new facility reduces offsite disposal volumes.
The benefits include:
- High volume reduction, resulting in reduced offsite sludge disposal costs
- Lowest energy demand
- Low internal screw speed of <1RPM resulting in minimum maintenance requirements
- Fully enclosed
- All stainless steel fabrication
The equipment installed is the HUBER Q-PRESS®. This technology relies on an internal screw that conveys the sludge through a cylindrical wedgewire basket.
As the sludge drains, pressure is gradually applied to the sludge mass which results in final dewatering to a dry spadable cake, resulting in a 85—88% reduction in volume.
The HUBER Q-PRESS® uses 90% less power than an equivalent sized centrifuge and 80% less water than a belt filter press. The energy savings associated with this is significant in the overall operating cost of the treatment plant.
| Item | Value |
| Sludge Solids | 1-1-T%DS |
| Flow | 1-2 m3/h |
| Cake Solids | 19-20%DS |
| Capture | 95% |
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