The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 26, 2000
Filed:
Mar. 02, 1999
Eduardus Julius Van Poppel, Berkel Enschot, NL;
Peter Carlo Rem, Rijswijk, NL;
DHV Milieu en Infrastructuur B.V., Ex Amersfoort, NL;
Technische Universiteit Delft Faculteit Technische Aardwetenschappen, Delft, NL;
Abstract
A method and apparatus is provided for continuous dehydration of sludge wherein, prior to dehydration, water is mechanically removed from the sludge, and the thus obtained sludge of cutting consistency is mixed with heated spheres. Dehydration is carried out at reduced pressure, wherein the sludge from which water has been mechanically removed is intimately mixed with the heated spheres in order to increase the heat capacity of the sludge. The dehydrated sludge and the cooled spheres are then separated from each other, the dehydrated sludge is removed, while the cooled spheres are reheated and subsequently added to fresh sludge that is to be dehydrated. The spheres are partly heated by means of water vapor coming from the sludge and partly by means of steam. The spheres are made from steel, having a diameter of 8-16 mm. The pressure in the system ranges form approx. 2 bars to approx. 0.05 bar. An apparatus is also provided for carrying out the method. The apparatus may be of the screw kind or of the turret kind.