Research and development
In solid/liquid separation, various application requirements were the focus of research and development work. For decanters used in the environmental sector, efforts concentrated on cutting energy consumption, which achieved reductions of up to 40% depending on the size of the decanter and the throughput. The high-speed single-cell drum filters used especially in the plastics industry were expanded to handle larger throughputs, at the same time reducing the specific filtration costs.
Thermal solid/liquid separation
A pilot-scale belt dryer has been developed and is scheduled to go into operation in Q3/2012. The design of the belt dryer allows testing of a wide range of materials to be dried at different drying conditions.
Torrefaction
In Frohnleiten, Austria, a pilot plant for torrefaction of biomass was started up successfully. Torrefaction improves the fuel properties of biomass so that higher co-incineration rates – and thus savings in CO2 – can be achieved in coal-fired power stations.
A CFD simulation project has been initiated for the newly developed torrefaction drum. The main objective of the project is the development of a valid CFD model of particle transport within the drum and the torrefaction reaction to support scale-up and optimization activities.
Development of exhaust air treatment section of sewage sludge drying plants
Non-thermal VOC and odor reduction processes have been analyzed at an existing BDS dryer plant. Different combinations of bio filter, bio-trickling filter, activated carbon, non-thermal plasma, and condenser were tested.
Mechanical solid/liquid separation
- A decanter with 20% more throughput is being developed for municipal sludge dewatering. This is accomplished mainly by improving the flow situation in the feed zone.
- For filter presses used in ore mining, the plate opening times are being shortened, thus leading to drastically reduced operating cycles with the benefit of a significantly higher specific throughput.
- A drum filter is being developed for applications in the polymer industry that allows easy maintenance, even at higher throughputs.
- For centrifuges, a new drive system has proved its long-term reliability. As a result, this concept is now also utilized in other centrifuge sizes.
- New intermittent sizes are being developed in the hyperbaric disk filter (HBF) and vacuum disk filter product groups.
- A novel, dynamic cross-flow filter is being developed and has already been applied successfully in several industrial processes.
- In Framework Program 7 of the European Union, a new type of centrifuge with a strong magnetic field was designed and will be tested for selective separation of proteins by functionalized magnetic particles.
Successful separation of solid particles from liquids starts by analyzing the constituents and their interactions
Modern simulation tools are employed to better understand flow phenomena and 3-dimensional stress distributions
