Floating Soil Drainage Installations 

Floating soil, separated from wastewater in settling tanks at sugar factories and potato processing plants, is still discharged into earthen ponds for storage. The storage of soil in these ponds requires significant retention capacity and becomes a source of unpleasant odors during the spring and summer months.

Plants lacking these tanks are faced with high investment costs required for their construction. An alternative solution to this problem involves the use of installations for the continuous dewatering of floating mud through chamber filter presses.

In the proposed new technological solution, the float mud is first separated in the sedimentation tank and then pumped into the float mud tank, which will serve as a storage facility for the filter press.

To enhance the dewatering efficiency of the float mud, we recommend the use of chemicals such as milk of lime, or a combination of milk of lime with PIX (FeCl3), or polyelectrolyte. The optimal selection of chemicals will necessitate testing under model or laboratory conditions.

Chemicals will be dosed into a float mud tank, which is equipped with a submersible mixer tasked with ensuring the proper mixing of the chemicals with the mud. The filter press will operate on a periodic basis, with float mud being pumped into its individual chambers at set intervals.

Here, it will undergo filtration through the filter material. The effluent from the press will be redirected back into the float circulation, while the mud will be transported to a container via screw conveyors. The dewatered mud, with a dry matter (DM) content of approximately 50 – 70%, will be continuously removed from the plant.