Ultrahigh pressure filtration dewatering of municipal sludge based on microwave pretreatment.

Municipal sludge is difficult to treat and dispose of because of its high moisture content (MC) and volume. In this study, a novel dewatering method that utilizes ultrahigh pressure filtration (UHPF) and thin-cake-press (TCP) coupled with microwave pretreatment was proposed to reduce the MC of sludge cake. The influence of microwave contact time (MCT), microwave intensity (MI), initial MC of sludge, dewatering time, applied pressure and sludge weight (Ws) on the MC of a sludge cake was investigated by the single-factor experiment.