Technical Bulletin No. 0299: Full Scale Operational Experience with Filter Presses for Sludge Dewatering in the North American Pulp and Paper Industry

  The desire for higher solids content de-watered sludge cakes than can be produced by other mechanical de-watering devices has led to the installation of at least twelve filter press operations in the United States and Canada. Increasing amounts of sludges of biological and chemical treatment origin in the pulp and paper industry which do not dewater readily have been dominant factors in the choice of this method of sludge dewatering. Filter presses have found extensive use for waste water sludge dewatering, principally domestic sewage sludge, in Europe. Their use for dewatering sludge of pulp and paper origin, however, has been limited until recently.