Thickening — Solids Handling

Increase sludge solids concentration before digestion or dewatering — reducing chemical costs, digester heating, and equipment size.

What is Sludge Thickening?

Sludge thickening concentrates solids by removing free water before the sludge moves to digestion, dewatering, or disposal. Doubling the solids concentration cuts the volume in half — meaning smaller digesters, less heat required to maintain digester temperature, lower polymer consumption in dewatering, and reduced equipment capacity requirements. Thickening is one of the most cost-effective steps in a biosolids program because the benefits compound through every downstream process.

Equipment We Represent

DryCake — Decanter Centrifuges

Proprietary Hybrid Drive system recovers scroll braking energy to assist bowl rotation
Reduces energy consumption and installed power requirements by 30%
Open scroll construction for wear resistance and easy maintenance
Available in 4" to 31" diameter
Remote access diagnostics and factory-built startup-ready skids (UL/CSA certified)

DryCake — DRYPRESS Screw Press

Three-stage progressive processing: draining, thickening, pressing
Feed: 0.8–6% dry content → output: 15–25% cake dryness
Pneumatic back-pressure cone for adjustable output solids content
Available as complete skids with control panel, conveyor, sludge pump, and polymer system

SNF Polydyne — FLOPAM Conditioning Polymers and FLOQUIP Feed Systems

FLOPAM flocculant polymers in dry, emulsion, and liquid forms for sludge conditioning before thickening
Full cationic charge range optimized for thickening applications
FLOQUIP polymer preparation and feed equipment for automated makeup and dosing

Applications

Pre-Digestion Thickening
Concentrating WAS and primary sludge before anaerobic digestion to reduce heat load

Pre-Dewatering Thickening
Increasing solids concentration to improve dewatering equipment throughput

WAS Thickening
Waste activated sludge concentration from secondary clarifiers

Mixed Sludge Thickening
Combined primary and secondary sludge thickening before processing

Why Winschel Environmental?

Energy-efficient centrifuge — DryCake Hybrid Drive reduces centrifuge energy use by 30% vs. conventional designs
Screw press option — DRYPRESS provides low-speed mechanical thickening with simple operation
Polymer program included — SNF Polydyne polymers and FLOQUIP feed systems sized and optimized for your sludge
Downstream benefits — proper thickening reduces chemical costs, heating energy, and dewatering equipment loads
Virginia coverage — local support for startup, polymer optimization, and service