Coupling centrifuge drainage with microwave drying operation: description of cake desaturation before drying

Abstract

Centrifuge drainage is an operation which found main applications in pharmaceutical, chemical and textile industry. It is an efficient and economic process, and is frequently used before a thermal drying to eliminate most of the liquid retained in the cake at low energetic cost. Moreover, the combination of mechanical and thermal operations in the same machine enables, in some cases, to optimize productivity, energy efficiency and safety aspects and to reduce cleaning fluids volumes and handling operations requirements. In this study, interest of coupling centrifugal drainage and microwave drying is brought into focus. Some of technical aspects are also addressed.