Combining Transport of Pendular Water with Wind-Assisted Interfacial Evaporation for Dewatering of Concentrated Slurry Waste

TL;DR

This study introduces a sailboat evaporator system that significantly accelerates dewatering of concentrated slurry waste using wind-assisted interfacial evaporation, achieving high solid concentrations efficiently and sustainably.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel sailboat evaporator with root-like structures that access water pockets in slurry, enabling faster evaporation at high solid concentrations, outperforming conventional methods.

Findings

Achieved evaporation rates of 4 kg/(m^2*h) at 80 wt% solid concentration.

Demonstrated effective water extraction from 150 cm deep supernatant layers.

Maintained high evaporation efficiency through hydrodynamic flushing at high solid contents.

Abstract

Drying concentrated slurry waste is slow, particularly due to the entrapment and limited accessibility of water entrained between the particles in the slurry. A sailboat evaporator with a root-like structure is a new system that enables wind-assisted interfacial evaporation of concentrated particle slurries. In this work, we create access to the disconnected water pockets in concentrated slurry waste, facilitating faster water conduction and efficient evaporation at extremely high solid concentration. The evaporator's long roots effectively extracted water beneath 150 cm deep supernatant water layer. Through replantation of the evaporator to a separate location, an impressive evaporation rate (ER) of 4 kg/(m^2*h) close to 80 wt% solid concentration, a 25% increase to a non-replanted sample. Furthermore, long periods of efficient of evaporation was achieved even at high solid concentration through hydrodynamic flushing of roots. Outdoor experiments achieved substantial volumetric reduction, yielding dried residues with over 75 wt% solid concentration. These results underscore the system's reliable performance against highly concentrated slurries, yet to be by conventional industrial methods, including flocculation and tail-lift drying. The integration of renewable energy coupled with efficient enhancement techniques makes the sailboat evaporator a scalable and sustainable pathway for industrial wastewater dewatering.