Disclosed herein are a method for removing liquid from a permeable material, such as slurries, sludges, porous solids and permeable foams. The method involves constraining the material to be deliquified such that the material interfaces with at least one surface which is permeable to the liquid to be removed and then heating the material at one or more locations remote from the permeable surface or surfaces. Such constraining and heating of the material causes the in situ vaporization of the liquid in the vicinity of the remote location or locations. The vaporized liquid expands and forces at least some of the remaining unvaporized liquid through the permeable surface or surfaces. Because only a portion of the liquid contained in the material must be vaporized and such vaporized portion is used to remove at least some of the remaining unvaporized liquid (thereby avoiding the necessity of vaporizing all of the liquid containing in the material), significant reductions in the energy required to substantially deliquify the material may be realized through the use of the method disclosed herein.
A method and apparatus for dewatering material, the material having a certain degree of conductivity, the material being introduced into a pressure chamber and simultaneously being compressed as electrical energy is introduced into the material elevating the temperature and driving off the fluid or water in the form of steam through apertures in the pressure chamber, the residence time being a function of the conductivity of the material, the dimensions of the pressure chamber and the electrical energy and pressure directed on the material.
Apparatus and a method are presented for the mechanical removal of moisture from a filter cake. Differential pressure causes the flow of a treatment fluid through the filter cake. The treatment fluid displaces liquid originally present in the filter cake to prevent cracking of the filter cake.
