Breaking through the dilemma of sludge dewatering equipment utilization: the solution of selection, operation and maintenance and personnel quality

Key issues and solutions in the use of sludge dewatering equipment In the field of environmental protection engineering, the effective use of sludge dewatering equipment is the core link to achieve proper treatment and disposal of sludge. However, in the current application practice of sludge dewatering equipment, there are still a series of complex and critical problems, which need to be deeply analyzed and effective solutions sought. 1. Insufficient adaptability of equipment selection In the selection stage of sludge dewatering equipment, it is crucial to accurately match the sludge characteristics and equipment functions. However, in actual situations, selection errors often occur. Taking a sewage treatment plant in a chemical park as an example, the sludge it produces contains a large amount of heavy metal compounds and is highly corrosive. In the initial equipment selection, due to insufficient estimation of the special chemical properties of the sludge, a belt filter press made of conventional materials was selected. During operation, the corrosive substances in the sludge quickly erode the filter belt, resulting in frequent damage to the filter belt, which not only greatly shortens the service life of the filter belt and increases the equipment maintenance cost, but also seriously affects the dehydration effect, making the moisture content of the mud cake far exceed the expected standard. This kind of equipment failure and poor treatment effect caused by improper selection is common in many industrial sludge treatment scenarios. For example, in some small rural sewage treatment stations, due to the limited treatment scale and cramped site space, large plate and frame filter presses were blindly selected. Although the plate and frame filter press has a good dehydration effect in theory, it faces many difficulties in the actual operation of small sites due to its large footprint and complex equipment installation and commissioning. The equipment cannot fully exert its processing capacity and is inconvenient to operate, resulting in high operating costs, which has become a heavy burden on site operations. 2. Poor operation and maintenance management Sludge dehydration equipment has been in a harsh working environment for a long time, and the importance of operation and maintenance is self-evident. However, in many actual cases, there are many loopholes in the operation and maintenance links. Take the centrifugal dehydrator of a municipal sewage treatment plant as an example. Due to the large sludge output of the plant, the equipment has been in a high-load continuous operation state for a long time. However, in daily maintenance, the staff failed to timely perform accurate dynamic balance detection and correction on the high-speed rotating parts of the centrifugal dehydrator, such as the drum and screw conveyor. With the accumulation of running time, the parts wear unevenly, the dynamic balance is seriously unbalanced, and the equipment vibrates violently. This not only leads to accelerated damage of mechanical parts of the equipment such as bearings and seals, frequent leakage problems, affecting the normal operation of the equipment, but also the transmission of vibration to the equipment foundation and surrounding pipeline facilities, causing structural damage, greatly increasing maintenance costs, and interrupting sludge treatment due to downtime for maintenance, affecting the stable operation of the entire sewage treatment plant. In addition, some companies are also negligent in the maintenance of the lubrication system of the equipment. For example, the lubrication system of the sludge dewatering equipment of an industrial wastewater treatment plant adopts centralized grease lubrication. Because the maintenance personnel did not perform maintenance operations according to the prescribed time cycle and grease dosage, the lubricating grease was insufficient or deteriorated, which increased the friction and wear of the transmission parts of the equipment such as chains and gears. This not only reduces the transmission efficiency of the equipment and increases energy consumption, but may also cause equipment failures due to excessive wear of parts, and even cause safety accidents. 3. Lack of professional quality of operators The professional skills and knowledge level of operators directly affect the operation effect of sludge dewatering equipment. In many sewage treatment facilities, the problem of insufficient professional quality of operators is more prominent. Taking the sludge treatment workshop of a printing and dyeing enterprise as an example, the operators did not have a deep understanding of the operating principle of the new sludge dewatering equipment. When faced with the changes in the characteristics of different batches of printing and dyeing sludge, such as fluctuations in the solid content of the sludge, changes in color, and differences in the content of fiber impurities, it is impossible to accurately judge and adjust the operating parameters of the equipment in a timely manner. For example, when the plate and frame filter press in the workshop was processing high-solid printing and dyeing sludge, the operator did not reasonably increase the pressing pressure and extend the pressing time, resulting in too high a moisture content of the mud cake, and the subsequent sludge drying treatment costs increased significantly. For another example, at a sewage treatment station of a food processing company, when starting the centrifugal dehydrator, the operator did not follow the operating procedures for preheating and no-load trial operation, and directly started the equipment at full load. This incorrect operation caused the equipment to have excessive starting current, causing an impact on the electrical system, frequently triggering the action of the motor overload protection device, and even damaging the motor. At the same time, due to the limited ability of the operator to interpret the alarm information of the equipment, when the equipment had abnormal vibration and high temperature alarms, effective countermeasures were not taken in time, which further aggravated the degree of equipment failure and reduced the reliability and service life of the equipment. 4. Comprehensive strategy for optimal utilization In view of the key issues in the utilization process of the above-mentioned sludge dehydration equipment, a comprehensive optimization strategy should be formulated from multiple dimensions. In the equipment selection process, a comprehensive sludge characteristic analysis system should be established, including physical, chemical and biological characteristic analysis, and combined with multiple factors such as treatment scale, site conditions, economic cost and environmental protection requirements, scientific decision-making methods such as hierarchical analysis should be used to select the most suitable sludge dewatering equipment. For example, for sludge containing special pollutants or highly corrosive substances, equipment with corrosion-resistant materials and special structural design should be preferred; for projects with small treatment scale and limited site, modular, miniaturized and highly automated sludge dewatering equipment can be considered. In terms of operation and maintenance, it is crucial to build a complete equipment management system. Develop a detailed equipment inspection plan, and regularly conduct non-destructive testing, wear assessment and performance testing of key components of the equipment, such as using ultrasonic flaw detection technology to detect internal defects in the centrifugal dehydrator drum, and using a laser alignment instrument to check the coaxiality of the equipment transmission components. At the same time, establish equipment maintenance files to record the operating parameters, maintenance history and fault information of the equipment, so as to conduct big data analysis, predict equipment failures, and formulate maintenance plans in advance. In addition, lubrication management should be strengthened, and advanced lubrication monitoring technology, such as online oil analysis system, should be adopted to monitor the quality of lubricating grease and the lubrication status of equipment in real time to ensure that the equipment operates in a good lubrication environment. A systematic training plan should be formulated to improve the professional quality of operators. The training content should cover the working principle, structural composition, operating specifications, maintenance points and common troubleshooting methods of sludge dewatering equipment. A training method combining theoretical teaching with practical operation should be adopted, such as actual operation demonstration and fault simulation drills at the equipment site, to improve the practical hands-on ability and emergency handling ability of operators. At the same time, an operator assessment mechanism should be established to quantitatively evaluate the training effect and encourage operators to actively learn and improve their professional skills. In summary, only by fully and deeply understanding and solving the key issues such as selection adaptability, operation and maintenance management and operator professional quality in the process of sludge dewatering equipment utilization can the efficient utilization of sludge dewatering equipment be achieved, the overall level of sludge treatment and disposal can be improved, and a solid foundation for environmental protection and sustainable resource utilization can be laid.