Proceedings

By the time the conference is held Waterleau will have started up a sludge drying plant in
Makkah, Saudi Arabia. The plant uses Waterleau’s HydroGone® technology. This is a
horizontal disc dryer for indirect sludge drying. In contrast to most dryers of this type, the
heating medium used is not steam but thermal oil. This allows a higher SER (specific
evaporation rate) and thus a smaller heat exchanging surface. The plant has a total
evaporation capacity of more than 12 000 kg water per hour, it is thus very large scale. The
plant construction was hindered by the specific site conditions (desert climate, isolated). In the
paper the project will be presented (background, client, etc.), followed by a more detailed
explanation of the technology (thermodynamic aspects, heat&mass balance, mechanical
engineering, P&ID’s). Finally, the results of the start-up, scheduled for October, will be
presented.

KEY WORDS
Sludge drying, high capacity, thermal oil