The power to reduce centrifugal separation energy costs

Power Plates are the latest development from Alfa Laval aimed at cutting decanter centrifuge running costs by up to 25% by reducing their power consumption.

During centrifugation, a signigficant portion of the energy used is transmitted to the fluids being processed in the form of rotational velocity.  Power Plates work by reclaiming some of this energy before the liquid leaves the bowl and transferring it back in the opposite direction of bowl rotation. As a result, the total effluent  discharge velocity is reduced. As the energy content of the discharged liquid is proportionate to the square of the velocity, even a small reduction in velocity can achieve  significant saving in energy

Alfa Laval claim that Power Plates, applied correctly, can produce energy savings of between 10 – 25%. Obviously, the larger the decanter involved and the greater the initial energy usage, the greater the financial savings that can be made. In a best case scenarion, they estimate that savings will be sufficient to pay back the cost of installation in 12 to 18 months.

In a typical installation at a water and waste treatment works, and Alfa Laval NX945 decanter ran for eight hours a day, processing 60 m3/hour of effluent.  After the installation of Power Plates, the plant’s energy consumption for the decanter dropped 20%, from 58 kWh down to 46 kWh.

This has not only resulted in considerable financial savings but has also significantly reduced its CO2 emissions and lessened the decanter’s impact on the environment.

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