Patent ID: 7993526

Claim:
A method for optimizing a dewatering process producing dewatered sludge and clarified water from a flocculated effluent, said method comprising the steps: a) determining clarity of an output of said clarified water; b) automatically adjusting flocculant supplied to said flocculated effluent, said automatically adjusting flocculant step having an increase loop and a decrease loop which, respectively, increase and decrease said flocculant supplied to said effluent based upon said clarity, and said increase loop includes increasing said flocculant in accordance with predetermined levels which vary in accordance with changes detected in said clarity, said increase loop and said decrease loop including delays which are provided to allow for the flocculant adjustment to take effect in said flocculated effluent; c) re-determining said clarity of said clarified water; and d) repeating steps b) and c) continuously during dewatering of said flocculated effluent to produce said dewatered sludge so as to maintain said clarity within a predetermined range.