WendeWolf

General Description
Solar Sludge Drying System
WendeWolf
General Description
Solar Sludge Drying System
V 1.0/2016

With this you may evaporate about 1450 to

1. The Process 1750 kg of water per m² and year.
Presses and centrifuges allow a dewatering pro-
cess up to about 30-35% dry substance, most of
the time the dewatering degree is around 25%
DS.
The remaining water, after all about 750 kg per
ton of dewatered sludge, is only to be removed
with thermal drying.
Our Option:
Solar Sludge drying using the WendeWolf® > 2200 kWh/m²*a
1800-2200 kWh/m²*a
1500-1800 kWh/m²*a
1250-1500 kWh/m²*a
1000-1250 kWh/m²*a
800-1000 kWh/m²*a
< 800 kWh/m²*a

Our studies have shown that this potential can

Water is evaporated !
Basically the WendeWolf process is combining
the old style drying beds with new technologies.
A watertight surface is covered with a green-
house type drying hall. The solar radiation pass-
es through the greenhouse, leading to evapora-
tion in the sludge while rain is detained away.
With the WendeWolf process you may dump
the filtercake on one end of the greenhouse, the
tiller will transport the filtercake through the
drying hall.
The dried pellets are to be collected on the other
end of the drying hall.
be used in solar sludge dryers to about 50 to
70%, leading to an evaporation rate of approx-
imately 700 to 1200 kg per m² and year. This
rate is mainly depending on the location and
the operation mode of the solar sludge drying
system (consistent sludge input versus fluctuat-
ing sludge input).

Air circulation and air exchange
Without a forced air circulation you will find a
saturated (wet) air layer on top of the sludge
surface. This saturated air layer needs to be
avoided, because it leads to a decreased evapora-
tion rate. Therefore, it is very important to have
a controlled climate and a sufficient air move-
ment in the drying hall.

Utilizing the Solar Radiation

The main energy source for this sludge drying
process is the solar radiation.
The radiation is absorbed by the filtercake. This
leads to a temperature increase. Subsequently
the vapor pressure in the sludge is increasing as
well, this drives out the water molecules into
the air layer above.
The amount of solar energy in central Europe is
about 1‘000 to 1‘200 kWh per m² and year.
The air exchange is realized with air inlet open-
ings in the side walls and activated roof flaps in
the drying halls. While warm and wet air is
pushing out through the open roof flaps, cold
and dry air is sucked in through the inlet open-
ings (stack effect). The internal ventilators lead
to a sufficient distribution of the wet air in the

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WendeWolf
General Description
Solar Sludge Drying System
V 1.0/2016

drying building, leading to an increased evapo-
ration.
The activation of the internal ventilators and
the roof flaps for air exchange is controlled by
the WendeWolf climate control Software. The
inside climate is constantly metered and the
ideal evaporation climate evaluated. As soon as
there are certain limits passed the ventilators or
the roof flaps are activated to move the inside
air or to mix the inside air with fresh (dry) air.
This leads to an always ideal drying climate in
the drying hall and therefore increases the dry-
ing process.

Additional heating
Utilizing additional, existing (waste) heat
sources will enhance the drying process. De-
pending on the overall energy and the type of
energy source, different heating systems can be
installed:
• Floor Heating
• Air Heating
• Radiators
Therefore, a floor heating system is very effi-
cient in winter and less efficient in summer.
The temperature of the waste heat source might
be below 50°C.
The overall efficiency of a floor heating system
is high; the initial investment (considering the
ground work as well) is also very high compared
to other heating systems.
Air heating
Air heating equipment might be used if a con-
tinuous energy input is not possible or in addi-
tion to a floor heating system or as an alterna-
tive to a floor heating system.
The inside air of the drying halls is heated up
and pushed down towards the surface of the
sludge. This is warming up the sludge, therefore
increasing the evaporation. Additionally warm
air can absorb more water and will “transport”
this water out of the drying hall.

Floor Heating
If there is continuous heat -all year round- it
might be used in a floor heating system. Alike to
industrial floor heating systems is a pipe/hose
installation to be incorporated in the concrete
floor. The sludge will be warmed up on top by
the sun and additionally warmed up at the bot-
tom by the floor heating system. The energy for evaporation is brought towards
the sludge with the warm air; some of this ener-
The more radiation is absorbed by the sun, the
gy will be transmitted through the building
less energy can be transmitted by the floor heat-
shell and lead to losses, especially in winter and
ing system.
at night.
An air heating system is very flexible in case of
fluctuating energy flow. It is easy to install, easy
to maintain and shows a low initial investment.

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WendeWolf
General Description
Solar Sludge Drying System
V 1.0/2016

Radiators
Radiators/Infrared Heaters are utilizing methane
gas directly in the heating units which are in-
stalled inside the drying halls.
The surface of these radiators will turn hot (up
to 250°C) and are emitting infrared radiation
towards the sludge.
Often this type of heating equipment is used in
industrial buildings.
The patented tools on the tilling drum enable
the WendeWolf to handle a sludge layer of
more than 40 cm thickness. The sludge is tilled,
turned and aerated, each turning step moves the
sludge layer about 60 cm. The direction of the
movement is selectable towards one or the other
end of the drying hall. Therefore, the retention
time of the sludge is determined by the operator
and will be chosen in winter to be longer than
in summer since in winter there is a lower radia-
tion intake as in summer.

The emitted infrared radiation is transmitted to Thus, the WendeWolf system may be operated
the sludge, heating up the sludge directly. An in continuous operation mode (loading sludge
infrared heating system is very efficient at fluc- on one end / unloading pellets on the other
tuating energy flow, easy to maintain and easy end) or in batch mode (loading the entire hall at
to install. Like an air heating system, an infrared one time). Changing in between those two op-
heating system shows a low initial investment. eration modes requires no changes of the me-
chanical setup or changes of the software.

Tilling, turning and conveying
Beside the efficient air movement and air ex-
changes, it is important to have a reliable tilling
and turning process installed to ensure a proper
evaporation and drying of the sludge. dried pellets Conveying of sludge Filtercake
Austrag
(outtake) <= <= Materialtransp
<= <= <= <= <= ort<= Eintrag
(input)

Since it is critical to have always wet and humid

sludge particles on the upper surface, it is also
critical to have a sufficient, homogenous and The sludge is moved about 60 cm per tilling
consistent tilling technology - without it, the cycle from the input side toward the output end
drying process would not be as fast and reliable. in continuous operation mode. The retention
time is determined by the number of tilling
The WendeWolf tills, turns and aerates the fil- cycles per day.
tercake over the entire drying bed width in one
step. This leads to a sufficient aeration, the
evaporation is stimulated and the generation of
odors is avoided.

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WendeWolf
General Description
Solar Sludge Drying System
V 1.0/2016

Sludge requirements Long term storage might also change the

There are more than 100 WendeWolf units in rheologic behavior of the sludge. There might
operation/ installed worldwide. It has been ex- be a difference in pelletizing of stored filtercake
perienced, that a dewatering to a DS of 20% is compared to “fresh” filtercake
mostly a cost efficient pre-treatment of the There should not be any lime (CaO) utilized for
sludge hygienization. It could lead to high concentra-
A sludge entry in the drying hall at 5% DS and tion of NH3 and create inadmissible emissions.
an outtake at 70% requires a drying surface that
is more than 5-times larger compared to a
Odors
sludge entry at 20% and an outtake at 70%.
If there is storage of filtercake without any fur-
ther treatments or without any aeration, it is
Example (A): Sludge entry at 5% DS very likely that odors are produced.
Dry Matter: 500 tons/a Our experience with the WendeWolf process
Dry Substance: 5% has shown that the production of odors during
- Sludge Volume: 10‘000 tons/a the drying process is avoided thanks to the full
Average dryness: 70% tilling and turning of the entire drying bed.

- Outtake Pellets: 715 tons/a Sludge in aerobe conditions does not cause any
odors!
Water evaporation: 9‘285 tons/a
As the system is operated according to our
guidelines and specifications, the production of
Example (B): Sludge entry at 20% DS odors is fully avoided.
Dry Matter: 500 tons/a
Dry Substance: 20%
- Sludge Volume: 2’500 tons/a
Average dryness: 70%
- Outtake Pellets: 715 tons/a
Water evaporation: 1‘785 tons/a

Our recommendations:
The sludge needs to be mechanically dewatered
and semi-solid. It is not relevant if there is an
aerobic or an anaerobic stabilization pre-
treatment process. It has been shown (as men-
tioned above) that a dewatering to 20% DS is
cost efficient for municipal sludge however.
Some of our systems are operated significantly
below 20% DS input.
As there is fluid sludge to be dried, we recom-
mend some basic tests to monitor the pelleti-
zing process during drying.
The type of dewatering equipment used in the
WWTP has no influence on the drying process.
The filtercake needs to be moved into the dry-
ing hall directly after dewatering. If there is any
intermediate storage before drying, odors may
be produced during this (anaerobic) storage.

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 WendeWolf
General Description
Solar Sludge Drying System
V 1.0/2016

2. Technical Details: WendeWolf

Power Cabinet
Roof ventilation flap

Drying Hall
Machine Switchboard
Main Frame
Ventilator
Operation Switchboard

Outrigger

Safety Rope

Cable Festoon

Drumbody Tools

Paddel

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WendeWolf
General Description
Solar Sludge Drying System
V 1.0/2016

System components
Diameter of Tilling Drum: 1,0 m
Length: 4,1 m

WendeWolf
Width: 11,7m
The WendeWolf tiller and turner is the key
Weight: 4100 kg
part of every drying plant. The machine is basi-
Clearance: 2,6 m
cally consisting of a bridge frame, several drive
units, a tilling drum, sensors, controls and soft- Distance in between walls: 11,3 m

ware to monitor the machinery and control the IP Rating of motors: IP66
climate. Power: 15,4 kW
Voltage: 400 V
Frequency: 50 Hz
Drum speed: 30-60 U/min
Driving speed, fast: 8,0 m/min
Driving speed, slow: 0,8-2,0 m/min

WendeWolf Control System

Picture 1: WendeWolf
The travel drives and the rotation drives are
controlled with VFDs. The travel speed can be
up to 8 m/ min, the working speed is in be-
tween 0,8 and 2,0 m/min. The drum is rotating
with a speed of about 2,5 meters per minute;
this speed is adjusted according to the load in
the drying plant.
The patented combs on the tilling drum work
the sludge over the entire hall width in one step
while transporting the sludge about 60 cm.
There is no preferred working direction existing
for this transportation.
The WendeWolf also allows for cutting down
sludge piles which are produced by loading the
drying hall with container or front end loader.
Furthermore, the WendeWolf distributes the
sludge in the drying hall and its preset programs
allow an accumulation of pellets up to a stack-
ing height of 80 cm. For this, there is no need to
walk or drive within the drying hall with any
type of equipment.
The adjustments in height of the tilling drum is
realized by a toothed rack drive, the lifting
height of the drum is over 700 mm.
The unique WendeWolf control system incor-
porates the climate control of the drying hall as
well as the operation of the WendeWolf tiller
itself.
The sludge can be dried with a fully automated
program. Therefore the tilling cycles are trig-
gered timely controlled or according to the ac-
tual weather situation.
The inside climate is adjusted to reach an ideal
climate for reliable and fast drying.
Using the conveying mode operation, there are
several different preset programs to be utilized:
 Filling:
To distribute sludge piles within the dry-
ing hall. Piles up to 1 meter height are
taken in the hall and evened out to a
consistent sludge layer.
 Turning:
Mixes and aerates the existing sludge in
the drying bed, allows for fast drying
and avoids the buildup of odors.
 Conveying:
Moves the sludge in one (or the other)
direction towards a halls end.
 Accumulating:
Stacking of dried pellets up to a stacking
height of 80 cm.

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WendeWolf
General Description
Solar Sludge Drying System
V 1.0/2016

 Clearing: Weight of roof covers:

Used to move the dried pellets in a stor- 4 mm (single) glass ca. 10,0 kg/m²
age bunker or in a conveying system.
Polycarbonate sheets ca. 1,5 kg/m²
Inflated double PE films ca. 0,7 kg/m²

Electrical details
The installed power of the WendeWolf tiller and
turner is about 15,4 kW, the installed power of The thermal insulation of the roof cover also is
the ventilation system is about 0,6 to 0,7 kW to be considered. Low level insulated roofs tend
to fog up, this will decrease the transmission of
per 100 m² of drying surface.
radiation and therefore also decrease the evapo-
For remote assistance by us, we recommend an ration.
internet connection/ Ethernet connection.

The WendeWolf needs a free headroom of ap-

Drying hall (Greenhouse)
We utilize standard greenhouse designs which
are slightly adapted to some requirement in a
drying hall.
The steel frames are manufactured of hot dip
galvanized rectangle tubes.
As roof shell (cover) different materials are pos-
sible; we require a minimum radiation transmis-
sion of 85% or more.
The following materials might be used:
Greenhouse Covers (Films)
Polyethylene films (UV-5) as single covers, in-
flated double cover or air bubble covers
ETFE (f-clean) as single covers or as inflated
double covers.
Roofing sheets
proximately 2.2 meters above the floor in the
field of drive-train, the side walls must be de-
signed correspondingly high.
As a free passage through the hall a height of
about 2.5 meters is to be selected.

Ground Work and side walls
The floor in the drying hall might be asphalt or
concrete; in most projects it is more cost effec-
tive to use asphalt.
The side walls are to be done in prefabricated
concrete pieces or casted on site. The height of
the side walls is 0,85 m, the width of the walls
about 0,2 m. Between the sidewalls there needs
to be a clearance of 11,3 m. The machine might
also be adapted to other width if necessary.
All applicable local standards and regulations
need to be considered.

Polycarbonate or PVC sheets, corrugated or hol-

low double layer.

Glass
Single or double layer

The choice of the roofing material and the siz-

ing of the steel structure have to be done con-
sidering the local wind/rain/snow loads and all
other applicable local standards and regulations.
It needs to be considered that glass itself has a
very high transparency, but the steel structure
of the greenhouse must be more rigid, this leads
to more shades in the drying hall.

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WendeWolf
General Description
Solar Sludge Drying System
V 1.0/2016
System sizing
Besides the local climate data, the operation
mode and the sludge input strategy is signifi-
cant for the overall size of the system.
Operation mode of the solar dryer
Basically two different operation modes of a
solar dryer are possible, one as a drying in
batches, the other as a drying in continuous
input.

Batch operation
The entire drying hall (or parts of the drying
hall) is loaded with filtercake. This filtercake
is tilled and turned with the WendeWolf.
The filtercake starts to dry day by day. As
the aimed degree of drying is reached, the
drying hall is cleaned out and loaded with
fresh filtercake.
The retention time of the filtercake is short-
er in summer than in winter since the solar
radiation in winter is lesser than in summer.
In summer in the same time frame more
batches are to be dried than in winter.
Sludge produced during the drying period of
a batch must be stored.

Continuous operation
Using the continuous operation mode of the
sludge dryer, the filtercake is brought in the
drying hall at one end and the dried pellets
are removed at the other end of the drying
hall. The WendeWolf tills, turns and con-
veys the sludge during the drying process
toward the dry end of the hall step by step.
The retention time of the filtercake in sum-
mer is shorter than in winter since the solar
radiation in winter is lesser than in summer.
In winter the sludge is stored inside the dry-
ing hall, while continuously turned and al-
ways kept aerobe.
The WendeWolf system allows both opera-
tion modes, the system can be operated in
batch mode or in continuous mode. The opera-
tion mode can be chosen by the operator.
Changing the operation mode does not require
any changes in the system or the software.
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Sludge input strategy
The daily/weekly/monthly sludge input deter-
mines the size of a drying plant significantly.

Input with (all year) consistent volume
The sludge is brought in the drying hall as it
is produced on the WWTP. Usually this is
about the same volume weekly with only
small variations.
The input of the sludge is according to the
production of the sludge and is not follow-
ing the ideal evaporation.
As in winter (in central Europe) there is only
about 25% to 35% of the radiation of sum-
mer, the sludge in the drying plant is main-
ly tilled, turned and aerated; the evapora-
tion rate is only small.
While doing the sizing calculation of the
drying plant, we take this sludge input in
consideration - with continuous input it
leads to a bottle-neck in winter/early spring
and to an over capacity of drying space in
summer.

Input with fluctuating volume
With fluctuating input the sludge entry is
adapted to the entry of solar radiation,
hence in summer more sludge is brought in
the drying hall than in winter.
With this, the drying hall can be sized
smaller (in central Europe about 25% to
30%), but the sludge which is produced in
winter must be stored and brought in the
drying hall in summer. A winter storage un-
der anaerobic conditions will lead to the
production of odors and needs to be avoid-
ed.
The effects of the different sludge input
strategies need to be calculated according to
the existing local climate data.
The WendeWolf-process can handle both
sludge input strategies. The sludge might be
brought to the drying halls all year round at the
same volume or there might be a higher sludge
volume in summer than in winter.
WendeWolf
General Description
Solar Sludge Drying System
V 1.0/2016

Example for a sizing / simulation

With the given data regarding the sludge volume, the degree of dewatering, the required dryness after
drying and the existing energy (waste heat), we calculate the necessary drying plant size to fulfill the
given requirements.

As a result, we submit the following data:

Page 1: given data Page 2: climate data

Location Solar radiation chart

Waste heat data Temperature

Sludge data
Relative humidity

Page 3: dimensions and performance Page 4: Evaporation and sludge balance per hall

Potential evaporation
Number of drying halls
at the given location
and size

Achieved evaporation at
the given location and
operation mode consid-
ering the location and
the operation mode

Performance data of Sludge height in the

the drying plant building (cm)

Amount of water per

hall(t)

Amount of DM per
hall (t)

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WendeWolf
General Description
Solar Sludge Drying System
V 1.0/2016

Page 5: Sludge Balance per system

(Graph and Table)

Sludge Input

Pellet Outtake

3. System comparison
To compare different solar drying systems, especially the sludge input strategy must be considered.
(consistent or fluctuating input of filtercake during the year)

Example: Location: Frankfurt / Germany

Input: 300 tons of dry matter per year at 23% DS
=> about 1‘300 tons of filtercake per year
Dryness goal: 75% TS

A.) Consistent input of Filtercake (1300t/a) B.) Fluctuating input of Filtercake (1300t/a)
Input of 110 tons of Filtercake per month: Input of about 52 tons of Filtercake per month
in Winter and about 200 tons of Filtercake in
Summer:
=> Drying surface: ca. 1‘288 m² => Drying surface: ca. 904 m²
(1 Drying Hall, 12 x 120 meters) (1 Drying Hall, 12 x 86 meters)
=> Evaporation: ca. 730 kg/m² *a => Evaporation: ca. 1‘030 kg/m² *a

Sludge Balance: Sludge Balance:

At fluctuating sludge input (B) the drying surface can be reduced by almost 30%.

IST-Anlagenbau GmbH | Rheinweg 9 | 79395 Neuenburg | Germany | fon: +49 7631 749 898 0 | fax: +49 7631 749 898 99 | www.wendewolf.com
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