what are you dewatering, what flow rates, more detail. There are many options, thickeners (cone etc), cyclones are now being used for paste thickening, decanter/separators, belt presses etc....
With the conventional dewatering (CDW) units like belt press, centrifuge, and hydro cyclones I don't think we can get > 45% solids. I'm looking for some novel ideas/techniques that can be implemented with CDW.
Centrifuges and hydrocyclones are two variations of the same concept, but could be useful in knocking out an inital fraction of water.
Belt press: Absolutely. In paper mills they pull a vacuum under the belt to slurp out the water. That's called a "fourdrinier". That then feeds the wet sheet over steam-heated drums to force additional moisture out.
Batch vacuum evaporation or lypholization may be appropriate techniques. You just haven't said what you have and what properties you want when it's dried to the target moisture content. I would guess it to be puttylike, but that could lead down the wrong path.
You might want to pave a nearby field and pour the stuff out in the sun. Manually have it scraped up when it reaches the target consistency. Time it right and that could be a continuous process, weather permitting.
