Process for the dewatering of aqueous suspensions

摘要

Disclosed is a process of dewatering an aqueous suspension comprising treating the suspension with a dewatering amount of a reverse phase polymer, and subjecting the suspension to a mechanical dewatering to form a cake, wherein the reverse phase polymer has a molecular weight greater than 500,000 and is selected from the group comprising cationic, anionic, non-ionic or amphoteric polymers, at least some of the reverse phase polymer contained in the suspension is released and dissolved so that the reverse phase polymer only partially inverts to bring about flocculation and thickening of the suspension, and then fully inverts during further dewatering to form a cake.