Liquid separation process for suspensions by a pulsating electrical current

A method of dewatering an aqueous suspension of melcone corn fiber slurry or corn gluten in a dewatering chamber with an inlet and discharge outlet, and having two electrodes, one of which is water permeable, forming opposing walls of the dewatering chamber, which method comprises:

• a. flowing the suspension into the dewatering chamber and between the two electrodes;
• b. applying a pulsating D.C. electrical field concurrently with step a between the two electrodes for at least about 15 minutes at a pressure of not more than about 20 inches of mercury, a voltage of at least about 58, a current of at least about 450 milliamperes, and a pulse cycle of about 27 seconds on and about 33 seconds off for a melcone suspension, and for at least about 20 minutes at a pressure of not more than about 4 inches of mercury, a voltage of at least about 11, a current of at least about 2.8 amperes, and a pulse cycle of about 0.01 second on and about 0.01 second off for a gluten suspension, to cause suspended particles to migrate away from the water permeable electrode and water toward the permeable electrode;
• c. concurrently with step b removing water from the suspension through the water permeable electrode;
• and
• d. removing the dewatered suspension from the dewatering chamber, whereby the total amount of energy employed for separating a unit of water from the suspension is less than would be required by use of a D.C. electrical field to separate the unit of water.