Dewatering various dispersions is an important task in many industries, in ensuring human life activities, and in the environmental sector. It is used both in the production of target products, such as food materials [[1], [2], [3], [4]], and in the processing of systems that are waste to be disposed of.

This applies to sludges and sediments generated in the industrial sector, for example in the pulp and paper [5,6], coal [[7], [8], [9]] and oil production [10,11], mine [12,13], metallurgy [14], automotive [15] industries, in the production of pigments and dyes [16,17], etc.; in the treatment of industrial and domestic wastewater [[18], [19], [20], [21]] and in the production of drinking water [[22], [23], [24]]. Dewatering is also important for natural dispersions, which are subject to dredging and reclamation activities [25,26].

The efficiency of the process is determined by the relationship between the rate and the degree of dewatering, and the expenses for its implementation. The choice of conditions for dispersion dewatering depends on its final goal. In some cases, it is necessary to ensure the specific quality of target product. In other cases, when the disperse systems are wastes, the possibility of reducing the water content makes it possible to significantly reduce their volumes and, correspondingly, the expenses for transportation, processing and burial, and also to return into the natural circulation a large quantity of water that will contribute to preservation of water resources.

Let us consider the existing methods based on the efficiency of their use for providing a certain level of dewatering in processing the disperse systems with different characteristics and also analyze the advantages of using the electric field for achieving the necessary result.