In general, the electric motor for driving the centrifuge of Decanter type is selected based on the power(starting power) necessary to start the bowl and the screw shaft. However the operation cost of the machine is dependent on the power needed at a steadily operating condition, including the power against the bearing friction and that for the sludge removal. In this paper, the formulation for the sludge-removal power is presented. Sample calculation for a specific design shows that the sludge-removal power is increased with the friction coefficient. It also reveals that the power is mainly dependent on the length of the screw blade rather than the beach angle. Further it is shown that the power increases in square of the rotational speed of the machine.