Systems and methods for salvaging blood cells from an absorbent material are disclosed. In one exemplary aspect, such as system includes a rotatable basin having perforations to allow rinse solution from a stationary basin to reversibly flow therethrough to wash the blood cells from the absorbent material, thereby forming an effluent solution. The system further includes a hemoconcentrator in fluid communication with the stationary basin having first and second fluid outputs for discharging a diluent solution and a blood cell discharge solution from the effluent solution respectively. The blood cells can be salvaged from the blood cell discharge solution. The second fluid output is in fluid communication with the stationary basin for recycling the diluent solution as the rinse solution.