Effluent flocculants

Removal of particles from gases (Acoustic) agglomeration of fine particles in flue gases and other gaseous effluents Flocculation of solid contaminants in waste water and other liquid effluents... 

The principal calcium salt used as a flocculant is calcium hydroxide [1305-62-0] or lime. It has been used in water treatment for centuries (see Calcium compounds). Newer products are more effective, and its use in water and effluent treatment is declining (10). It is still used as a pH modifier and to precipitate metals as insoluble hydroxides. Lime is also sometimes used in combination with polymeric flocculants. 

Inorganic flocculants are analyzed by the usual methods for compounds of this type. Residual metal ions in the effluent are measured by spectroscopic techniques such as atomic absorption. Polymeric aluminum species formed in solution have been characterized by Al-nmr (64). 

In the area of municipal and iadustrial wastewater treatment, the principal environmental issue is the toxicity of residual flocculating agents ia the effluent. Laboratory studies have shown that cationic polymers are toxic to fish because of the iateraction of these polymers with giU. membranes. Nonionic and anionic polymers show no toxicity (82,83). Other studies have shown that ia natural systems the suspended inorganic matter and humic substances substantially reduce the toxicity of added cationic polymer, and the polymers have been used successfully ia fish hatcheries (84—86). Based on these results, the EPA has added a protocol for testing these polymers for toxicity toward fish ia the presence of humic acids (87). The addition of anionic polymers to effluent streams containing cationic polymers to reduce their toxicity has been mentioned ia the patent Hterature (83). 

Flocculation. The interaction of the cationic PEIs with anionic substrates leads to substrate flocculation. AppHcations of this property include the coagulation of latex (434), commercial appHcation in effluent treatments (435—437), and stabiHzation of highly loaded coal—water mixtures in mining (438). 

Xanthates are used in a froth flotation process of soils contaminated with mercury. The soil to be treated is mn through hydrocyclones, and the slurries are flocculated, dewatered, and removed to a secure landfill. The effluent water is recycled. The process is suitable for treating industrial land sites contaminated with mercury droplets (115). 

Points of Chemical Addition In independent physical-chemical treatment or in phosphate removal in the primary clarifier ahead of biological treatment, chemicals are added to raw sewage. In tertiary treatment for phosphate removal and suspended solids (SS) reduction, they are added to secondary effluent. In both cases, proper mixing and flocculation units are needed. For phosphate removal or improvement of SS capmre in biological secondary treatment, chemicals are often added directly to aeration units or prior to secondary settling units, without separate mixing and flocculation. In some phosphate removal applications coagulants are added at... 

The proper measure of flocculation effectiveness is the performance of subsequent solids separation units in terms of both effluent quality and operating requirements, such as filter backwash frequency. Effluent quality depends greatly on the reduction of residual primary size particles during flocculation, while operating requirements relate more to the floe volume applied to separation units. 

The most commonly used inorganic polymers are the polyacrylamides. Chemical flocculant concentrations employed normally range from 100 to 500 mg/Liter. The wastewater pH may require adjustment between 4.5 and 5.5 for the ferric compounds or between 5.5 and 6.5 for the aluminum compounds using an acid such as H2SO4 or a base such as NaOH. In many applications, the DAF effluent requires additional pH adjustment, normally with NaOH to assure that the effluent pH is within the limits specified by the POTW.. The pH range of the effluent from a DAF is typically between 6 and 9. 

Most of water-soluble acrylamide polymers find practical applications as highly efficient flocculents for clarification and treatment of potable water and municipal and industrial effluents and in the mining, papermak-... 

It should be noted that in all cases the size (and hence cost) of end-of-pipe treatment has a direct relationship to both the volume of effluent to be treated and the concentration of pollutants contained in the discharge. For example, the size of most physicochemical reactors (balancing, neutralizing, flocculation, sedimentation, flotation, oxidation, reduction, etc.) is determined by hydraulic factors such as surface loading rate and retention time. 

In the recycle flow pressurization system (Figure 27.10), a portion (15-50%) of the clarified effluent from the flotation chamber is recycled, pressurized, and semisaturated with air in the air dissolving tube. The recycled flow is mixed with the unpressurized main influent stream just before admission to the flotation chamber, with the result that the air bubbles come out of aqueous phase in contact with suspended particulate matter at the inlet compartment of the flotation chamber. The system is usually employed in applications where preliminary chemical addition and flocculation are necessary and ahead of flotation. It eliminates the problems with shearing the flocculated particles since only the clarified effluent passes through the pressurizing pump and the friction valve. It should be noted, however, that the increased hydraulic flow on the flotation chamber due to the flow recirculation must be taken into account in the flotation chamber design. 

The mechanism for sedimentation (clarification) is based on the density difference between SS and liquid. In addition, SS with larger particle sizes can settle down more easily. Rectangular tanks, circular tanks, combination flocculator-clarifiers, and stacked multilevel clarifiers can be used.14 Oliveira et al.15 reported that flocculation and sedimentation were conducted in the cassava meal industry and reduced the effluent concentration of organics from 14,000 to 2000 mg/L in the bench-scale reactor, with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 37 min. 

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