Flocculation techniques

In general, flocculants are used in solid-liquid separation processes such as thickening and filtration. Inorganic salts are also used sometimes to aggregate fine particles. Flocculation technique has been developed further for special applications of selective flocculation, selective dispersion and agglomeration flotation. 

By using an exfoliation and flocculation technique, Prasad et al. were able to prepare a polyaniline/NbWOe hybrid material [74]. Dispersed nanosheets of HNbWOe were obtained by treating HNbWOe with tetrabutyl ammonium hydroxide. The suspension of the exfoliated layers was then added to an alcoholic solution of aniline, followed by addition of a few drops of 1M HCl, and overnight sonication in order to induce flocculation of the aniline-NbWOe nanocomposite. The nanocomposite was isolated by centrifugation, and dried. Treatment of the nanocomposite with O2 at 130 °C for several weeks resulted in the formation of intercalated PANI. 

A similar technique to the Bureau of Mines trommel process called pellet flocculation has been used in Japan on a number of substrates on an industrial scale (47) using equipment made by the Ebara-Infilco Co. Combinations of inorganic salts such as lime with polyacrylamides are used as 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). 

Technology Description To achieve precipitation, acid or base is added to a solution to adjust the pH to a point where the constituents to be removed have their lowest solubility. Chemical precipitation facilitates the removal of dissolved metals from aqueous wastes. Metals may be precipitated from solutions as hydroxides, sulfides, carbonates, or other soluble salts. A comparison of precipitation reagents is presented in Table 7. Solid separation is effected by standard flocculation/ coagulation techniques. 

Flocculation or clarification processes are solids-liquid separation techniques used to remove suspended solids and colloidal particles such as clays and organic debris from water, leaving it clear and bright. Certain chemicals used (such as alums) also exhibit partial dealkaliz-ing properties, which can be important given that the principal alkaline impurity removed is calcium bicarbonate—the major contributory cause of boiler and heat exchanger scales (present in scales as carbonate), although closely followed by phosphate. 

With lower heat-flux ratings and higher ratios of internal water volume to heating surface than is the norm today, complex external treatment was not always necessary where deemed necessary, it was often limited to basic sedimentaion or filtration techniques employing inorganic coagulants and flocculants, typically followed by the use of natural zeolites (see sections 9.2.3.1 and 9.2.5 for additional information). 

Flocculation values achieved from turbidity measurements using the light scattering technique showed improvement with nonylphenol ether carboxylic acid (4 mol EO) in particular. The oil solubilization rate has been found to be proportional to the surfactant micellar size [190]. 

CE has been used for the analysis of anionic surfactants [946,947] and can be considered as complementary to HPLC for the analysis of cationic surfactants with advantages of minimal solvent consumption, higher efficiency, easy cleaning and inexpensive replacement of columns and the ability of fast method development by changing the electrolyte composition. Also the separation of polystyrene sulfonates with polymeric additives by CE has been reported [948]. Moreover, CE has also been used for the analysis of polymeric water treatment additives, such as acrylic acid copolymer flocculants, phosphonates, low-MW acids and inorganic anions. The technique provides for analyst time-savings and has lower detection limits and improved quantification for determination of anionic polymers, compared to HPLC. 

Phase Separation. An approximate estimation of phase separation may be obtained visually. In general, creaming, flocculation, and coalescence have occurred before phase separation is visible, thus sometimes making quantitative evaluations more difficult. Accelerating the separation by centrifugation followed by appropriate analysis of the specimens may be useful to quantitatively determine the phase separation. Details on mechanisms of creaming and phase separation as well as some advances in the monitoring techniques of emulsion stability have been reviewed by Robins [146]. 

This paper reviews the experiences of the oil industry in regard to asphaltene flocculation and presents justifications and a descriptive account for the development of two different models for this phenomenon. In one of the models we consider the asphaltenes to be dissolved in the oil in a true liquid state and dwell upon statistical thermodynamic techniques of multicomponent mixtures to predict their phase behavior. In the other model we consider asphaltenes to exist in oil in a colloidal state, as minute suspended particles, and utilize colloidal science techniques to predict their phase behavior. Experimental work over the last 40 years suggests that asphaltenes possess a wide molecular weight distribution and they may exist in both colloidal and dissolved states in the crude oil. 

A major advantage of the simple model described in this paper lies in its potential applicability to the direct evaluation of experimental data. Unfortunately, it is clear from the form of the typical isotherms, especially those for high polymers (large n) that, even with a simple model, this presents considerable difficulty. The problems can be seen clearly by consideration of some typical polymer adsorption data. Experimental isotherms for the adsorption of commercial polymer flocculants on a kaolin clay are shown in Figure 4. These data were obtained, in the usual way, by determination of residual polymer concentrations after equilibration with the solid. In general, such methods are limited at both extremes of the concentration scale. Serious errors arise at low concentration due to loss in precision of the analytical technique and at high concentration because the amount adsorbed is determined by the difference between two large numbers. 

Traditional permeability tests are time-consuming and subject to some uncertainties (4). In the present paper, we describe an automated technique for determining the filtrability of fairly dilute suspensions, which can give useful information, on the behaviour of polymeric flocculants. 

The re-filtration technique of La Mer (3) involves filtering the flocculated suspension and then passing the filtrate once more through this pre-formed filter cake. 

Experiments to determine specific resistance, based on Equation 7, have usually been carried out by some form of vacuum filtration. These methods are time-consuming and subject to error. More rapid techniques such as the measurement of capillary suction time (CST) can be used (8), although these do not give absolute values of specific resistance. Nevertheless, the CST method is very useful for rapidly obtaining comparative data on the flocculation of fairly concentrated suspensions by polymers (9). In the present work, specific resistance has been determined by an automated technique, which will be described below. 

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