Polymers dewater

The choice of coagulant for breaking of the emulsion at the start of the finishing process is dependent on many factors. Salts such as calcium chloride, aluminum sulfate, and sodium chloride are often used. Frequentiy, pH and temperature must be controlled to ensure efficient coagulation. The objectives are to leave no uncoagulated latex, to produce a cmmb that can easily be dewatered, to avoid fines that could be lost, and to control the residual materials left in the product so that damage to properties is kept at a minimum. For example, if a significant amount of a hydrophilic emulsifier residue is left in the polymer, water resistance of final product suffers, and if the residue left is acidic in nature, it usually contributes to slow cure rate. 

Polymer flocculants are now used in a wide range of applications (1). Early interest in these materials was largely based on their ability to improve the dewatering rates (i.e. to increase the permeability) of suspensions. 

Even in applications other than dewatering, permeability methods are quite often used to assess the performance of polymeric flocculants, since, in principle, they can give a very sensitive indication of the state of aggregation of particles and are useful in locating optimum polymer concentrations. 

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