Pretreatment considerations for dissolved air flotation: water type, coagulants and flocculation

Abstract

Pretreatment considerations of coagulant selection, flocculation time and flocculation mixing intensity were studied for two different water supply types, aquatic humic and non-aquatic humic waters of low turbidity. Alum, ferric salts, and various polyaluminium chlorides (PACs) with different chemical properties were all effective in dissolved air flotation (DAF) when used under favorable conditions of dosage, pH, and flocculation time. A stoichiometry was found for the aluminium coagulants between coagulant dose and raw water DOC. Si and sulfate PACs were effective in treating cold waters with short flocculation times of 2.5 to 5 minutes. Flotation performance improved slightly with increasing flocculation mixing intensity. The results suggest that flocculation tanks be designed to produce strong, “pinpoint” size floc particles.