Evaluation of dissolved air flotation process for water clarification and sludge thickening

Abstract

Dissolved air flotation was evaluated using pilot and bench tests for water clarification and sludge thickening. A DAF pilot study was conducted on one water source with low turbidity, high color, high organic content and algal blooms. For this water, coagulation with alum, cationic polymer and pH around 6.1 resulted in removal of turbidity, color and algae. THMFP and TOC were removed by approximately 25 and 50 percent, respectively. A river water source was used in another pilot study to identify limits on source water turbidity for the DAF process. Tests conducted with induced high turbidity values resulted in filtered water quality with low turbidity and complete removal of color. TOC was removed by approximately 35 percent, however, inconclusive results were obtained for THMFP removal. Based on these pilot test, DAF is a viable clarification process, especially for source waters with low turbidity (infrequent spikes upto 100 NTU), high algal blooms and high color. Bench-scale DAF assisted sludge thickening resulted in performance similar to gravity thickeners. High recycle ratios (around or greater than 100 percent) were required for effective sludge thickening.