Performance of PAC/PDM composite coagulants for removal of algae from Lake Taihu waters in summer

Abstract

The enhanced coagulation of algae-rich raw water from Lake Taihu in summer was studied by use of composite coagulants. The composite coagulants were composed of polyaluminum chloride (PAC) and polydimethyldiallylammonium chloride (PDM) with various intrinsic viscosity values (0.55–3.99 dL/g) and different mass percentages (5–20%) in the formulation. For raw water with temperature of 28–29°C and algae content of 3.60 × 104–3.70 × 104 cells/ml, the algae-removal rates of 89.0% and 89.3–93.1% could be realized by using PAC and PAC/PDM (0.55/5%–3.99/20%) with dosages of 8.37 mg/L and 5.93–3.58 mg/L, respectively, when 2 NTU residual turbidity of treated water after sedimentation was required. Compared with using PAC only, the removal rate of CODMn using PAC/PDM increased at least 4.4% when the dosage was 8 mg/L, and increased at least 5.0% when the dosage was 10 mg/L. The composite coagulants could still function well when raw water quality deteriorated and algae content reached 8.00 × 104 cells/ml. The enhanced coagulation efficiency of PAC/PDM (0.55/5%) could be better than that of PAC combined with prechlorination process when the same dosages are used.