Humic Acid Removal from Water with Polyaluminum Coagulants: Effect of Sulfate on Aluminum Polymerization
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 138, Issue 3
Abstract
Humic acid (HA) removal from water with inorganic polyaluminum coagulants is reported in this paper. Polyaluminum chloride (PAC) and three kinds of polyaluminum chloride sulfate (PACS) with a () molar ratio of 0.02, 0.06, and 0.10 were prepared. The coagulation behaviors of these coagulants were investigated in the view of coagulant dosage, initial pH, and aging time. PACS () showed the best HA removal efficiency, and there was no restabilization within a broad effective dosage range. The proper initial pH range was broad and was 4.0–9.0 for PACS (). The stability of PACS () reduced with a long aging time, so the proper aging time should not exceed 1 month. The aluminum species distribution, particle mean size, charge neutralization, and infrared spectrum of prepared coagulants were tested. Results showed that addition promoted the hydrolysis/polymerization of aluminum and reduced the charge neutralization capacity of PACS. Besides charge neutralization, the bridge-aggregation and sweep-flocculation mechanisms may play important roles for HA removal. The coexisting and kaolin slightly promoted the HA removal with polyaluminum coagulants.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (50978088, 51039001), the Hunan Key Scientific Research Project (2009FJ1010), and the Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (10JJ7005) for financial support.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 138 • Issue 3 • March 2012
Pages: 293 - 298
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 31, 2010
Accepted: Apr 26, 2011
Published online: Apr 29, 2011
Published in print: Mar 1, 2012
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