Relative importance of hydrolyzed Al species (Ala, Alb, Alc) on residual Al and effects of nano-particles (Fe-surface modified TiO2 and Al2O3) on coagulation process

Efficiency and mechanism of micro- and nano-plastic removal with polymeric Al-Fe bimetallic coagulants: Role of Fe addition

The occurrence of microplastics (MPs) and even nanoplastics (NPs) in tap water has raised considerable attention. As a pre-treatment and also the most important process in drinking water treatment plants, coagulation has been widely studied to remove MPs, but few studies focused on the removal pattern and mechanism of NPs, especially no study paid attention to the coagulation enhanced by prehydrolysed Al-Fe bimetallic coagulants. Therefore, in this study, polymeric species and coagulation behaviour of MPs and NPs influenced by Fe fraction in polymeric Al-Fe coagulants were investigated. Special attention was given to the residual Al and the floc formation mechanism. The results showed that asynchronous hydrolysis of Al and Fe sharply decreases the polymeric species in coagulants and that the increase of Fe proportion changes the sulfate sedimentation morphology from dendritic to layered structures. Fe weakened the electrostatic neutralization effect and inhibited the removal of NPs but enhanced that of MPs. Compared with monomeric coagulants, the residual Al decreased by 17.4 % and 53.2 % in the MP and NP systems (p < 0.01), respectively. With no new bonds detected in flocs, the interaction between micro/nanoplastics and Al/Fe was merely electrostatic adsorption. According to the mechanism analysis, sweep flocculation and electrostatic neutralization were the dominant removal pathways of MPs and NPs, respectively. This work provides a better coagulant option for removing micro/nanoplastics and minimizing Al residue, which has promising potential for application in water purification.

The influence of particle size and concentration combined with pH on coagulation mechanisms

In order to evaluate the influence of particle size and particle concentration on the coagulation process, two kinds of particle suspensions, nanoparticles and microparticles, were employed to investigate the effect of particle size on coagulation mechanisms with varying coagulation parameters. Results showed that it is easier for nanoparticles to cause self-aggregation because of Brownian motion, while interception and sedimentation are the mainly physical processes affecting particle transport for microparticles, so they are more stable and disperse more easily. The particle size distribution and particle concentration had distinct influence on the coagulation mechanisms. Under neutral conditions, as the amount of coagulant increased, the coagulation mechanism for nanoparticles changed from charge neutralization to sweep flocculation and the nanoparticles became destabilized, re-stabilized and again destabilized. For microparticles, although the coagulation mechanism was the same as that of nanoparticles, the increased rate of aluminum hydroxide precipitation exceeded the adsorption of incipiently formed soluble alum species, resulting in the disappearance of the re-stabilization zone. Under acidic conditions, Brownian motion dominates for nanoparticles at low particle concentrations, while sweep flocculation is predominant at high particle concentrations. As for microparticles, charge neutralization and sweep flocculation are the mechanisms for low and high particle concentrations respectively. Under alkaline condition, although the mechanisms for both nano- and microparticles are the same, the morphology of flocs and the kinetics of floc formation are different. At low particle concentrations, nanoparticles have larger growth rate and final size of flocs, while at high particle concentrations, nanoparticles have higher fractal dimension and recovery factors.

Adsorption Neutralization Model and Floc Growth Kinetics Properties of Aluminum Coagulants Based on Sips and Boltzmann Equations

Single-molecule aluminum salt AlCl₃, medium polymerized polyaluminum chloride (PAC), and high polymerized polyaluminum chloride (HPAC) were prepared in a laboratory. The characteristics and coagulation properties of these prepared aluminum salts were investigated. The Langmuir, Freundlich, and Sips adsorption isotherms were first used to describe the adsorption neutralization process in coagulation, and the Boltzmann equation was used to fit the reaction kinetics of floc growth in flocculation. It was novel to find that the experimental data fitted well with the Sips and Boltzmann equation, and the significance of parameters in the equations was discussed simultaneously. Through the Sips equation, the adsorption neutralization reaction was proved to be spontaneous and the adsorption neutralization capacity was HPAC > PAC > AlCl₃. Sips equation also indicated that the zeta potential of water samples would reach a limit with the increase of coagulant dosage, and the equilibrium zeta potential values were 30.25, 30.23, and 27.25 mV for AlCl₃, PAC, and HPAC, respectively. The lower equilibrium zeta potential value of HPAC might be the reason why the water sample was not easy to achieve restabilization at a high coagulant dosage. Through the Boltzmann equation modeling, the maximum average floc size formed by AlCl₃, PAC, and HPAC were 196.0, 188.0, and 203.6 μm, respectively, and the halfway time of reactions were 31.23, 17.08, and 9.55 min, respectively. The HPAC showed the strongest floc formation ability and the fastest floc growth rate in the flocculation process, which might be caused by the stronger adsorption and bridging functions of Al_b and Al_c contained in HPAC.

Electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrum analysis method of polyaluminum chloride flocculants

Electrospray mass spectrometry has been reported as a novel technique for Al species identification, but to date, the working mechanism is not clear and no unanimous method exists for spectrum analysis of traditional Al salt flocculants, let alone for analysis of polyaluminum chloride (PAC) flocculants. Therefore, this paper introduces a novel theoretical calculation method to identify Al species from a mass spectrum, based on deducing changes in m/z (mass-to-charge ratio) and molecular formulas of oligomers in five typical PAC flocculants. The use of reference chemical species was specially proposed in the method to guarantee the uniqueness of the assigned species. The charge and mass reduction of the Al cluster was found to proceed by hydrolysis, gasification, and change of hydroxyl on the oxy bridge. The novel method was validated both qualitatively and quantitatively by comparing the results to those obtained with the (27)Al NMR spectrometry.