Coagulation/chlorination of surface water: A comparison between chitosan and metal salts

Characterization and treatment of tunneling wastewater using natural and chemical coagulants

Particles are a concern regarding tunneling wastewater, but gaps remain in understanding metal(loid)s content and coagulation efficiency. In this research, characterization of the wastewaters before and after treatment was investigated by chemical analysis and various techniques for particle characterization. Then, laboratory work was conducted to evaluate effectiveness of sedimentation and use of coagulants to remove particles and particle-associated contaminants. Both natural (chitosan) and chemical coagulants (ferric chloride sulfates and polyaluminium chloride solution), were applied in a jar test system. The results indicated that short-time sedimentation alone substantially reduced the particle content and particle-associated pollutants, including metal(loid)s, while subsequent chemical coagulation was required to comply with discharge limits. The optimum dosages of chitosan, PIX, and PAX for water 1 after pre-treatment (15 min sedimentation) were 1 mg/L, 3 mg Fe/L, and 3 mg Al/L, respectively, while a dosage of 2 mg Al/L gave the best results in water 3. Furthermore, chemical coagulation significantly decreased the volume density of particles in the diameter range of 1-100 μm, showing that coagulants are efficient for the removal of smaller particles not removed by conventional sedimentation.

Understanding the influence of dissolved organic nitrogen characteristics on enhanced coagulation performance for water reuse

With the recent focus on using advanced water treatment processes for water reuse, interest is growing for utilizing enhanced coagulation to remove dissolved chemical species. Up to 85% of the nitrogen in wastewater effluent is made up of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), but there is a knowledge gap regarding its removal during coagulation, which can be influenced by DON characteristics. To address this issue, tertiary-treated wastewater samples were analyzed before and after coagulation with polyaluminum chloride and ferric chloride. Samples were size-fractionated into four molecular weight fractions (0.45 μm, 0.1 μm, 10 kDa, and 3 kDa) using vacuum filtration and ultrafiltration. Each fraction was further evaluated by coagulating it separately to assess DON removal during enhanced coagulation. The size fractionated samples were also separated into hydrophilic and hydrophobic fractions using C18 solid phase extraction disks. Fluorescence excitation-emission matrices were used to investigate the characteristics of dissolved organic matter contributing to DON during the coagulation process. The results showed that DON compounds of size <3 kDa constituted a majority of the total DON. Coagulation removed more than 80% DON from size fractions 0.45 μm-0.1 μm and 0.1 μm-10 kDa, but less than 20% was removed from 10 kDa to 3 kDa and <3 kDa fractions. Coagulation on pre-filtered samples removed 19% and 25% of the <3 kDa DON fraction using polyaluminum chloride and ferric chloride, respectively. In all molecular weight fractions, hydrophilic DON compounds were found to be dominant (>90%), and enhanced coagulation was not effective in removing hydrophilic DON compounds. LMW fractions respond poorly to enhanced coagulation due to their hydrophilic nature. Enhanced coagulation effectively removes humic acid-like substances, but poorly removes proteinaceous compounds such as tyrosine and tryptophan. This study's findings provide insights into DON behavior during coagulation and factors affecting its removal, potentially improving wastewater treatment strategies.

Application of a combined response surface methodology (RSM)-artificial neural network (ANN) for multiple target optimization and prediction in a magnetic coagulation process for secondary effluent from municipal wastewater treatment plants

In this study, an enhanced coagulation-flocculant process incorporating magnetic powder was used to further treat the secondary effluent of domestic wastewater from a municipal wastewater treatment plant. The purpose of this work was to improve the discharged water quality to the surface water class IV standard of China. A novel approach using a combination of the response surface methodology and an artificial neural network (RSM-ANN) was used to optimize and predict the total phosphorus (TP) pollutant removal and turbidity. This work was first evaluated by RSM using the concentrations of coagulant, magnetic powder, and flocculant as the controllable operating variables to determine the optimal TP removal and turbidity. Next, an ANN model with a back-propagation algorithm was constructed from the RSM data along with the non-controllable variables, raw TP concentration, and raw water turbidity. Under the optimized experimental conditions (28.42 mg/L coagulant, 623 mg/L magnetic powder, and 0.18 mg/L flocculant), the TP and turbidity removal reached 88.79 ± 5.45% and 63.48 ± 9.60%, respectively, compared with 83.28% and 59.80%, predicted by the single RSM model, and 87.71 ± 5.74% and 64.62 ± 10.75%, predicted by the RSM-ANN model. The treated water were 0.17 ± 6.69% mg/L of TP and 2.46 ± 5.09% NTU of turbidity, respectively, which completely met the surface water class IV standard (TP < 0.3 mg/L; turbidity < 3 NTU). Therefore, this work demonstrated that the discharged water quality was completely improved using the magnetic coagulation process. In addition, the combined RSM-ANN approach could have potential application in municipal wastewater treatment plants.

Coagulation-flocculation of turbid water using graphene oxide: simulation through response surface methodology and process characterization

It was aimed to precisely investigate the coagulation properties of graphene oxide (GO) as a novel coagulant for turbidity removal from water. For this purpose, the process was simulated through response surface methodology (RSM) to determine the effect of the preselected independent factors (pH, GO dosage, and initial turbidity) and their interaction effects on the process. Based on the results, increased turbidity removal efficiencies were obtained as pH decreased from 10 to 3. Besides, increase of GO dosage within the test range (2.5-30 mg/L) was highly beneficial for enhancing the process performance. However, a slight overdosing of GO was observed for dosages of more than 20 mg/L under pH values of less than about 4. For initial turbidity with test range of 25-300 NTU, there was an optimum range (approximately 120-200 NTU) out of which the removal efficiency declined. According to the results of the analysis of variance (ANOVA), pH and GO dosage, orderly, had the strongest individual effect on the process performance. The most significant interaction effect was also observed between pH and GO dosage. The optimal coagulation conditions with GO dosage of 4.0 mg/L, pH of 3.0, and initial turbidity of 193.34 NTU led to a turbidity removal efficiency of about 98.3%, which was in good agreement with RSM results. Under basic pH levels, the sweeping effect was recognized as the main coagulation mechanism occurred between the negatively surface charged particles of GO and soil. However, according to zeta potential (ZP) analysis results, under acidic pH conditions in addition to the sweep coagulation, the electric double layer compression, and the subsequent ZP reduction also contributed significantly to the process. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed that the layered structure of GO particles provided an appropriate platform on which the flocs were formed.

An enhanced coagulation using a starch-based coagulant assisted by polysilicic acid in treating simulated and real surface water

In this work, a simple and environmentally-friendly enhanced coagulation, by using a cationic starch-based coagulant (starch-3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl trimethyl ammonium chloride, St-CTA) coupled with an optimized polysilicic acid (PSA), has been tried to coagulate the kaolin suspensions and humic acid (HA) aqueous solutions, which are used as the simulated sources of inorganic colloidal particles and organic pollutant, respectively, in micro-polluted turbid surface water. Dosing of St-CTA and PSA at the same time is more efficient and more convenient than other two separated feeding methods in this enhanced coagulation process. The synergic coagulation process and mechanism were studied and discussed in detail based on the apparent coagulation performance, floc properties, and zeta potentials of supernatants. St-CTA caused an efficient charge neutralization, i.e. compression of electric double layer of kaolin particles and electrostatic adsorption of HA, followed by an effective netting-bridging effect of PSA, resulting in an improved purification performance. St-CTA with a higher charge density showed better purification performance due to enhanced charge neutralization effect. In addition to simulated water, the validation of this enhanced coagulation process was further confirmed by comparison with a conventional coagulant, polyaluminium chloride, in treating a real surface water. This work thus provides a simple and environmentally-friendly strategy to efficiently purify micro-polluted turbid surface water and further improve the water safety.

Antibacterial activity of chitosan nano-composites and carbon nanotubes: A review

Bacteriological contamination of water sources is a major challenge that has a detrimental impact on both the environment and human health. This imposes the search for the most efficient disinfectant. Despite their antibacterial efficiency, traditional methods can often form disinfection byproducts through their reaction with organic and inorganic compounds. Substitutes for conventional bacterial inactivation methods should not produce harmful byproducts and must also be cost effective. Nanotechnology is an attractive option that is suited for surface reactions as nanostructures offer large surface to volume ratios. Technologies using chitosan-modified nanocomposites and carbon nanotubes have proven to offer promising alternatives for bacterial inactivation. To enhance their antibacterial efficiency, such technologies have been modified chemically and physically and have as well been associated with other treatment techniques. However, despite their high bacterial disinfection efficacy and lack of treatment byproducts, the vagueness in bacterial inactivation mechanisms and complexity in materials preparation have often obscured their wide scale application. The aim of this manuscript is to review the recent advances in bacterial disinfection using nanomaterials, in the form of chitosan and carbon nanotubes. The rapid rate of research and the notable progress in this area dictate the frequent compilation and dissemination of recent introductions to this field. Existing gaps in the literature are thus also highlighted and reported discrepancies are pinpointed so that roadmaps for future studies may be figured.

Effectiveness of chitosan as a natural coagulant in treating turbid waters

Aluminum, Lime and iron coagulants are commonly used in most industries for many decades to coagulate particles in surface water also removing turbidity from the water prior to flocculation, sedimentation or filtration. Although effective, inorganic coagulants have several disadvantages, there has been a concern about the relation between aluminum residuals in treated water and Alzheimer disease and toxic effects of metallic coagulants on the aquatic environment. Hence nowadays, there has been great attention in the improvement of natural coagulants in treated water such as chitosan; chitosan is a natural linear cellulose-like copolymer of glucosamine and N-acetyl-glucosamine widely distributed in nature. The present study was aimed to investigate the effects of chitosan on the removal of suspended solids (bentonite clay) from water. A series of batch flocculation tests with chitosan under different conditions was conducted. The results indicate that chitosan is a potent coagulant for bentonite suspension. Coagulation of chitosan showed efficiency of 96.9%. The coagulant performed well at concentration of 1g chitosan/100 ml water at PH=6.

Turbidity reduction in drinking water by coagulation-flocculation with chitosan polymers

Turbidity reduction by coagulation-flocculation in drinking water reduces microbes and organic matter, increasing effectiveness of downstream treatment. Chitosan is a promising household water coagulant, but needs parameters for use. This study tested the effects of chitosan dose, molecular weight (MW), degree of deacetylation (DD), and functional groups on bentonite and kaolinite turbidity reduction in model household drinking water. Higher MW or DD produced greater reductions. Highest reductions were at doses 1 and 3 mg/L by MW >50,000 or >70% DD (residual turbidity <5 NTU). Higher doses did not necessarily continually increase reduction. For functional groups, 3 mg/L produced the highest reductions by lactate, acetate, and HCl, and lower reductions of kaolinite than bentonite. Doses where the point of zero charge was observed clustered around 3 mg/L. Chitosan reduced clay turbidity in water; effectiveness was influenced by dose, clay type, MW, DD, and functional groups. Reduction did not necessarily increase with MW. Bentonite had a broader effective dose range and higher reduction at the optimal dose than kaolinite. Chitosans with and without functional groups performed similarly. The best of the studied doses was 3 mg/L. Chitosans are promising for turbidity reduction in low-resource settings if combined with sedimentation and/or filtration.

Enhanced coagulation of low-turbidity micro-polluted surface water: Properties and optimization

Micro-polluted surface water with low turbidity and low content of dissolved organic matter (DOM) is usually inefficiently purified. In this work, a combined technique for the enhanced coagulation of this surface water was proposed and investigated using cationic grafted starch (St-G) and polyaluminum chloride (PACl) as co-coagulants, followed by a magnetic ion-exchange resin (MIER). St-G was fed before PACl, and this procedure not only efficiently removes turbidity but also largely reduces the doses of the two coagulants. MIER remarkably removed DOM, and raw water was effectively purified. The entire coagulation process was further optimized through response surface methodology based on a central composite design by using the doses of St-G, PACl, and MIER as input variables. The dose effects of the three chemicals on the coagulation performance for turbidity and DOM removal were examined, and the coagulation mechanisms, including the interactive effect among various chemicals, were discussed in detail. This work provided a new strategy for the efficient treatment of low-turbidity micro-polluted surface water by utilizing organic and inorganic co-coagulants with magnetic ion-exchange resin in practical applications.

Fate of nanoparticles during alum and ferric coagulation monitored using single particle ICP-MS

In this study, aluminum sulfate, ferric sulfate, ferric chloride, and poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (pDADMAC) coagulation removal of citrate-stabilized silver and gold nanoparticles (NPs) and uncoated titanium dioxide, cerium dioxide, and zinc oxide NPs was investigated using a single particle (SP) ICP-MS direct monitoring technique. Zone 2 (charge neutralization) coagulation was performed in river water and more commonly used Zone 4 (sweep floc) coagulation was performed in both river and lake water with environmentally relevant concentrations of selected NPs added. SP-ICP-MS was used to detect NP and dissolved species, characterize the size distribution, and quantify particle concentration as well as dissolved species before and after treatments. Other parameters including pH, dissolved organic carbon, turbidity, and UV₂₅₄ absorbance were monitored to characterize treatment efficiency. Charge neutralization (Zone 2) coagulation resulted in 48-85% removal of citrate-stabilized NPs and 90-99% removal of uncoated NPs from river water. Sweep floc (Zone 4) coagulation in river water resulted in 36-94% removal of citrate-stabilized NPs and 91-99% removal of uncoated NPs both with and without polymer addition. Zone 4 coagulation conditions in lake water resulted in 77-98% removal of citrate-stabilized NPs and 59-96% removal of uncoated NPs without polymer. These results indicate that NP removal depends on NP surface and stability, the nature of the source water, and the coagulant type and approach.

Ecotoxicological assessment of flocculant modified soil for lake restoration using an integrated biotic toxicity index

Flocculant modified soils/clays are being increasingly studied as geo-engineering materials for lake restoration and harmful algal bloom control. However, the potential impacts of adding these materials in aquatic ecological systems remain unclear. This study investigated the potential effects of chitosan, cationic starch, chitosan modified soils (MS-C) and cationic starch modified soils (MS-S) on the aquatic organisms by using a bioassay battery. The toxicity potential of these four flocculants was quantitatively assessed using an integrated biotic toxicity index (BTI). The test system includes four aquatic species, namely Chlorella vulgaris, Daphnia magna, Cyprinus carpio and Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri, which represent four trophic levels in the freshwater ecosystem. Results showed that median effect concentrations (EC50) of the MS-C and MS-S were 31-124 times higher than chitosan and cationic starch, respectively. D. magna was the most sensitive species to the four flocculants. Histological examination of C. carpio showed that significant pathological changes were found in gills. Different from chitosan and cationic starch, MS-C and MS-S significantly alleviated the acute toxicities of chitosan and cationic starch. The toxicity order of the four flocculants based on BTI were cationic starch > chitosan > MS-S > MS-C. The results suggested that BTI can be used as a quantitative and comparable indicator to assess biotic toxicity for aquatic geo-engineering materials. Chitosan or cationic starch modified soil/clay materials can be used at their optimal dosage without causing substantial adverse effects to the bioassay battery in aquatic ecosystem.

A review on chitosan-based flocculants and their applications in water treatment

In recent years, the use of chitosan and its derivatives as flocculants in water treatment has received considerable attention due to their many advantages, including their widespread availability, environmental friendliness, biodegradability, and prominent structural features. However, it is a significant strategy for selection and design of the high-performance materials on the basis of their structure-activity relationships. Here we describe several of the chemical modification methods commonly used to prepare chitosan-based flocculants. These methods allow convenient control and adjustment of the structures of the obtained materials to meet the different practical requirements. The influence of structural elements of the chitosan-based flocculants on their flocculation properties are emphasized in this review by examining different flocculation mechanisms and their applications in the treatment of various wastewaters containing different pollutants (insoluble suspended colloids but also dissolved matters). Above all, the chitosan-based flocculants with proper structures by precise structure control bear great application potentials in water treatment.

Natural organic matter removal by coagulation during drinking water treatment: a review

Natural organic matter (NOM) is found in all surface, ground and soil waters. An increase in the amount of NOM has been observed over the past 10-20 years in raw water supplies in several areas, which has a significant effect on drinking water treatment. The presence of NOM causes many problems in drinking water and drinking water treatment processes, including (i) negative effect on water quality by causing colour, taste and odor problems, (ii) increased coagulant and disinfectant doses (which in turn results in increased sludge volumes and production of harmful disinfection by-products), (iii) promoted biological growth in distribution system, and (iv) increased levels of complexed heavy metals and adsorbed organic pollutants. NOM can be removed from drinking water by several treatment options, of which the most common and economically feasible processes are considered to be coagulation and flocculation followed by sedimentation/flotation and sand filtration. Most of the NOM can be removed by coagulation, although, the hydrophobic fraction and high molar mass compounds of NOM are removed more efficiently than hydrophilic fraction and the low molar mass compounds. Thus, enhanced and/or optimized coagulation, as well as new process alternatives for the better removal of NOM by coagulation process has been suggested. In the present work, an overview of the recent research dealing with coagulation and flocculation in the removal of NOM from drinking water is presented.

Equilibrium models and kinetic for the adsorption of methylene blue on Co-hectorites

The adsorption of methylene blue (MB) onto the surface of cobalt doping hectorite (Co-hectorite) was systematically studied. The physical properties of Co-hectorites were investigated, where characterizations were carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Electron Diffraction Spectrum (EDS) techniques, and morphology was examined by nitrogen adsorption. The sample with a Co content 5% (m/m) had a higher specific surface area than other Co-hectorites. The pore diameters were distributed between 2.5 and 5.0 nm. The adsorption results revealed that Co-hectorite surfaces possessed effective interactions with MB and bases, and greatest adsorption capacity achieved with Co content 5%, where the best-fit isotherm model was the Langmuir adsorption model. Kinetic studies were fitted to the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The intraparticle diffusion was not the rate-limiting step for the whole reaction.