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Designing a Polymer or Poly-Electrolyte Storage Day Tank Mixing System:
Coagulation and flocculation are used to separate suspended solids from water. Although the terms are used interchangeably, they are in fact two distinct processes. Finely dispersed solids (colloids, less than 1 micron in size) are stabilized by their negative electric charges, which act to suspend themselves in wastewater. The colloids negative charges act to repel each other, preventing them from forming larger masses which hinder the small particles from settling. To remove the colloidal particles both flocculation and coagulation are required. Coagulation is the process of destabilization, by introducing common mineral salts such as aluminum sulfate, ferric chloride, lime, calcium and magnesium chloride which either reduce, neutralize or invert the electrical repulsion between the colloidal particles, which give them the opportunity to grow in size or aggregate, to form a floc. Flocculation is used to describe the action of polymeric materials, which carry active charge groups, which counterbalance the charge of the colloidal particles, which acts to bridge into long polymer chains. The floc then settles which is then easily separated. Anionic flocculant will usually react against positively charge suspension such as salts and metallic hydroxides. Cationic flocculant will react against negatively charged suspensions like silica or organic substances. However, some anionic flocculants agglomerate clays which are electronegative. Although there are both mineral (silica, bentonite, etc.) and natural (starch, alginates, etc.) flocculants, the most commonly used is synthetic polyacrylamide flocculation polymer, which is a nonionic polymer. Polymers can be given anionic or cationic character by copolymerizing them with acrylic acid or cationic monomer, respectively. Every polyacrylamide has a specific amount of ionic monomer to give a certain degree of ionic character. Since it is difficult to prepare highly concentrated polyacrylamide flocculants, they are commonly dissolved into 0.5% to 0.1% solutions in cold water. High shear devices can degrade (deteriorate) the polymer chains so avoid using high speed (agitator shaft output RPM of 3600, 1800, 1200 RPM's) mixers, dispersers, homogenizers, disintegrators or centrifugal pumps. All polymer solutions will degrade over time, where degradation time is dependent upon the solutions concentration.
Vertical tanks, with height to diameter ratios of 1.0 to1,2 are preferred over horizontal tanks since they take up less space, are easily supported on a concrete slab and are simpler to mix. Tanks having mixers installed vertical-on-tank-centerline generally do not require anti-swirl baffles due to the process viscosity of the application. If you are using a lower viscosity solution, three (3) anti-swirl baffles installed 120 degrees apart, maybe required to prevent foaming and other considerations. Contact your mixer supplier for their recommendation. As for the mixer design, the use of an upper impeller maybe recommended, especially if a solid feeding system such as a funnel eductor is used. In the event of dewatering, the upper impellers purpose will be to capture and entrain the dewatered top phase and pump it downward quickly into to lower regions of the storage tank to achieve a solution. Without the upper impeller, the lower viscosity water phase may stratify on the surface and take time to reincorporate into the batch exposing the solution to over mixing. 01.20.12 |
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Industrial
Portable Mixers
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