Comparison of coagulation behavior and floc structure characteristic of different polyferric-cationic polymer dual-coagulants in humic acid solution

Three polyferric-cationic polymer dual-coagulants were comparatively evaluated in terms of coagulation behavior and floc structure characteristic in the coagulation of humic acid (HA) solution. The first dual-coagulant, PFC-PDADMAC, was prepared by premixing of polyferric chloride (PFC) and polydiallyldimethylammonium (PDADMAC) before dosing. The other two were achieved by dosing PFC and PDADMAC in different order. For the given neutral condition, all three dual-coagulants gave similar HA removal before reaching optimal dosage. The strongest charge neutralization and narrowest effective coagulation dosage range were obtained when PFC was dosed firstly. While the weakest charge neutralization and the broadest effective coagulation dosage were obtained when PDADMAC was used as the primary coagulant. The HA removal of all three dual-coagulants was slightly pH dependent for optimum coagulant doses. Fe(III) hydrolysis species distributions of the dual-coagulants in coagulation process were measured by ferron method. PFC-PDADMAC gave the highest content of active Fe(III) coagulating species which is responsible for the coagulation performance of ferric coagulant. The evolution of floc size and floc fractal dimension (Df) in coagulation process was measured under optimum dose and neutral condition by laser diffraction instrument and small-angle laser light scattering (SALLS), respectively. All three dual-coagulants gave similar final floc size but different floc growth rate and floc structure. Both the growth rate and Df were in the same order: PFC dosed firstly>PDADMAC dosed firstly>PFC-PDADMAC.