Polyelectrolyte flocculation is a commonly used method for sewage sludge conditioning. The rate and extent of water removal from the flocculated sludge depends on the properties of the polyelectrolytes. This study investigates the flocculation performance of four different cationic polyelectrolytes using an in-situ laser probe which uses focused beam reflectance measurements (FBRM). It is used to characterise the floc number and size distribution of the flocculated sludge at various polyelectrolyte doses. Results show that the FBRM technique is very successful in tracking the change in particle population and chord lengths during the sludge flocculation process. The FBRM offers an alternative method for optimising the flocculation system in both selecting the flocculant and determining its optimum dose. Both the reduction in particle count for particles of less than 10 μm and the flocculation efficiency defined from the amount of the original sludge distribution remaining after flocculation correlate well with dewatering performance.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
Research Article|
February 01 2009
Using FBRM to investigate the sewage sludge flocculation efficiency of cationic polyelectrolytes
K. B. Thapa;
K. B. Thapa
1Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University, Bld 36, Clayton Campus, Clayton VIC 3080, Australia
Search for other works by this author on:
Y. Qi;
Y. Qi
1Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University, Bld 36, Clayton Campus, Clayton VIC 3080, Australia
Search for other works by this author on:
A. F. Hoadley
1Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University, Bld 36, Clayton Campus, Clayton VIC 3080, Australia
E-mail: andrew.hoadley@eng.monash.edu.au
Search for other works by this author on:
Water Sci Technol (2009) 59 (3): 583–593.
Citation
K. B. Thapa, Y. Qi, A. F. Hoadley; Using FBRM to investigate the sewage sludge flocculation efficiency of cationic polyelectrolytes. Water Sci Technol 1 February 2009; 59 (3): 583–593. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2009.006
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Client Account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.
Could not validate captcha. Please try again.
Impact Factor 2.430
CiteScore 3.4 • Q2
13 days submission to first
decision
1,439,880 downloads in 2021