Treatment method for polymer presence in incoming WasteWater

Published on by in Case Studies

I am working on the textile WasteWater treatment and recycling. I have a question  about the pretreatment of incoming WasteWater

Our processing (dyeing) section is using some type of polymer as tickner which is effecting our WasteWater and our recycling system its Clogging Ultrafiltration.

Question is how can i reduce polymer load by any type of pretreatment before its entering WasteWater

Taxonomy

10 Answers

  1. Hello Fawad,

    Nice to be in touch again. As you may know, we have assessed over 20 large textile industries in Bangladesh in-depth on behalf of the IFC (World Bank Group) with focus on wastewater. The polymer used in textile finishing/sizing is most likely PVA (poly-vinyl alcohol) which can be recovered at the source and reused. Alternatively the PVA can be captured and fully biodegraded by advanced activated sludge (AAS) biological wastewater treatment. PVA is barely removed by classic activated sludge (CAS) as indicated by Mr. Scheurman 2 days ago which explains the clogging of the downstream UF membranes.

    2 Comments

  3. If you have contaminant ions after flocculation and filtration I can help, my email issrock@resintech.com 

  4. We have solved this problem before this. The polymer that is causing your complications is an anionic. It is common for the textile industry to have this. It is also somewhat resistant to a waste activated sludge system since the polymer is slow to be digested. The City of Dalton, GA is a perfect example.

    We had created a product that will react with this material and drop it from solution.  We also have an on-line monitor that will test for the concentration of the anionic and feed the precipitant based on the incoming load. You can always base feed the precipitant but that will increase costs when the incoming polymer is low. 

    Using conventional ferric or aluminum coagulants doesn't work very well because the polymer disperses them and will carry them thru to the Ultrafiltration equipment making a bad situation worse.

    Bleach, Chlorine dioxide and other oxidants are useless since the polymer is rather stable to oxidation.  Hope this helps.

    2 Comments

    1. The process is simple. You run a polyacrylate test. We supply a pretty simple test to do this. All that is needed is a colorimeter. Hach, LaMotte, B&L, Pyxis or any other manufacturer. Our test will have 2 separate reagents. 

      Once you know the concentration, that will determine the dose of the coagulant. The coagulant is then fed to the influent stream to knock out the polymer. The best way to feed the product is with a peristaltic pump paced from a flow meter. The Watson Marlow Q-Dos pumps are the easiest and best to use for this (in my opinion). The pump feeds the coagulant based on wastewater flow. You will need approximately 30 seconds for the reaction to complete. 2 minutes is ideal. 

      The treated water may be sent to a DE filter before going to your UF or you could send it directly to the UF as you currently have things configured. I prefer the DE pre-filter to decrease the overall load on the UF.

      If you have a clarifier in your system, you may eliminate the DE filter.

      You may send me a line drawing of your WWTP and I can mark it up for you.

      email: Scheurman.terry@appliedspecialties.com

      1 Comment reply

  7. First, run some jar tests with cationic floc agent (especially if the polymers you refer to are anionic), if no response, then try a jar test with anionic polymer to induce floc.  If you have a successful result in the jar tests, you will know how to remove by addition of complementary charge polymers, then you can use a  clarifier to remove the resulting floc prior to any treatment such as ultra-filtration.  It seems that whoever designed your wastewater process opted for the latest gadget before really doing any critical thinking about the process.

    1 Comment

  8. Please share name if chemical, Process flow diagram of the treatment system.

     

    2 Comments

    1. You will need a cationic organic polymer, or agent similar to so-called "Jet-Quat" - a quaternary cationic charged molecule

  9. I believe that the best treatment to remove polymer from wastewater is by FRT-AOP and filtration. 

    2 Comments

    1. Kindly explain how

      1 Comment reply

      1. FRT-AOP (Free Radicals Technology-Advance Oxidation Process) is a generation of free radicals mainly hydroxyl radicals plus other peroxides radicals which are capable of reducing the polymer into CO2 & H2O, at the same time coagulate and agglomerate a the not-oxidised polymer for easy filtration