A holistic determination of optimal coagulant dosage by exploring the dynamics of particle size distribution, floc structure, and electrochemistry

IF 13.2 1区工程技术 Q1 ENGINEERING, CHEMICAL

Chemical Engineering Journal Pub Date : 2025-02-27 DOI:10.1016/j.cej.2025.161055

Diogo Abreu, David Fernandes del Pozo, Emiel Deruyttere, Aisling J. Daly, Paul Van der Meeren, Ingmar Nopens, Pablo Gallo

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Conventional drinking water treatment includes four stages: coagulation-flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection. One of the most essential steps of the treatment train is coagulation-flocculation, because it significantly impacts the flocs’ settleability and filterability, which in turn affects the efficiency of subsequent steps. Moreover, it has been observed that this treatment step can potentially remove micropollutants, making it a key piece in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal n.6 (Clean water and sanitation). Given its importance and relevance, the optimisation of coagulation-flocculation, often related to the identification of the optimal coagulant dosage, is fundamental to optimise drinking water treatment. Accordingly, this work presents a concerted effort to select the optimal dosage holistically by dynamically characterising crucial floc properties, such as size and shape, through Particle Size Distribution (PSD) and fractal dimension, as well as floc stability through zeta potential. Furthermore, a comprehensive statistical analysis was performed to extract valuable information from the data collected and further support the interpretation of the experimental results. It was found that larger coagulant dosages led to more compact flocs and to an approximation to the isoelectric point, which differed from previously reported results. This apparent contradiction was hypothesised to be related to the characteristics of the initial PSD, which impacted floc growth mechanisms (Cluster-Cluster and Particle-Cluster aggregation). Finally, this work firmly establishes that a holistic description of the flocs’ dynamic physicochemical characteristics is fundamental to improve current knowledge of coagulation-flocculation in various fields and can be leveraged to develop powerful mechanistic and/or data-driven models

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通过探索粒径分布、絮凝体结构和电化学的动态，全面确定最佳混凝剂用量

传统的饮用水处理包括四个阶段：混凝-絮凝、沉淀、过滤和消毒。混凝-絮凝是整个处理过程中最关键的步骤之一，因为它会显著影响絮凝体的沉降性和过滤性，进而影响后续步骤的效率。此外，据观察，这一处理步骤有可能消除微污染物，使其成为实现联合国可持续发展目标6的关键部分（清洁用水和卫生设施）。鉴于其重要性和相关性，混凝-絮凝的优化通常与最佳混凝剂用量的确定有关，是优化饮用水处理的基础。因此，本研究通过粒径分布（PSD）和分形维数动态表征絮凝体的关键特性，如粒径和形状，以及通过zeta电位表征絮凝体的稳定性，提出了一种协同努力，从整体上选择最佳剂量。此外，还进行了全面的统计分析，以从收集的数据中提取有价值的信息，并进一步支持实验结果的解释。研究发现，较大的混凝剂剂量导致絮凝体更紧密，并接近等电点，这与先前报道的结果不同。这种明显的矛盾被认为与初始PSD的特性有关，该特性影响了絮团生长机制（Cluster-Cluster和Particle-Cluster聚集）。最后，这项工作坚定地确立了对絮凝体动态物理化学特性的整体描述是提高当前各领域混凝-絮凝知识的基础，可以用来开发强大的机制和/或数据驱动模型

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Chemical Engineering Journal 工程技术-工程：化工

CiteScore

21.70

自引率

9.30%

发文量

6781

审稿时长

2.4 months

期刊介绍： The Chemical Engineering Journal is an international research journal that invites contributions of original and novel fundamental research. It aims to provide an international platform for presenting original fundamental research, interpretative reviews, and discussions on new developments in chemical engineering. The journal welcomes papers that describe novel theory and its practical application, as well as those that demonstrate the transfer of techniques from other disciplines. It also welcomes reports on carefully conducted experimental work that is soundly interpreted. The main focus of the journal is on original and rigorous research results that have broad significance. The Catalysis section within the Chemical Engineering Journal focuses specifically on Experimental and Theoretical studies in the fields of heterogeneous catalysis, molecular catalysis, and biocatalysis. These studies have industrial impact on various sectors such as chemicals, energy, materials, foods, healthcare, and environmental protection.