Experimental investigation of the inhibition of deep-sea mining sediment plumes by polyaluminum chloride

Deep-sea sediment disturbance may occur when collecting polymetallic nodules,resulting in the creation of plumes that could have a negative impact on the ecological environment.This study aims to investigate the potential solution of using polyaluminum chloride(PAC)in the water jet.The effects of PAC are examined through a self-designed simulation system for deep-sea polymetallic nodule collection and sediment samples from a potential deep-sea mining area.The experimental results showed that the optimal PAC dose was found to be 0.75 g/L.Compared with the test conditions without the addition of PAC,the presence of PAC leads to a reduction in volume,lower characteristic turbidity,smaller diffusion velocity,and shorter settling time of the plume.This indicates that PAC inhibits the entire development process of the plume.The addition of PAC leads to the flocculation of mm-sized particles,resulting in the formation of cm-sized flocs.The flocculation of particles decreases the rate of erosion on the seabed by around 30%.This reduction in erosion helps to decrease the formation of plumes.Additionally,when the size of suspended particles increases,it reduces the scale at which they diffuse.Furthermore,the settling velocity of flocs(around 10^(-2) m/s)is much higher that of compared to sediment particles(around 10^(-5) m/s),which effectively reduces the amount of time the plume remains in suspension.

Influence of Polyaluminum Chloride Residue on the Strength andMicrostructure of Cement-Based Materials

In this paper,cement and dechlorinated Polyaluminum Chloride Residue(PACR)have been used to prepare a net slurry and mortar specimens.Two hydration activity indicators have been used to quantitatively analyze the dechlorinated PACR hydration activity.In particular,the effect of dechlorinated PACR content on the compressive strength of mortar has been assessed by means of compressive strength tests.Moreover,X-ray diffraction(XRD)and scanning electron microscopy(SEM)have been employed to observe the microstructure of the considered hydration products.The following results have been obtained.The 28th day activity index of the dechlorinated PACR is 75%,and therefore it meets the criterion for the use of active admixture.The increase in the content of the dechlorinated PACR tends to reduce the compressive strength of mortar specimens,however,it is beneficial to its later strength growth.When the content is not greater than 10%,the strength remains unchanged,otherwise,it decreases.The PACR does not form a new crystalline phase in the cement slurry,and the dechlorinated PACR remains active until the age of the 28th day.The inclusion of the PACR mainly deteriorates the early strength of the cement slurry,but it promotes the production of hydration products in the cement slurry after the 7th day.

Features and mechanism for coagulation－flocculation processes of polyaluminum chloride

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Preparation and characterization of organic polymer modified composite polyaluminum chloride

Compared with traditional aluminum salts, polyaluminum chloride （PACI） has better coagulation-flocculation performance in turbidity removal. However, it is still inferior to organic polymers in terms of bridging function. In order to improve the aggregating property of PACl, different composite PACl flocculants were prepared with various organic polymers. The effect of organic polymer on the distribution or Al（Ⅲ） species in composite flocculants was studied using ^27TAl NMR and Al-ferron complexation methods. The charge neutralization and surface adsorption characteristics of composite flocculants were also investigated. Jar tests were conducted to evaluate the turbidity removal efficacy of organic polymer modified composite flocculants. The study shows that cationic polymer and anionic polymer have significant influences on the coagulation-flocculation behaviors of PACl. Both cationic and anionic polymers can improve the turbidity removal performancc of PACl but the mechanisms arc much different： cationic organic polymer mainly increases the charge neutralization ability, but anionic polymer mainly enhances the bridging function.

Preparation of high concentration polyaluminum chloride with high content of Al_b or Al_c

A novel membrane distillation concentration method was used m prepare high concentration polyaluminum chloride （PAC1） with high content of AID or Ale. 2.52 mol/L PACl1 with 88% Alb and 2.38 mol/L PACl2 with 61% Ale were successfully prepared. Three coagulants, AlCl3, PACl1 and PACl2 were investigated on their hydrolysis behavior and speciation under different conditions. The effects of pH and dilution ratio on Al species distribution were investigated by ferron assay. Experimental result showed that pH had a significant effect on Al species distribution for the three coagulants. Dilution ratio had little effects on Alb and Alc distribution in whole dilution process except the beginning for PACl1 and PACl2. The results indicated that transformation of Al depends largely on their original composition. AlCl3 was the most unstable coagulant among these three coagulants during hydrolysis process. PACl1 and PACl2 with significant amounts of highly charged and stable polynuclear aluminum hydrolysis products were less affected by the hydrolysis conditions and could maintain high speciation stability under various conditions.

A novel method to synthesize polyaluminum chloride with a membrane reactor

Al 13 or Alb is usually regarded as the most efficient species of polyaluminum chloride(PAC), the performance flocculant for water treatment. This paper was intended to report a new method to synthesize PAC with high content Al b, by using the membrane reactor. NaOH solutions were managed to permeate slowly through the micropores of ultrafiltration membrane into AlCl 3 solutions under the suitable transmembrane pressure(TMP). Meanwhile NaOH drops size was limited to nano scale, resulting in dramatical reduction of the characteristic diffusion time and great increment of contact interface between the strong base and Al ions in solution to favor the formation of Al(OH) - 4, the precursor of Al 13 , so few precipitates and much Al b are produced. When the initial concentration of AlCl 3/NaOH is 0 40/2 0 (mol/L), MWCO =10000, TMP =0 0085 MPa, T =305 K and B (molar ratio of OH -/Al 3+ )=2 25, the quantity of Al b attains about 80%. The results of 27 Al NMR determination showed that the Al 13 content is equal to Al b content. And our PAC product has shown better flocculation effects than the commercial product.

Preparation of high concentration polyaluminum chloride by chemical synthesis-membrane distillation method with self-made hollow fiber membrane

A method of direct contact membrane distillation （DCMD） with a self-made hollow polyvinylidene fluoride membrane was applied to prepare high concentration polyaluminum chloride （PACl） with high Alb content based on chemical synthesis. The permeate flux and Al species distribution were investigated. The experimental results showed that the permeate flux decreased from 14 to 6 kg/（m2·hr） at the end of the DCMD process, which can be mainly attributed to the formation of NaCl deposits on the membrane surface. The Alb content decreased slightly, only from 86.3% to 84.4%, when the DCMD experiment finished, correspondingly the Alc content increased slightly from 7.2% to 8.5%, and the Ala content remained at 7% during the whole DCMD process. A PACl with Alb content of 84% at total aluminum concentration 2.2 mol/L was successfully prepared by the chemical synthesis-DCMD method.

Synthesis of polyaluminum chloride with a membrane reactor:Process characteristics and membrane fouling

Polyaluminum chloride was synthesized with a membrane reactor,in which NaOH was added into AlCl 3 solution through the membrane’s micropores to reduce the NaOH droplets size.The content of the most efficient species increased to about 80%.The process characteristics in the reaction （i.e.,flow velocity,pressure drop）,and membrane fouling and cleaning were investigated.The evolution of both flow velocity and pressure drop during the reaction were related to changes in species distribution and solution viscosity.The process characteristics were well interpreted in terms of the Bernoulli equation.After reaction,the membranes were recovered by cleaning with diluted hydrochloride acid.This study is crucial for process design and scale-up of membrane reactors.

Hydrolysis of polyaluminum chloride prior to coagulation:Effects on coagulation behavior and implications for improving coagulation performance

The effects of polyaluminum chloride（PACl） hydrolysis prior to coagulation on both the coagulation zone and coagulation performance of a kaolin suspension were investigated by a novel jar test named the ＂reversed coagulation test＂.The tests showed that PACl hydrolysis prior to coagulation decreased the performance of charge neutralization coagulation in the case of short-time slow mixing（10 min;G = 15 sec-1） and increased the optimal dosage for charge neutralization and sweep coagulation.Moreover,the hydrolysis time had insignificant effects on the size and zeta potential of PACl precipitates and the residual turbidity of the raw water.However,PACl hydrolysis prior to coagulation and the size of PACl precipitates had a negligible effect on the performance of sweep coagulation.The results imply that,in practice,preparing a PACl solution with deionized water,rather than tap water or the outlet water from a wastewater treatment unit,can significantly save PACl consumption and improve the performance of charge neutralization coagulation,while preparing the PACl solution with tap or outlet water would not affect the performance of sweep coagulation.In addition,the optimal rapid mixing intensity appears to be determined by a balance between the degree of coagulant hydrolysis before contacting the primary particles and the average size of flocs in the rapid mixing period.These results provide new insights into the role of PACl hydrolysis and will be useful for improving coagulation efficiency.

Electrokinetic characteristic and coagulation behavior of flocculant polyaluminum silicate chloride (PASiC)

The electrokinetic characteristics and coagulation behaviors of polyaluminum silicate chloride (PASiC) and polyaluminum chloride (PAC) were studied and compared by streaming current (SC) measurement and jar test method. The experimental results showed that the interaction between polysilicic acid characterized negative charge and hydrolyzed aluminum species result in a decrease of the charge neutralizing ability of PASiC, compared to PAC. The decrease has a close relationship with the basicity ( B ) and Al/Si molar ratio in PASiC. The less the B value and the Al/Si molar ratio, the lower the charge neutralizing ability of PASiC is. In contrast, the preparation technique for PASiC affects the charge-neutralization of PASiC to a smaller extent. In addition, compared with PAC, PASiC may enhance aggregating efficiency and give better coagulating effects.

Advanced lignin-acrylamide water treatment agent by pulp and paper industrial sludge: Synthesis, properties and application

A novel flocculant LA （lignin-acrylamide polymer）, which was used as aid for aluminum sulfate and polyaluminum chloride in this study, was prepared by grafting acrylamide onto lignin that deriving from pulp and papermaking sludge. Physicochemical properties of LA were measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The experimental outcome indicated acrylamide was grafted onto the lignin backbone successfully. The effects of LA addition were evaluated on coagulation performance and floc characteristics as a function of aluminum （Al） dosage, such as floc size, growth rate, strength and recoverability. Effects of different dosing sequences, Al dosed first and LA dosed first, were also investigated. LA used as coagulant aid markedly enhanced the removal efficiency of turbidity and dissolved organic carbon, especially at low Al dosages. The dissolved organic carbon removal efficiencies of aluminum sulfate and polyaluminum chloride at the Al dosage range selected in this study were improved more than 30% and 5% by LA, respectively. LA dramatically enlarged floc size and it was in the order： Al dosed first 〉 LA dosed first 〉 Al. Floc strength and recoverability were also improved by LA. LA played a significant role in charge neutralization, adsorption and bridging in floc formation.

Deposition behavior of residual aluminum in drinking water distribution system：Effect of aluminum speciation

Finished drinking water usually contains some residual aluminum.The deposition of residual aluminum in distribution systems and potential release back to the drinking water could significantly influence the water quality at consumer taps.A preliminary analysis of aluminum content in cast iron pipe corrosion scales and loose deposits demonstrated that aluminum deposition on distribution pipe surfaces could be excessive for water treated by aluminum coagulants including polyaluminum chloride（PACl）.In this work,the deposition features of different aluminum species in PACl were investigated by simulated coil-pipe test,batch reactor test and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring.The deposition amount of non-polymeric aluminum species was the least,and its deposition layer was soft and hydrated,which indicated the possible formation of amorphous Al（OH）3.Al（13） had the highest deposition tendency,and the deposition layer was rigid and much less hydrated,which indicated that the deposited aluminum might possess regular structure and self-aggregation of Al（13）could be the main deposition mechanism.While for Al（30）,its deposition was relatively slower and deposited aluminum amount was relatively less compared with Al（13）.However,the total deposited mass of Al（30） was much higher than that of Al（13）,which was attributed to the deposition of particulate aluminum matters with much higher hydration state.Compared with stationary condition,stirring could significantly enhance the deposition process,while the effect of pH on deposition was relatively weak in the near neutral range of 6.7 to 8.7.

Drinking water treatment using a submerged internal-circulation membrane coagulation reactor coupled with permanganate oxidation

A submerged internal circulating membrane coagulation reactor （MCR） was used to treat surface water to produce drinking water. Polyaluminum chloride （PAC1） was used as coagulant, and a hydrophilic polyvinylidene fluoride （PVDF） submerged hollow fiber microfiltration membrane was employed. The influences of trans-membrane pressure （TMP）, zeta potential （ZP） of the suspended particles in raw water, and KMnO4 dosing on water flux and the removal of turbidity and organic matter were systematically investigated. Continuous bench-scale experiments showed that the permeate quality of the MCR satisfied the requirement for a centralized water supply, according to the Standards for Drinking Water Quality of China （GB B749-2006）, as evaluated by turbidity （〈1 NTU） and total organic carbon （TOC） （〈5 mE/L） measurements. Besides water flux, the removal of turbidity, TOC and dissolved organic carbon （DOC） in the raw water also increased with increasing TMP in the range of 0.01-0.05 MPa. High ZP induced by PAC1, such as 5-9 mY, led to an increase in the number of fine and total particles in the MCR, and consequently caused serious membrane fouling and high permeate turbidity. However, the removal of TOC and DOC increased with increasing ZP. A slightly positive ZP, such as 1-2 mV, corresponding to charge neutralization coagulation, was favorable for membrane fouling control. Moreover, dosing with KMnO4 could further improve the removal of turbidity and DOC, thereby mitigating membrane fouling. The results are helpful for the application of the MCR in producing drinking water and also beneficial to the research and application of other coagulation and membrane separation hybrid processes.