Screening of flocculant-producing microorganisms and flocculating activity

A strain saccharomycete STSM-1 with high flocculanting activity was isolated from activated sludge with conventional methods. The high production rate and the low cost STSM-1 medium was obtained by selecting different kinds of media, carbon source, nitrogen source and inorganic salt ion. The best flocculant-producing conditions were found by changing medium initial pH, culture temperature and ventilation flow. The best flocculating effect was obtained by changing positive ion types, density and concentration of flocculant.

Flocculation performance and mechanism of hydroxamate flocculants on synthetic hematite or goethite suspension

Suitable amounts of Al(OH)3, Na OH and synthetic hematite or goethite were taken to be digested under the simulated condition of the Bayer process and subsequently diluted with simulative Bayer red mud lotion, then the synthetic hematite or goethite suspension was obtained. The flocculation effect of self-made modified poly(acrylic acids) flocculants containing hydroxamic acid groups(abbreviated as HPAA) on the synthetic hematite or goethite suspension was studied. The experimental results show that with the increase of the dosages of added flocculants, the average settling rate of the synthetic hematite or goethite suspension in the first 1min speeds up, the supernatant solids decrease. It could also be found that there is generally a decrease in the average settling rate of the synthetic hematite or goethite suspension in the first 1 min with increasing solid content of the suspension. When the solid content of hematite or goethite of the suspension is 50 g/L with 240 g/t dosage of HPAA, HPAA has a better flocculation effect on the synthetic goethite suspension than on the synthetic hematite suspension. The adsorption mechanism of HPAA on the surface of hematite or goethite was investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS).All the results suggest that HPAA is adsorbed on the hematite or goethite surface by a chemisorption, and it has a stronger adsorption on the goethite surface than on the hematite surface.

Evaluation of flocculation characteristics of kaolinite dispersion system using guar gum:A green flocculant

This paper reports the systematic investigation on the flocculation,sedimentation and consolidation characteristics of kaolinite using guar gum as a green flocculant.In-situ flocculation behavior of kaolinite at various pH,guar gum dosages,and ionic strength were studied using a light scattering technique.The effect of these parameters on the settling rate,solid consolidation,and supernatant liquid clarity was recorded.The morphology of kaolinite and flocculated kaolinite aggregates were analyzed using FESEM.The morphology studies suggest that it is poorly crystalline with multiple steps on edge,broken edge;laminar with high aspect ratio and have rough basal surface.The complex irregularity on the basal surface and the presence of multiple steps in the edges,broken edges(hydroxyl groups)have facilitated the guar gum adsorption.The isoelectric point of kaolinite is pH 3.96.The pH,ionic strength and flocculant dosage have a significant effect on the kaolinite settling rate.The guar gum has exhibited excellent turbidity removal efficiency at pH 5.The turbidity removal is inefficient at pH 10.However,guar gum has shown high turbidity removal with 80%transmission at pH 10 in the presence of a KNO3 electrolyte.

Flocculation performance of a novel synthesized flocculant with low ecological risk

Combined flocculants with low ecological risk are urgently required in water supply and wastewater treatment in China. A novel flocculant was thus developed under the condition of low ecological risk(noted as CAS). The experiments to examine wastewater treatment performance of the new product showed that there was favourable performance in the flocculation process in contrast to commercial flocculants in treating kaolin suspensions, municipal effluent and domestic wastewater. Flocculation performance included the turbidity removal rate, sediment character and a decrease in COD(chemical oxygen demand). The sediment time of flocculation is short and the removal rate of turbidity treated by CAS is high compared with PAC(polyaluminum chloride), PAM(polyacrylamide) and the combined addition of PAC and PAM. The optimal concentration required to affect flocculation processes is dependent on kaolin concentration and the character of the wastewater within the range examined. It also showed that CAS is effective to treat wastewater with high turbidity.

Screening and flocculating properties of bioflocculant-producing microorganisms

Screening of bioflocculant-producing microorganisms was carded out. A strain that secreted excellent bioflocculant was isolated from municipal sewage using the spread plate technique, identified as Klebsiella sp. by the analytical profile index （API） identification system, and named A9. Several important factors that had an effect on A9＇s bioflocculant-producing and flocculating activity were studied. A total of 4 g/L Kaolin suspension was used to measure the flocculating activity of the bioflocculant from A9. It was found that maltose and urea were Ag＇s best carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively, and the flocculating activity of the flocculating agent from A9 was markedly increased by the addition of trivalent cations such as Fe^3＋ and Al^3＋; furthermore, the bioflocculant produced by A9 was most effective when the pH value was 6.0.

Non-parallelism between the effect of microbial flocculants on sewerage disposal and the flocculation rate

This paper dealt with non-parallelism between the effect of microbial flocculant (MBF) on sewerage disposal and the flocculation rate, the high flocculation rate doesn’t mean the fine disposal effectiveness, and revealed the problem encountered when the exclusive parameter―flocculation rate is used to evaluate the effect of MBF on sewerage disposal. The results showed that MBF made from different carbon sources have some influence on the effectiveness of sewerage disposal; flocculation rate cannot authentically reflect the status of sewerage disposal. When the exclusive parameter―flocculation rate is used to evaluate the effect of MBF on sewerage disposal, it would be exaggerated, especially in disposing COD-low sewerage. The authors considered that when flocculation rate is used to evaluate the effect of MBF on sewerage disposal, it is better to take COD-removal rate into account.

The flocculation efficiency of compound bioflocculant by flocculant-producing bacteria

The flucculation efficiency of compound bioflocculant produced by flocculant-producing bacteria was investigated in this study. Cheap cellulose was selected as the substrate for the production of a lower cost bioflocculant. The end product of cellulose decomposing bacteria was utilized as substrate for flocculant-producing bacteria. The optimum fermentation conditions were determined as follows： the initial fermentation and fermentation time was 5 d and 1 d respectively, the temperature was 30 ℃, the rotation speed was 120 r/min, the amount of CaCl2 solution （ 10% ） was 1.5 ml/L. The flocculation test indicated that the bioflocculant had high efficiency in the removal of the turbldity raw water from Songhua River.

A critical review on flocculants and flocculation

The article critically reviews the applications of biopolymers in the area of water treatment. A number of biopolymers were reported for their flocculation behavior for treating the wastewater and making it suitable for various industrial as well as agricultural purposes via chemical alteration onto its backbone. Wastewater treatment was followed by flocculation process using standard ‘Jar test protocol’. Minute quantities of dosage were found be ideal to diminish the organic, biological and suspended loads from wastewater sample. The process of flocculation using biopolymers was also found economically suitable compared to other various processes applied in water treatment.

Synthesis and flocculation characteristics of cationic modified corncob: A novel polymeric flocculant

A novel organic polymeric flocculant was synthesized by grafting cationic etherifying monomer (3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl) trimethyl ammonium chloride (CHPTAC) onto the backbone of corncob powder (CP,F≤ 30mm). The synthetic reaction between CP and CHPTAC was initiated by hydroxyl radical made from Fenton reagent(H2O2-FeSO4). The alkalization process andsynthetic reaction conditions were optimized byva- rying several parameters affecting grafting efficiency, such as NaOH dose, monomer concentration, reaction temperature and time and distilled water dose. The synthesized cationicflocculant was characterized by elemental analysis,Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer andscanning electron microscope techniques. Itwas concluded that the backbone of CP have been grafted cationic etherifying monomer. The flocculation characteristics in 0.25% (w/v) kaolin suspensions was compared with some of thecommercial flocculants available in markets,and the results demonstrated the synthesized cationic flocculation has superiority as a novel flocculant.

Ammonium Metavanadate Fabricated by Selective Precipitation of Impurity Chemicals on Inorganic Flocculants

High purity ammonium metavanadate(NH_(4)VO_(3))is the most vital chemical to produce V2O5,VO2,VN alloy,VFe alloy and VOSO4,which have some prospective applications for high strength steel,smart window,infrared detector and imaging,large scale energy storage system.NH_(4)VO_(3)is usually produced by spontaneous crystallization from the aqueous solution due to its sharp dependence of solubility on the temperature.However,hazardous chemicals in industrial effluent,include phosphorate,silicate and arsenate,causing severe damage to the environment.In this work,these impurities are selectively precipitated onto inorganic flocculants,while the vanadate dissolved in an aqueous solution keeps almost undisturbed.Therefore,high purity NH_(4)VO_(3)is produced by the crystallization from the purified solution.By screening various flocculants and precipitating parameters,polyaluminum sulfate with an optimal amount of 50 g/L,is demonstrated to selectively remove phosphorate,silicate and arsenate,corresponding to the removing efficiency of 93.39%,97.11%and 88.31%,respectively.NH_(4)VO_(3)from the purified solution holds a purity of 99.21%,in comparison with 98.33%in the product from the crude solution.This purifying technology cannot only produce NH_(4)VO_(3)with high added value,but also reduce the environmental pollution of waste liquid.

Screening of One Microbial Flocculant for Treatment of Methyl Orange Wastewater and its Decolorization Effect

[Objective] To screen out a microbial flocculant with good decolorization effect on methyl orange wastewater,and study the effect of different cultural conditions on decolorization effect of methyl orange.[Method] Absorbance of methyl orange solution before and after decolorization was determined by spectrophotometer,and the decolorization rate was calculated to compare the effects of different cultural conditions on removal rate of methyl orange.[Result]An optimal actinomycete stain（F-1-2） was screened out,and the best cultural condition was as follows：with sucrose as carbon source and NaNO3 as nitrogen source,cultured in constant temperature oscillator at 150 r/min,30℃ for 72 h.Under the optimal condition,the removal rate against methyl orange could reach 68.4%.[Conclusion]Different culture conditions have great impact on decolorization effect of strain.

Isolation and Identification of a Flocculant Producing Strain TS-1

[Objective] The purpose was to select out and identify a flocculant producing strain which could produce high active flocculant.[Method] The strain producing high active flocculant was isolated out and purified through medium culture and the selected strain was identified through observing its culture characters and determining its physiological and biochemical property.[Result] Fourteen strains of bacteria with flocculant producing function were isolated from tested soil samples through isolation,purification and preliminary screening using dilution-spread plate method and plate streaking method.Five strains of flocculant producing bacteria showing higher flocculation activity were selected out after second screening and their flocculation rates were higher than 70%;the flocculation activity of one strain among them was still stable after multiple subculturings,its flocculation rate was always above 90% and it was marked as TS-1.TS-1 was encapsulated Gram-positive bacillus and there was no lipid in it,such as poly-β-hydroxybutyric acid.TS-1 was Bacillus amyloliquefaciens,so it was named Bacillus TS-1.[Conclusion] The strain selected out in this experiment could be used in the flocculation and biochemical treatment of wastewater from starch industry.

Biological preparation and application of poly-ferric sulfate flocculant

A novel inorganic polymer flocculant,poly-ferric sulfate（BPFS） was prepared by oxidation of ferrous sulfate using domestic Thiobacillus ferrooxidans（T·f） under acid condition.The optimal conditions for the preparation were pH value of 1.5,（NH4）2SO4 dosage of 0.5 g/L,initial Fe2＋ concentration of 45g/L,inoculum 10%,rotating speed of 120 r/min,reaction time of 5-6 d and reaction temperature of 30 ℃.Under the optimal conditions,the BPFS product with pH value of 1.5-2.2,basicity of 17.5%-22.7% and total iron content of 43.87-45.24 g/L was obtained.The application of the BPFS to three wastewaters was carried out,and the removal efficiencies of COD,decolorization and Zn2＋ by BPFS can be reached 70%,90% and 99%,respectively.The result suggests that the BPFS is an excellent flocculant for water treatment.

Microbial flocculant and its application in environmental protection

The microbial flocculant is a kind of natural bio polymer and has promising future to be used in the fermentation industry and wastewater treatment. It has been studied in details in many countries, such as U.S.A, Japan. This paper reviewed the development on microbial flocculant basic studies and applications, including flocculant production microorganisms, chemical and components of microbial flocculants, flocculation mechanism of microbial flocculants, capability of microbial flocculants and influence factors, and culture conditions for flocculant production. The application cases of microbial flocculants were also discussed.

Application of organic polymeric flocculants in centrifugal dewa-tering of oil refinery sludge

In order to evaluate the applicability of the organic polymeric flocculants(OPF) in the treatment of oil refinery sludge, experiments were conducted to show that OPF have better performance of flocculation than inorganic flocculants. Both the anionic and cationic OPF have satisfactory flocculation efficiency in oil sludge treatment, but the latter are more cost efficient. Among the over 20 types of flocculants tested, 2 OPF(CPAM 2 and HPAM 2) were selected as the treatment agents, based on their good treatment performances, oil resistance and economic feasibility. It was demonstrated in the industrial scale centrifugal dewatering experiments that the application of either CPAM 2 or HPAM 2 could achieve high treatment efficiency of the oil sludge dewatering and reduce the COD of centrifugal liquid to less than 1000 mg/L.

Security evaluation of compounded microbial flocculant

A new kind of compounded microbial flocculant (CMBF) for water and wastewater treatment has been developed through biological technology. In order to discuss its biological security, four groups of experiments, rat acute toxicity test via mouth, salmonella assay in vitro, mouse micronucleus in vivo test and teratogenesis test were conducted to evaluate its general toxicity, genotoxicity and generative toxicity. The experimental results showed that this type of compounded microbial flocculant was a substantial non-toxic substance based on the fact that LD50 value was over 10 mg/kg. The results from salmonella in vivo test and mouse micronucleus in vivo test revealed that the compounded microbial flocculant is a genetically non-toxic substance. Furthermore, compounded microbial flocculant has little effect on the growth of all the rats, and any morphologic abnormal phenomenon hasn’t appeared.

Experimental research on Phanerochaete chrysosporium as coal microbial flocculant

The flocculation effect of the Phanerochaete chrysosporium on the coal slurry were studied by orthogonal experimental method in this study.The results of research show that the P.chrysosporium has a good effect on flocculating coal slurry.The optimum combination of the experimental is the P.chrysosporium,which is cultured in 2 days,mixed with 2 mL coagulant and 2 mL broth.The flocculant is a broken liquid with pH value of 6.The hightest flocculation ratio is 93.5%.The result of FTIR shows that the biological extraction of P.chrysosporium contains a lot of acidic polysaccharides that has the effect on flocculation.Microbial flocculant molecules and particles of coal slurry could be flocculated by‘‘absorption bridge’’.

DMC-grafted cellulose as green-based flocculants for agglomerating fine kaolin particles

Novel cellulose based flocculants C-g-P(DMC) with various chain architectures are synthesized through a situ graft copolymerization. The cationic ammonium chloride group(DMC) is grafted onto cellulose by two separate inverse emulsion polymerization with γ-methacryloxypropyl trimethoxy silane(KH-570) and double bond addition reactions, which is a new and simple method to employ KH-570 as a bridge for the connection of cellulose matrix and DMC group. The effects of pH, flocculant dose, standing time on turbidity of kaolin suspensions and particle sizes have been studied systematically. In addition, the response surface methodology(RSM) study confirms that PAC and C-g-P(DMC)have synergy in turbidity removal with a higher removal efficiency of 98.32%. Moreover, C-g-P(DMC) 1 has higher removal efficiency with 96.5% at a low dosage of 0.6 mg L^(-1) and better floc properties than C-g-P(DMC) 2 and C-g-P(DMC) 3, suggesting that the length and quantity of cationic branch chains play a crucial role in Kaolin flocculation due to their dramatically enhanced bridging effects.

Application Research Status and Development Prospect of Microbial Flocculant

Microbial flocculant （MBF） is a kind of novel flocculant, which is widely used for the food industry, highly concentrated organic waste water treatment and the urban water supply technology. Due to its characteristics of superior flocculation effect, without secondary pollution to the environment and being easily degraded, MBF has been emerging as a hotspot of water treatment research in recent years. In this paper, the latest progress of the preparation of MBFs and the flocculating mechanism were presented. The practical application research of MBFs for water treatment was reviewed. Finally, suggestions and development prospect of research on MBFs were discussed.

Synthesis of chitosan-based grafting magnetic flocculants for flocculation of kaolin suspensions

A series of novel chitosan-based magnetic flocculants FS@CTS-P(AM-DMC)was prepared by molecular structure control.The characterization results showed that FS@CTS-P(AM-DMC)had a uniform size of about 21.46 nm,featuring a typical core-shell structure,and the average coating layer thickness of CTS-P(AM-DMC)was about 5.03 nm.FS@CTS-P(AM-DMC)exhibited excellent flocculation performance for kaolin suspension,achieved 92.54% turbidity removal efficiency under dosage of 150 mg/L,pH 7.0,even at high turbidity(2000 NTU)with a removal efficiency of 96.96%.The flocculation mechanism was revealed to be dominated by charge neutralization under acidic and neutral conditions,while adsorption and bridging effects play an important role in alkaline environments.The properties of magnetic aggregates during flocculation,breakage,and regeneration were studied at different pH levels and dosages.In the process of magnetophoretic,magnetic particles collide and adsorb with kaolin particles continuously due to magnetic and electrostatic attraction,transform into magnetic chain clusters,and then further form three-dimensional network magnetic aggregates that can capture free kaolin particles and other chain clusters.Particle image velocimetry confirmed the formation of eddy current of magnetic flocs and experienced three stages:acceleration,stabilization,and deceleration.