Effects of solution pH and synthetic method on destabilization process of polytitanium-silicate-chloride

Effect of solution pH on coagulation performance and flock properties of a novel inorganic polymer coagulant-polytitanium-silicate-chloride (PTSC) in humic acid-kaolin water treatment was investigated in this work. PTSC was synthesized by two approaches: composite and co-complexion, denoted as PTSCm and PTSCc respectively. The effect of the synthetic method was also considered. Results indicated that turbidity and DOM removal were improved by addition of polysilicic acid, especially under acidic condition. PTSCc achieved slightly better DOM removal than that of PTSCm. Flocks formed under acidic condition was smaller than those form under alkaline condition. In addition, flocks formed by PTSCc were larger than PTSCm flocks. Results also indicated that flock strength and recovery ability was slightly improved by the addition of PSiA. Moreover, under acidic condition, PTSC flocks had larger fractal dimension with more compact structure, especially for PTSCm flocks. In contrast, they were looser compared with PTC flock, especially for PTSCm flocks under neutral and alkaline conditions.