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Evaluation of cationic polyacrylamide-based hybrid coagulation for the removal of dissolved organic nitrogen

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Abstract

Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) is an important component of aquatic environment of which amount impacts water quality. Thus, removal of DON has attracted wide attention. At present, it is difficult for common coagulation to remove DON from the aquatic environment. The cationic polymers can help to improve the removal efficiency of DON to some extent, but the underlying mechanism of the ascension is not clear. In order to grasp its removal behavior and further improve the removal efficiency of DON in the future, we evaluated the effect of a hybridized coagulant of polyacrylamide with iron-based coagulant on removal of aquatic DON. A higher floc growth rate (119.82 μm/min) and recovery factors (26.96) were found in the hybrid coagulation. The parameters affecting the DON and the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) included the molar ratio of Zn to Fe (nZn/nFe), CPAM content, and molar ratio of OH to Fe (nOH/nFe): nZn/nFe had a larger influence in DON removal than CPAM content; CPAM had a larger influence in the DOC removal; nOH/nFe played a moderate effect between CPAM and nZn/nFe. Mutual effect of hybrid coagulants indicated the colloidal species to be helpful in enhancing DOC and DON removal. Other parameters affecting coagulation performance included the pH: the estimated maximum DON removal efficiency occurred at pH 6, DOC removal efficiency at pH 8. The above results found in this study showed that DON removal was affected by the ingredient and the species composition of the hybrid coagulant, and the water environmental parameter. The enhanced efficiency of DON removal in the presence of CPAM was mainly attributed to the increased adsorption-bridging and sweep-floc.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51408215) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation funded project (No. 2017M622578). Thanks for Dr. Zhang Chen (Hunan University of Science and Technology) for his help with flocs pre-treatment.

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  1. Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Shale Gas Resource Utilization, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, China

    Guocheng Zhu, Junfei Liu & Yongning Bian

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  1. Guocheng Zhu
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  2. Junfei Liu
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Correspondence to Guocheng Zhu.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Zhu, G., Liu, J. & Bian, Y. Evaluation of cationic polyacrylamide-based hybrid coagulation for the removal of dissolved organic nitrogen. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 14447–14459 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1630-1

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