The Efficiency of Coagulants in Water Treatment in the Pulp and Paper Industry in the North

Water treatment processes at a pulp and paper mill were studied. Weaknesses of the water purification scheme on the wastewater filter treatment facilities of the pulp and paper mill of Arkhangelsk region are revealed: influence of water quality seasonal fluctuations on the purification efficiency, content of residual aluminum, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the treated water. In order to improve the water treatment quality, it was offered to replace the used reagent with one of the modern coagulants. The experiment was made under the laboratory conditions by the procedure of trial coagulation of the Northern Dvina river water at a temperature about 15-20 °C. Samp ing, definition of initia parameters of water quality, and control of residual iron and aluminum, chromaticity, рН, COD were carried out by the standard methods. The initial river water had high chromaticity, low turbidity, low alkalinity, and high content of organic natural compounds. Reagent application conditions and the influence of a reagent dosage on рН were studied. The usage efficiency of reagents based on polyaluminum chloride (PAX XL100, UltraPAC-V1, UltraPAC-V2, PAC), aluminum sulfate and ferric salt - Ferix-3 is defined. Comparative analysis of coagulant efficiency was made between the coagulants and with aluminum sulfate (AS) applied according to the standard scheme. Ferix-3 coagulant usage in suboptimal conditions (low рН values, insufficient or excess dosage of reagent) leads to increase in chromaticity of the treated water by several times in comparison with the initial parameters. AS usage leads to the significant decrease of water pH because of its low alkaline water supply, at the same time the coagulation efficiency decreases. It is important to increase alkaline reagent dosage in response to this problem. Experimental data confirms high efficiency of treatment with polyaluminum chloride (PAC) in comparison with other reagents. The relevance of replacement AS by PAC in water purification with high chromaticity, low turbidity and alkalinity, and high content of natural organic compounds is approved.