Comparison of Flocculation-Spectrophotometry and Streaming Current Detector Method to the Control of Flocculants for the Removal of Humic Acid

Flocculation-spectrophotometry and streaming current detector(SCD) method were investigated and compared in order to determine the optimum dosages of synthetic cationic polymers of different charge density and molecular mass for the removal of humic acid. The optimum dosage for each of the polymers was determined with the dosage at which the lowest absorbance of humic acid was shown for the former and was determined with the dosage required during charge neutralization of humic acid for the latter. It was in good agreement between both methods and there is a strong inverse correlation between the optimum dosage and charge density of the polymers, with highly charged polymer giving the lowest optimum dosage, pointing out the importance the charge neutralization. By flocculation-spectrophotometry, it was found that the absorbance of humic acid with the amount of each of the polymers dosed, changes sharply for polymers of high charge density, but changes rather broadly for polymers of low and middle charge density. Both methods showed that a stoichiometric correlation exists between the optimum dosage of each of the cationic polymers and the negatively charged humic acid.