• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.39 no.12
• /
• pp.689-697
• /
• 2017

As a fundamental study to apply the new flocculation method using ballast in water treatment process, the optimal conditions for general and ballast coagulant dosage, and pH, which are known to have a significant influence, were derived by response surface methodology. Poly aluminum chloride (PAC) and magnetite ballast were used as a general coagulant and ballast, respectively. Coagulation experiments were performed by jar-tester using the kaolin based synthetic water. The effects of three independent variables (pH, PAC, and ballast) on response variables (turbidity removal rate and average settling velocity of flocs) and the optimum condition of independent variables to induce the optimum flocculation were obtained by 17 experimental conditions designed by Box-Behnken procedure. After performing experiments, the quadratic regression model was derived for each of response variables, and the response surface analysis was conducted to explore the correlation between independent variables and response variables. The $R^2$ values for the turbidity removal rate and the average settling velocity were 0.9909 and 0.8295, respectively. The optimal conditions of independent variables were 7.4 of pH, 38 mg/L of PAC and 1,000 mg/L of ballast. Under these conditions, the turbidity removal rate was more than 97% and the average settling velocity exceeded 35 m/h.