Flocculation performance of epichlorohydrin-dimethylamine polyamine in treating dyeing wastewater

Epichlorohydrin-dimethylamine polymers with different intrinsic viscosity (η) and cationicity (τ) were synthesized. The flocculation performance and mechanism of these polymers in the removal of the reactive and disperse dyes from synthetic wastewater was investigated in terms of flocculation dynamics and color removal efficiency. The polymer flocculation efficiency was compared with that of polyaluminum chloride (PAC) and a composite flocculant based on polyaluminum chloride-epichlorohydrin-dimethylamine polyamine. The results showed that epichlorohydrin-dimethylamine polymer was effective over a pH range of 2–10 for the reactive and disperse dye removal (Reactive Brilliant Red and Disperse Yellow dyes). Epichlorohydrin-dimethylamine polymer with the highest η and τ gave the best reactive dye removal efficiency, and its adsorption-bridging and electric neutralization ability played important roles in the flocculation process. The higher the η viscosity of the epichlorohydrin-dimethylamine polymer, the better the flocculation performance of epichlorohydrin-dimethylamine polyamine, and stronger adsorption-bridging ability was obtained for removing the disperse dye from dyeing wastewaters. Epichlorohydrin-dimethylamine polymer achieved better decolorization performance when used together with PAC.