Speciation characterization and coagulation of poly-silica-ferric-chloride: The role of hydrolyzed Fe(III) and silica interaction

The highly efficient inorganic polymer flocculants (IPFs) of the ferric-silica system is a new and promising coagulant. Interactions between ferric species and silica play a large part in the coagulation of suspensions. These effects are quite distinct from those associated with polymeric or colloid silica. However, although these species are key to coagulation efficiency, they have not been comprehensively discussed. A new type of coagulant, poly-silica-ferric-chloride (PFSC), was synthesized by co-polymerization and characterized by time complexation spectroscopy and photon correlation spectroscopy. Compared with traditional ferric salt, the results indicated that PFSC had a higher molecular weight, lesser positive charge, lower Feb and higher Fec. The higher the Si/Fe ratio, the higher the silica and lower the silica found. The PFSC with appropriate polysilica acid not only obtained better coagulation/flocculation efficiency in turbidity removal, enhanced the flocculation index (FI) and provided less residual ferric, it also lowered water treatment costs compared to traditional ferric salt. Results showed that PFSC could remove colloid particles in water by charge neutralization and sweeping, adsorption bridging mechanism.