Complex electrical conductivity as a new technique to monitor the coagulation-flocculation processes in the wastewater treatment of the textile Industry

Abstract

In this paper, we have used complex electrical conductivity σ*(ω) as a new key factor for monitoring the efficiency of coagulation-flocculation processes. This process was applied of textile wastewater treatment by controlling the flocculants dosages through σ*(ω) measurements. Therefore, σ*(ω) is the best parameter that allows investigating and predicting the interactions at the molecular level between the fine colloidal particles in the wastewater and cationic polymer used for coagulation-flocculation. The variations of complex conductivity were modeled by the summation of Cole-Cole relaxation process and diffusion process, and the analysis of extracted parameters from the model allowed us to predict the dosage of the cationic polymer to achieve the flocculation process. The results showed that 10 mg/L as the optimal concentration to achieve the best flocculation process.

Keywords

• Wastewater
• Cationic polymer
• Complex conductivity
• Flocculation