In this work, the adsorption performance of a novel chitosan-based flocculant (Chi-g-CPAM) and a cationic flocculant (CPAM) onto the kaolinite surface as well as the interaction mechanisms have been investigated by settling tests, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D). When the KCl concentration of the solution altered from 1 mM to 100 mM, the settling rate of kaolinite suspension using CPAM deteriorated from 2.73 m/h to 1.97 m/h. However, the Chi-g-CPAM exhibited salt resistance as the settling rate changed slightly from 2.34 m/h to 2.44 m/h. From the QCM-D results, the Δ f of CPAM onto silica sensor changed from − 3.6 Hz to − 33.6 Hz and -Δ D /Δ f × 10 6 increased from 0.167 to 0.223, confirming that the CPAM layer adsorbed on the silica surface was thicker and more dissipative in 100 mM KCl solution. Meanwhile, the Δ f of Chi-g-CPAM onto silica sensor changed from − 14.3 Hz to − 33.9 Hz. The conformation of Chi-g-CPAM layer changed slightly as the -Δ D /Δ f × 10 6 increased from 0.174 to 0.186. From the AFM measurements in 1 mM and 100 mM KCl solution, the distance of adhesion forces between the silica probe and CPAM expanded from approximately 20 nm to around 50 nm, and the adhesion force changed from 1.9 nN± 0.1 nN to 21.3 nN± 0.1 nN. The interaction forces with a long range (∼100 nm) maintained at about 3 nN between the silica probe and Chi-g-CPAM. Such difference was mainly attributed to the steric hindrance effect originating from the shorter molecular chain of Chi-g-CPAM. In 100 mM KCl solution, the CPAM molecules with long chains had a more coiled conformation than Chi-g-CPAM, which resulted a train-like flat adsorption conformation and larger adhesion, and formed a loose and thick polymer layer of CPAM in high salinity. The insights into the flocculating performance in varying salinity solutions of CPAM and Chi-g-CPAM will contribute to the molecular design of chitosan-based flocculants for efficient wastewater treatment .
This study presents a comparative study of the flocculation behavior of kaolinite induced by chitosan-graft-poly(acrylamide-dimethyl diallyl ammonium chloride) (Chi-g-CPAM) and a commercial cationic polyacrylamide (CPAM). The flocculation behaviour was characterised in terms of both flocculation kinetics and the corresponding morphology changes during flocculation. Both Chi-g-CPAM and CPAM were grafted from silica wafers by means of atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) tests were conducted. The equilibrium time flocculated by Chi-g-CPAM was found to be 0.46 times as that of CPAM, together with a larger total mass of kaolinite layer. The flocculation behaviour by Chi-g-CPAM can be well captured by a pseudo-first-order model. In contrast, the presence of CPAM leads to a more complex kinetics. A relatively larger fitting slope (0.4663) was obtained at the initial stage but the fitting slope droped to 0.2026 after 800 min, indicating a densification process caused by CPAM. The flocculation kinetics of CPAM can be captured by the Elovich model for the inital stage but the combination of pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models for the latter stages, which can be attributed to the long chain of CPAM. With a dosage of 75 g/t, the settling test with Chi-g-CPAM exhibits the same turbidity in the supernatant but a smaller layer thickness of the settlement compared to CPAM. The study enables a better understanding of the flocculation behavior and contributes to the development of efficient flocculants in mineral processing and tailings treatment.
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