Coagulation and dissolved air flotation as a harvesting method for microalgae cultivated in

wastewater

Luan de Souza Leite⁎, Maria Teresa Hoffmann, Luiz Antonio Daniel

Microalgae harvesting is the major bottleneck for biomass production on a large-scale. In this study,
coagulation followed by dissolved air flotation (DAF) was used as a harvesting method for Chlorella
sorokiniana cultivated in wastewater. The harvesting performance was evaluated using four
coagulants (aluminum sulphate, ferric chloride, Tanfloc SG and Zetag 8185) usually used in water or
wastewater treatment. All coagulants tested showed high flotation efficiency at different conditions
of dosage, pH and flotation velocity. The optimal doses were 10 mg L−1 Zetag 8185; 75 mg L−1
Tanfloc SG; 500 mg L−1 Al2(SO4)3, and 1000 mg L−1 FeCl3 at pH 7, which showed the maximum
efficiency of 98.4, 94.5, 95.4, 96.7% at 8 cm·min−1, respectively. Moreover, the photobioreactor
effluent quality significantly improved after harvesting tests using the optimal doses. High removal
was reached for turbidity (93.7–96.2 %), apparent color (91.7–92.3 %), TKN (90.2–92.6%), total
phosphorus (89.4–90.9 %) and TSS (88.6–92.5 %). The use of metal salts requires caution due to the
high residual concentration of iron and aluminum in the final effluent.

Microalgae harvesting from wastewater by pH modulation and flotation: Assessing and optimizing
operational parameters

Luan de Souza Leite * , Priscila Ribeiro dos Santos, Luiz Antonio Daniel

Microalgae harvesting is one of the major bottlenecks for the production of high-value microalgal
products on a large scale, which encourages investigations of harvesting methods with better cost-
benefits. Among these harvesting techniques, flotation stands out as a promising method, however
it is still minimally explored when compared to the sedimentation method. In this study, the pH
modulation followed by dissolved air flotation (DAF) was tested as a harvesting method for Chlorella
sorokiniana cultivated in wastewater. The main aims of this study were to optimize the operational
parameters of coagulation (pH, velocity gradient, and mixing time) and flotation (recirculation rate),
check their reproducibility and resilience with the variability of wastewater characteristics, and
evaluate the final wastewater quality after treatment using an optimized harvesting method.
Parameter optimization was carried out using the one-factor-at-a-time method. The optimal
parameters were a velocity gradient of 500 s 1 , mixing time of 30 s, pH 12, and 20% of recirculation
rate. High efficiencies were obtained for C. sorokiniana removal (96.5–97.9%), making it a successful
process. Moreover, the photobioreactor effluent quality was also improved significantly after
microalgae harvesting, with high nutrient removal (88.6–95.1% of total Kjeldahl nitrogen and 91.8–
98.3% of total phosphorus) and organic matter removal (80.5–86.8% of chemical oxygen demand).
The results showed the pH modulation and DAF as an effective process for wastewater treatment
and biomass harvesting. This study also indicated the importance of operational optimization, not
studied until now, in which the achieved results could be potentially applied as practical guidelines
for microalgae harvesting on a large scale.
Performance evaluation and operating strategies of dissolved-air flotation system treating poultry
slaughterhouse wastewater

I.R. de Nardi a,∗, T.P. Fuzi a, V. Del Nery b

The wastewater treatment plant at a poultry slaughterhouse (Ceu Azul Alimentos Ltda) comprises ´ a
dissolved-air flotation (DAF) system and two upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors.
Diagnosis of the primary treatment unit pointed out the saturation pressure maintained below the
recommended values and the non-recycling DAF-effluent as critical points. The DAF system
operation, using 24 mg Al3+/l, polyaluminum chloride (PAC) associated with 1.5 mg/l anionic
polymer, and the full-industrial effluent pressurization at 300 kPa, accomplished rather low average
removal efficiencies of 43 ± 15% suspended solids (SS) and 49 ± 8% oil and grease (O&G). Lab-scale
DAF studies showed that by implementing pressurization of 40% recycled DAF-effluent at 450 kPa,
using the same chemicals and dosages as in full-scale, would result in 74% SS and 99% O&G
removals. By utilizing alternative organic coagulants under proper conditions, the same removal
efficiencies would be observed, however, being limited by their costs. The improvement on the DAF
system performance would not only avoid instability in the DAF process, but would also ensure the
robustness and stability of the UASB process in response to an increase in the industrial production
and, moreover, prevent sludge washout, biological activity inhibition and scum layer formation on
the top of the reactors.

Treatment and water reuse of lead-zinc sulphide ore mill wastewaters by high rate dissolved air
flotation

A. Azevedo, H.A. Oliveira, J. Rubio

Simulated wastewaters (concentrate and tailings thickener overflows), from a future lead-zinc
flotation separation plant, were treated for the removal of target metal ions (Zn2+, Pb2+ and Cu2+)
and suspended solids (0.1–0.5 g L−1 ). The ions were adsorbed onto ferric hydroxide precipitates,
and then removed by dissolved air flotation (DAF). Best results obtained at bench scale were
validated at pilot scale, employing i. 15–20 mg L−1 Fe3+ (chloride salt); ii. Flocculation in two units
(rapid mixing - G > 120 s−1 , and slow mixing - G = 20–80 s−1 ), with 0.2–0.5 mg L−1 of flocculant (a
cationic polyacrylamide); iii. DAF at a saturation pressure of 6 bar and a 20% water recycling rate.
The removal of ions between pH 6.5 and 7.5 was very high, reaching separation efficiencies up to
95% for Pb2+ and Cu2+ ions (potential activators of ZnS); the adsorption mechanisms of the uptake
of the ions were discussed. The suspended solids (fine particles, < 44 µm) were separated by DAF
(89–96%) to concentrations < 0.5 g L−1 . For higher solid contents, the formed flocs became larger,
difficult-to-float and operating conditions required less flocculant and a higher recycling ratio. These
high separation efficiencies allowed reuse of water in the lead/zinc sulphide ore rougher flotation
stage, avoiding the activation of ZnS flotation. The pilot DAF unit (1.8–2.4 m3 h−1 flow rate)
followed an innovative design by enhancing the height/area rate (6.9 m−1 ), compared to
conventional cells; it included specially designed and oriented lamellae and a perforated plate to
control internal turbulence. These modifications allowed the enhancement of the hydraulic loading
capacity up to 15 m3 m−2 h−1 (or 15 m h−1 ), more than double the known value for conventional
DAF cells (about 7 m h−1 ). Estimations of general costs for a 300 m3 h−1 treatment plant were
calculated and the operating costs reached US$ 0.56 m−3 of treated water. It is believed that this
DAF process has a high potential for removing deleterious ions from water at a high removal rate,
recycling process water feeding ore flotation plants and minimizing effluent discharge (sometimes
polluted).

Treatment of synthetic milk industry wastewater using batch dissolved air flotation

Magno dos Santos Pereira, Alisson Carraro Borges* , Fernanda Fernandes Heleno, Luis Felipe Assin
Squillace, Leda Rita D'Antonino Faroni

Milk industry is one of the most important economy sectors in Brazil and in many countries.
However, it is also the sector that most generates environmental impacts due to the large volume of
waste generated and its high polluting load. The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficiency
of a dissolved air flotation system to treat a synthetic milk industry wastewater. In the experiment,
batch tests were carried out using a dissolved air flotation bench system with a flotation column and
utilizing the turbidity removal efficiency as response variable for the analyses. For the study of the
process, an experimental design was used to optimize the process, in two stages and in acid and
basic media separately. In the first stage, a fractionated factorial design was used to test five factors
and its range of values: Saturation pressure (4e10 bar); recirculation ratio (20e100%); pH (3e12);
coagulant doses Ferrous sulfate (0e1000 mg L1 ) and cationic organic polymer TanFloc (0e50 mg L1
). In the second stage a central rotational compound was designed for optimization of the process
and determination of the best treatment. The inferences were made using: Pareto graph; generated
models with their respective statistical parameters; contour plots and the response optimization
function. As a result of the experiment it was possible to verify that the factors that significantly (p
0.1) affected the flotation process were the saturation pressure, pH and coagulant dose. The
optimum treatment determined in the second phase was obtained in acid medium using saturation
pressure of 10 bar, recirculation ratio of 20%, pH of 4 and ferrous sulfate concentration of 250.0 mg
L1 , obtaining removal efficiencies of 97.8% (turbidity), 83.1% (color), and 87.5% (chemical oxygen
demand). The new approach used to study the optimization of the dissolved air flotation process
proved to be a useful tool to determine the relevant factors and best operating parameters for the
treatment of milk industry wastewater.

High-rate activated sludge systems combined with dissolved air flotation enable effective organics
removal and recovery

Cristina Cagnettaa,1 , Bart Saerensb,1 , Francis A. Meerburgb,1 , Stijn O. Decrua , Eddie Broedersc ,
Wilbert Menkveldc , Tom G.L. Vandekerckhovea , Jo De Vriezea , Siegfried E. Vlaemincka,d , Arne
R.D. Verliefdee , Bart De Gussemea , Marjoleine Weemaesb,1 , Korneel Rabaeya,⁎ ,1

High-rate activated sludge (HRAS) systems typically generate diluted sludge which requires further
thickening prior to anaerobic digestion (AD), besides the need to add considerable coagulant and
flocculant for the solids separation. As an alternative to conventional gravitational settling, a
dissolved air flotation (DAF) unit was coupled to a HRAS system or a high-rate contact stabilization
(HiCS) system. The HRAS-DAF system allowed up to 78% removal of the influent solids, and the
HiCS-DAF 67%. Both were within the range of values typically obtained for HRAS-settler systems,
albeit at a lower chemical requirement. The separated sludge had a high concentration of up to 47 g
COD L−1 , suppressing the need of further thickening before AD. Methanation tests showed a biogas
yield of up to 68% on a COD basis. The use of a DAF separation system can thus enable direct
organics removal at high sludge concentration and with low chemical needs.

Bioreactor consisting of pressurized aeration and dissolved air flotation for domestic wastewater
treatment

Qidian Zhang a , Shujie Liu b , Chunping Yang a,c,⇑ , Fuming Chen b,⇑ , Songlin Lu b

In this study, the effects of air pressure, dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration and carbon–nitrogen
(C/N) ratio on the treatment efficiency of a pilot-scale bioreactor consisted of pressurized aeration
and dissolved air flotation (PA–DAF) were evaluated for domestic wastewater treatment. Results
show that SS removal increased with an increased air pressure in the range of 0.10–0.50 MPa, and
COD removal peaked at 86% for 0.40 MPa. At DO concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 5.5 mg/L, NH4
+ –N removal increased to up to 99% as DO concentration was increased, while a peak for TN
removal was observed due to nitrification and denitrification. NH4 + –N removal decreased while
the C/N ratio was increased from 3 to 12, and a peak TN in removal was also observed. The optimal
NH4 + –N and TN removal efficiency achieved were 99% and 78% when the DO concentration was
2.5 mg/L and 3.5 mg/L, respectively. The NH4 + –N removal efficiency was close to 100% at a C/N
ratio of 3, and the maximal TN removal efficiency was 80% at a C/N ratio of 5. These results
demonstrated the effectiveness of the bioreactor for domestic wastewater treatment.

Separation of Oil from Wastewater by Column Flotation

LI Xiao-bing1 , LIU Jiong-tian1,2, WANG Yong-tian1 , WANG Cun-ying3 , ZHOU Xiao-hua4

A new type of device, a dissolved-air flotation column, was developed for separation of oily
wastewater. The unique design idea of the dissolved-air flotation column is the combined use of
dissolved-air flotation and column flotation. The dissolved air release occurred within the column
separation system. As a potential application the column was investigated for its performance in
separating emulsified oil droplets in oily wastewater. A high separation efficiency was obtained in a
series of tests. The aeration performance of the bubble generator used in the dissolved-air flotation
column was also studied in particular.

Conclusion

The oil removal from wastewater was successfully performed by using a dissolved-air flotation
column, which is a combination of dissolved air flotation and column flotation. The bubble
generator is the key component of the dissolved-air flotation column. The aeration performance
such as the residence time of the bubbles was investigated. The addition of flocculant and
surfactant is necessary to improve flotation. For continuous operation, the oil removal efficiency can
reach more than 90% for dissolved air pressure 0.25–0.35 MPa, feed rate υ 0.6 L/min, recycle ratio
20%–30%, sodium dodecyl sulfonate concentration 10.0 mg/L, composite coagulation reagent
concentration 15.0 mg/L cationic polyacrylamide and 30.0 mg/L poly-aluminium chloride. The
results indicate that it is feasible to use the dissolved-air flotation column to remove oil from oily
wastewater.

Fundamental characterisation of caseins harvested by dissolved air flotation from dairy

wastewater and comparison with skim milk powder

Kate Ryder a, b, * , M. Azam Ali a , Jagan Billakanti c , Alan Carne b

Disposal of milk protein-containing wastewater from the milk industry is of considerable

environmental concern. Solid material, including caseins, can be harvested in large quantities from
dairy factory wastewater using dissolved air flotation (DAF). DAF-casein is an under-utilised waste
product that has potential for added-value products. In this study, the fundamental properties of
DAF-casein were compared with skim milk and skim milk powder. The gel electrophoresis protein
migration pattern of DAF-casein had a casein profile similar to that of skim milk powder. DAF-caseins
differed from skim milk powder in their hydrophobic properties when analysed by reversed phase-
high performance liquid chromatography and partitioning in chloroform-methanol. Casein prepared
from skim milk by acid coagulation exhibited hydrophobic properties similar to those of DAF-casein,
but differed in rheological properties. This indicates that dairy industry cleaning-in-place procedures,
combined with DAF processing of the wastewater to generate DAF-casein, cause changes in protein
composition and hydrophobic properties.

Enhanced efficiency of dissolved air flotation for biodiesel wastewater treatment by acidification
and coagulation processes

Cheerawit Rattanapan a , Aneak Sawain b , Thunwadee Suksaroj c , Chaisri Suksaroj b, ⁎

A novel approach was developed to enhance the efficiency of the dissolved air flotation (DAF) for
biodiesel wastewater by acidification and coagulation. Firstly, Grease & Oil and Chemical oxygen
demand (COD) removal efficiencies of biodiesel wastewater using acidification with pure
hydrochloric acid and pure sulfuric acid at pH= 3 and 1 day retention time were more than 80%, and
50%, respectively. Secondly, Grease & Oil and COD removal efficiencies of biodiesel wastewater
using alum, polyaluminum chloride and ferric chloride coagulants without acidification at 1.0 g/L
were more than 90% and 30%. Thirdly, DAF alone and DAF with acidification could not separate
Grease & Oil from biodiesel wastewater. Thus, DAF with the acidification and coagulation is
suggested for biodiesel wastewater treatment. Biodiesel wastewater treatment by acidification
before alum coagulation allowed the alum concentration to be reduced by 60–90% compared to
treating without acidification. In addition, the efficiency of Grease & Oil removal from biodiesel
wastewater by DAF with alum and acidification was 85–95%. It can be concluded that the efficiency
of Grease & Oil removal from biodiesel wastewater using DAF with acidification and coagulation was
10% greater compared to other processes.

4. Conclusion
 The efficiency of Grease & Oil removal by DAF with alum from treated biodiesel wastewater with
acidification was 85–95%. In addition, the efficiencies of COD removal by alum and DAF with 20%
and 40% of the recycle rate were 20–30% and 40–50%, respectively and there was no remaining SS
after treatment by DAF with ≥150 mg/L of alum dose. The pre-treatment of biodiesel wastewater
treatment by acidification and coagulation could be enhanced the efficiency of DAF and more
economical for biodiesel wastewater treatment.

Treatment of meat industry wastewater using dissolved air flotation and advanced oxidation
processes monitored by GC–MS and LC–MS

Rênnio F. de Senaa,b,∗, José L. Tambosi a,b, Aziza K. Genenaa,b, Regina de F.P.M. Moreiraa, Horst Fr.
Schröder b, Humberto J. Joséa

The meat processing industry generates a large amount of wastewater which represents a serious
problem due to their high levels of organic matter which demands effective and high cost
treatments. In the present study the effectiveness of the wastewater treatment by dissolved air
flotation (DAF) followed by advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) using photo-peroxidation
(H2O2/UV) and photo-Fenton reactions were evaluated in laboratory scale. The primary treatment
was carried out in a DAF system, using optimal dosages of ferric sulfate and coagulation aids. The
efficiency of these processes was evaluated through the following parameters: COD, BOD5, color,
turbidity, total solids, fixed solids and volatile solids, both before and after the DAF and AOP
treatments. The elimination efficiency of pollutants was monitored by gas chromatography–mass
spectrometry (GC–MS) and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) analysis. The results
had shown that the DAF treatment efficiently reduced the COD, color, turbidity and total solids
contents. In addition, the advanced oxidation process increased the organic matter removal of the
treated samples. Among the AOPs, the photo-Fenton reaction reached the best overall results.
These results show that the DAF process followed by an AOP process might be efficient for meat
wastewater treatment, intended or not to water reuse purposes.

Comparative study between chemical coagulation/precipitation (C/P) versus

coagulation/dissolved air flotation (C/DAF) for pre-treatment of personal care products (PCPs)
wastewater

F. El-Gohary a , A. Tawfik a,b, ⁎

, U. Mahmoud c

For pretreatment of wastewater discharged from personnel care products (PCPs) factory, two
treatment schemes were investigated. The 1st step in both schemes was chemical coagulation
followed by precipitation in the 1st scheme and dissolved air flotation in the 2nd one. Ferric chloride
(FeCl3·6H2O), alum (Al2 (SO4)3·18H2O) and ferrous sulfate (FeSO4·6H2O) were used as coagulants.
Lime (CaO) was used as coagulant aid and for pH adjustment. For C/P, the three coagulants
investigated were found to be more or less similar in their performance. Maximum CODtotal
removal obtained by ferric chloride, ferrous sulfate and alum was 75.8± 9.7, 77.5± 9.6 and 76.7±
9.9%, respectively. Corresponding BOD5 total removal values were 78± 15.8, 78.7± 15.6 and 74.1±
19.3%, respectively. However, the optimum dose of ferric chloride and alum was 600 and 700 mg/l
while that of ferrous sulfate was 850 mg/l. Alum produced a voluminous sludge, but with the least
solids content. Ferric chloride produced compact sludge with a good settleability as reflected by the
low sludge volume index (SVI) of 76.3± 28.8 ml/gTSS. In the coagulation–dissolved air flotation
(C/DAF) experiments, the results showed that alum produced higher COD removal (77.5±3.2%) as
compared to ferric chloride (71.6±2.9%) and ferrous sulfate (67.7±3.7%). A cost evaluation of the
initial investment and the running costs using the different coagulants at their optimum operating
conditions were calculated. The investment and running cost for C/P process is higher by 27.3 and
23.7% than C/DAF.

Conclusion

• Coagulation-dissolved air flotation (C/DAF) process showed that alum produced higher COD
removal (77.5± 3.2%) as compared to ferric chloride (71.6± 2.9%) and ferrous sulfate (67.7± 3.7%).
Also, the use of alum produced less sludge volume (85± 54 ml/l) with almost half solids content
(0.59±0.16 g/l) of that produced when ferric chloride or ferrous sulfate were used

Removal of sulfate ions by dissolved air flotation (DAF) following precipitation and flocculation

J. Amaral Filho, A. Azevedo, R. Etchepare, J. Rubio ⁎

The removal of sulfate ions from wastewater is an environmental challenge faced by several
industrial sectors, such as the mining, metallurgical, chemical and petrochemical industries. Most
existing options are inefficient and costly, particularly for sulfate-bearing acid mine drainage (AMD;
coal and metal sulfides). This work focused on the precipitation of sulfate with polyaluminum
chloride at pH 4.5 at the bench scale and their separation by flotation. However, these hydrophilic
precipitates did not float via dissolved air flotation (DAF) and needed to be flocculated with cationic
polyacrylamide. The best removal of sulfate-sodium salts from solution was obtained using an
Al/SO4 2− molar ratio of 4:1 and 20 mg·L−1 of polymer flocculant. The sulfate-bearing flocs were
readily removed from the aqueous solutions by microbubbles (MBs, 30–100 μm) and nanobubbles
(NBs, 150–800 nm). The separation was very rapid and followed a first-order flotation kinetics model
with a high rate constant of 4.1 min−1 . The results were validated using AMD generated by a coal
mine with a sulfate concentration of 1753 mg·L−1 , and the anion concentration was rapidly reduced
to below the World Health Organization (WHO) standard of 500 mg·L−1 . Attempts to improve the
removal efficiency with sodium oleate flotation collector and conditioning with NBs were not
successful. The maximum removal percentage (80–82% of the feed content) appears to be limited by
the efficiency of the DAF process and the chemical equilibrium of the precipitates, which leaves
some soluble sulfate in solution. Bubbles readily attach to the flocs and become entrained and/or
entrapped in the flocs, creating aerated flocs. Because all of these mechanisms operate
simultaneously, the flotation of the flocs is very rapid, as indicated by the high kinetics rate constant.
We concluded that the DAF of sulfateloaded flocs has potential for the treatment of voluminous
sulfate-bearing effluents, including coal AMD, at high superficial rates.

5. Conclusions
 The results show that the removal of sulfate ions by dissolved air flotation with micro- and
nanobubbles strongly depends on their precipitation with polyaluminum chloride and on
flocculation with a cationic polyacrylamide. The best results were obtained with a polymer flocculant
concentration of 20 mg·L−1 , saturation pressure of 5 atm, pH of 4.5 and Al/SO4 2− molar ratio of
4:1. The kinetics data were modeled using a first-order reaction and showed that the flotation of
flocs was extremely rapid, with a rate constant of 4 min−1 . The use of this approach to remove
sulfate ions from a sample of coal-produced acid mine drainage (sulfate in feed = 1753 mg·L−1 )
rapidly reduced the anion concentration to below the 500 mg·L−1 level of the WHO standard. The
main mechanisms include the attachment of bubbles to flocs, the entrainment and entrapment of
flocs and the formation of aerated flocs that rise rapidly. The flotation of sulfate-bearing flocs using
micro- and nanobubbles has potential for the treatment of voluminous sulfate-loaded industrial
wastewaters at a high superficial loading capacity.

Purification of phosphate beneficiation wastewater: Separation of phosphate from Eshydia Mine

(Jordan) by column-DAF flotation process

S. Al-Thyabat ⁎
, H. Al-Zoubi

About (400–450) m3 /h of wastewater is discarded by Eshydia Phosphate Mine/south of Jordan.

These effluents consist of 14% solids assaying 18% P2O5; which means that 9600 m3 of fresh water
and 200 tons of valuable P2O5 are discarded daily. Therefore, recycling of these effluents will have a
significant economical and environmental impact on Jordanian phosphate industry. In this
contribution we used a combined column and Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) to recover phosphate
particles. Flotation experiments were conducted in bench scale column and DAF flotation cells.
Commercial fatty acid (DSR) was used as phosphate collector while Methyl Isobutyl Carbinol (MIBC)
and sodium silicate were used as frother, and depressor, respectively. Maximum phosphate recovery
obtained by column flotation was (20%) with 20% P2O5 at the following flotation parameters: 1 kg/t
collector dosage, 8 L/min air flow rate, and 40 ppm frother dosage. while, 83% recovery with 20.75%
P2O5 was achieved by DAF at the following operating parameters: 100 rpm mixing speed, 1000 ppm
collector dosage, 5 ppm frother dosage 500 ppm depressor dosage, pulp pH 9, and 12% recycle ratio.
Therefore the overall recovery by combined column-DAF flotation was 86.4% with 20.6%, P2O5.

Removal of heavy metals from wastewater by economical polymeric collectors using dissolved air
flotation process

Habis Al-Zoubi a,∗, Khalid A. Ibrahima, Khaleel A. Abu-Sbeihb

Dissolved air flotation (DAF) process has been widely used for many applications including waste
water treatment. For the purpose of heavy-metal removal, this study will implement several
commercial polymers as collectors in DAF process. The investigated polymers are polyvinyl alcohol,
polyethylene glycol, and chitosan which will be used as separation-enhancing agents in the air
flotation process. On the other hand, the studied heavy metals are zinc chloride, lead(II) nitrate,
manganese(II) chloride, nickel chloride, and cadmium chloride. Different parameters have been
studied in this work such as the concentration and types of collectors, modification of polyvinyl
alcohol, and the type and concentration of the heavy metals. The results showed that chitosan was
generally better than the other investigated polymers in affecting the removal of Cd (29%), Ni (27%),
Mn (31%), and Pb (29%). The removal of Zn was not consistently high for any type of polymers,
although it was less with chitosan. Polyvinyl alcohol was modified by carboxylation and the modified
polymers were found to be more effective at removing the smaller metals such as Ni (30%), and Zn
(28%), and less effective at removing the larger metals Cd (24%) and Pb (29%) at heavy
concentration of 250 ppm.

Elimination of TiO2 nanoparticles with the assist of humic acid: Influence of agglomeration in the
dissolved air flotation process

Ming Zhanga,b,c, Pascal Guirauda,b,c,∗

With recent advances in nanotechnology, environmental and health consequences of nanomaterial

disposal merit close attention. In the search for environmentally-friendly reagent, this study
investigates the use of humic acid (HA) as an assist of dissolved air flotation (DAF) in the TiO2
nanoparticle (TNP) elimination. To determine mechanisms of TNPs interacting with HA, surface
modification experiments were firstly carried out; thereafter, laboratory scaled DAF tests were
applied to remove TNPs with HA assisting. Results of surface modification experiments showed that
the zeta potential of TNP suspension system had a reversal trend due to counter ions of TNP and
anions offered by the HA stock solution. The surface modified suspension was not easy to restabilize
because of the close combination of TNPs and HA through sphere linkages or hydrogen-bonded
surface complexes. Agglomeration took place more readily along with increasing HA concentration in
the optimum dosage range (7.8-9.15 mg/L DOC). The flotation performance revealed that HA could
improve the DAF efficiency in the optimum dosage range of HA. The interaction between TNPs and
HA (Na+-humate), including surface charge neutralization (electrostatic interactions), sphere
linkages or hydrogen-bonded surface complexes, hydrophobic interactions, and van der Waals
interactions, played dominant roles.

Removal of fine oil droplets from oil-in-water mixtures by dissolved air flotation

M.R. Aliff Radzuana,b,∗, M.A. Abia-Biteo Belope a, R.B. Thorpe a

Dissolved air flotation (DAF) is often used after a primary gravity separator to enhance the quality of
wastewater, so it can be released to streams, rivers or the sea. The main aim of the DAF experiments
reported here was to measure the oil droplet removal efficiency () mostly in the range 15–80m from
oil-in-water mixtures. The DAF tank used in this investigation was a scale model of real DAF unit.
Two kinds of oil, vegetable and mineral and two types of water, fresh and salty were used, and four
other operating parameters were varied. A droplet counting and oil-in-water measuring methods
were used to estimate the . Dimensional analysis concluded that the in this experiment is a function
of eight other dimensionless groups and the experimental data has been subjected to multivariable
linear regression. The resulting correlation was found to have a root mean square error of 6.0%, but
predict outside the range zero and one. An alternative mathematical formulation was devised that
cannot predict outside the range. Regression of the data by this formulation, which had the same
number of adjustable parameters as the linear regression, was successful with a lower root mean
square error of 5.5%.

4. Conclusions

Several operational parameters were investigated to determine their effect on the oil droplet
removal efficiency from an oil-in-water mixture by using DAF. All the parameters tested were
demonstrated that DAF could provide a significant intensification to the separation performance of
oil droplets from the oil-in-water mixtures. The experiments have revealed that a better oil droplet
removal efficiency (CC and FH) can be obtained; a) At a low inlet oil concentration b) At an optimum
air saturator pressure (4 barg), which produced bubbles of the similar size as the oil droplets. c) At a
higher temperature to decrease the viscosity of the mixture. d) With oil in salty water mixture; salty
water encourages the attachment of oil droplets to air bubbles. e) With vegetable oil that has a
higher and positive spreading coefficient than lamp oil, in which greatly influenced the oil droplet
removal efficiency. A dimensional analysis was conducted using Buckingham’s Pi
(

) method with the oil droplet removal efficiencies is a function of Coil, Ws, Pr , Sr ,

r , Re, Fr, and d32/L. An inverse hyperbolic tangent correlation of the experimental data has been
successful, which can predict removal efficiency in the range of zero to one with a root mean square
error of 5.5%.

Treatment of oil-in-water emulsions by coagulation and dissolved-air flotation

A.I. Zouboulis *, A. Avranas

The treatment of oil-in-water emulsions containing n-octane (used as simulated wastewater) was
investigated by means of dissolved-air flotation jar-tests. The effect of several parameters on
flotation efficiency for separation of the emulsified oil was examined, namely, (a) the presence the
nonionic surfactant Tween 80, used for the stabilization of the emulsions, (b) the initial pH value of
the emulsions, (c) the concentration of chemical additives, such as polyelectrolytes (organic
flocculants of cationic or anionic type) or ferric chloride (inorganic coagulant), (d) the concentration
of sodium oleate (used as flotation collector) and (e) the recycle ratio. Zeta-potential measurements
were also performed in order to interpret the obtained results. The use of polyelectrolytes was not
able to effectively treat the studied emulsions, while the addition of ferric chloride and the
subsequent application of dissolved-air flotation was found very efficient. At the optimum defined
experimental conditions (recycle ratio: 30%, pH: 6, [Fe3+]: 100 mg l−1 and [sodium oleate]: 50 mg
l−1 ) more than 95% of the emulsified oil was effectively separated from an initial concentration of
500 mg l−1 . © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

4. Conclusions
This investigation has looked into the feasibility of treating an emulsified system, stabilized by the
addition of a non-ionic surfactant. The destabilization of oil-in-water emulsion is successfully
performed by the application of a combination of coagulation and dissolved-air flotation, which
shows a synergistic enhancement for the effective separation of emulsified oil. The addition of
cationic coagulant ferric chloride is necessary to allow effective agglomeration of individual droplets.
The increase of droplet size and the hydrophobic nature of agglomerates, induced by the addition of
anionic collector sodium oleate, is found to increase the effectiveness of flotation. The application of
chemical conditioning and flotation can remove a high percentage of emulsified oil from an oil-in-
water emulsion. The application of flotation treatment in jar-test laboratory apparatus resulted in
higher than 95% reduction of oil content in the treated effluent. The probable reasons for such
behavior are discussed. In order to reduce oil content from an influent emulsified oil concentration
of 500 mg l−1 to less than 30 mg l−1 , the following optimum parameters have been found: [Fe3+]
100 mg l−1 , [SO] 50 mg l−1 , pH around 6, recycle ratio 30%.

Ammonium removal from aqueous solutions by dissolved air flotation in the presence of zeolite
carrier

H. Kurama a , C. Karagüzel b, ⁎
, T. Mergan a , M.S. Çelik c

In this paper, dissolved air flotation (DAF) was examined as a possible treatment method for the
removal of ammonium ions (NH4 +) from surface water. A natural zeolite, clinoptilolite sample with
a fine particle size (b10 µm) was used as a carrier material during the flotation tests. Two types DAF
cells, batch and continuous implemented in our laboratories, were used in the flotation
experiments. Flotation tests revealed that the test loaded with 5 mg/L ammonium resulted in a
residual ammonium concentration of b0.5 mg/L with corresponding turbidity values of treated water
(b10 NTU). It was observed that the usage of carrier material with higher treatment capacity and
finer ion exchange material of higher surface area than classical ion exchangers may provide better
advantages over the classical DAF method.

Separation of oil from water by dissolved air flotation

A.A. Al-Shamrani a , A. James a,*, H. Xiao b

Synthetic industrial effluent was prepared by stabilising low concentrations of oil (Catenex 11, Shell,
UK) in aqueous dispersion with a non-ionic surfactant (Span 20) and dissolved air flotation (DAF) was
used to clarify this wastewater. Operating parameters including saturator pressure, recycle ratio,
and air to oil ratio, were investigated to find conditions that would enhance the efficiency of the DAF
separation. The zeta potential of the emulsion droplets and flocculated oil droplets was determined
and aluminium sulphate and four different cationic polyelectrolytes were used to destabilise the
system. Measurements indicated that a saturator efficiency of about 90% was achieved and it was
found that increasing the working pressure of saturator had less effect in the separation of oil
droplets than increasing recycle ratio. Optimum conditions for separation are obtained with an air to
oil ratio of 0.0075 corresponding to a recycle ratio of 10%. The zeta potential measurements indicate
that oil droplets are negatively charged between pH 5 and 10. In addition the zeta potential
measurements of flocculated oil droplets were found to depend strongly on the concentration of the
polyelectrolyte. Although an inversion of the oil droplets charge was observed even at very low
polyelectrolytes concentration. The polyelectrolytes were ineffective in enhancing the separation.
This effect can be related to the structure of the polyelectrolytes and to the adsorption mechanism.
In contrast, when aluminium sulphate was used it was found that it is important to decrease the
magnitude of zeta potential in order to decrease electrostatic repulsion so that the emulsion was
destabilised prior to flotation. Under these conditions DAF yields near complete oil separation even
at moderate working pressure and recycle ratio when the oil droplets are destabilised.

Effects of internal geometry on hydrodynamics of dissolved air flotation (DAF) tank: An

experimental study using particle image velocimetry (PIV)

Vahid Reza Fanaie, Mehdi Khiadani⁎, Thomas Ayres

Elimination of suspended particles from water and wastewater is of great importance in water and
wastewater treatment. Sedimentation is a conventional technique for the removal of these particles;
however, when it comes to emulsified oil or light density particles, sedimentation tanks need
considerable retention time and, therefore, require larger size tanks. One of the alternatives to
overcome this issue is to use a dissolved air flotation (DAF) system [1].

In DAF system, water and air are mixed in an air saturator under high pressure (300–700 kPa). The
mixture of water and air is then released into the contact zone which is exposed to atmospheric
pressure (Fig. 1). This sudden depressurization causes precipitation and produces microbubbles that
adhere to the suspended particles in the influent and raise them to the surface by buoyancy force.
The floating layer on the surface forms a sludge layer known as supernatant. The sludge layer is then
removed by a skimmer and the effluent without microbubbles and particles, known as subnatant, is
drained out from the separation zone [2,3].

Micro-bubble flow simulation of dissolved air flotation process for water treatment using
computational fluid dynamics technique

* Kyun Ho Lee a , Haedong Kim a , Jung Won KuK a , Jae Dong Chung a , Sungsu Park a , Eilhann E.
Kwon b, *

A dissolved air flotation (DAF) system has been known as one of the effective water treatments that
purifies contaminants through a buoyancy effect by attaching several micro-bubbles on their free
surface as shown in the supporting information (Fig. S1; Kwak and Kim, 2017). Since the DAF system
was firstly used to treat drinking water reservoirs in Scandinavia and South Africa in the 1960s, it has
become one of the effective water treatment processes. Its practical applications have been
implemented in water treatment, pulp and paper industries, and wastewater treatment for over 50
years.

The DAF process reveals some technical merits/ demerits as compared with the conventional
sedimentation process. The advantages of DAF are that it is very compact and has low hydraulic
detention times, high loading rates, small flocculation tanks, and lower construction costs. However,
the technical limitations are that the DAF process is not suitable for raw waters with high-density
suspended solids, and it must be protected from the weather to prevent float freezing caused by
snow and rain which leads to the settling of previously floated solids (Crossley and Valade, 2006;
Edzwald, 2007).

Oil removal efficiency forecast of a Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) reduced scale prototype using the
dimensionless number of Damköhler

Fernanda Cristina P. Rocha e Silvaa,c , Nathalia Maria P. Rocha e Silvaa,b,c , Ivison Amaro da Silvac ,
Pedro P. Ferreira Brasileirob , Juliana M. Lunab,c , Raquel D. Rufinob,c , Valdemir A. Santosb,c ,
Leonie A. Sarubboa,b,c,⁎

The development of the world industry in the last hundred years, including the production of noble
metals, phosphate for agriculture, among others, would not have been possible without the
flotation process discovery. The conventional physical processes of centrifugation and decantation
are not efficient in the removal of fine particles. However, techniques such as dissolved air flotation
(DAF) allow the appropriate treatment of difficult-to-remove contaminants such as oil contaminated
water, besides of being clean and very efficient technologies [1].

Application of dissolved air flotation on separation of waste plastics ABS and PS

Wang Hui ⇑ , Chen Xiao-lei, Bai Yang, Guo Chao, Zhang Li

Dissolved air flotation (DAF) which was used to separate mineral particles in the early 1900s is one of
separation methods in froth flotation, and a US patent was reported in 1906 for minerals separation
using pressurized aeration followed by pressure release (Sulman et al., 1906). At present, DAF is
used mainly to remove suspended and colloidal solids as well as fine-particles by decreasing their
apparent density. It is widely used in dealing with municipal sewage and purifying industrial
wastewater such as algal-rich, refinery, cutting oil/water, poultry slaughterhouse wastewater
(Teixeira and Rosa, 2006; Hami et al., 2007; Bensadok et al., 2007; De Nardi et al., 2008; Gao, 2010;
Palaniandy et al., 2010) as well as the treatment of fine-grained minerals, coal ash, low-grade slag,
etc. (Rodrigues and Rubio, 2007; Demir et al., 2008; Valderrama and Rubio, 2008). For DAF process,
bubbles are generated from a supersaturated solution of a pressurized gas/liquid mixture by
pressure release.
CFD modelling of cyclonic-DAF (dissolved air flotation) reactor for algae removal

Hong Sok Oh a,b , Seon Hong Kang b , SookHyun Nam c , Eun-Ju Kim c , Tae-Mun Hwang c,⇑

Dissolved air flotation (DAF), one of the most representative physico-chemical processing
technologies used to remove algae, is a vehicle mountable aqua-mobile freshwater lake water
treatment technology. This technology removes suspended substances or algae in aquatic
environments using physical treatment processes that employ the flotation of air. Cyclonic Dissolved
Air Flotation (DAF), a dissolved air flotation method displaying improved performance, has a
structure capable of forming twirling flows that produce microbubbles that adhere to suspended
matter and float to the surface of the water passing through the float separation tank. The Cyclonic-
DAF is an improved type of dissolved air flotation method in that it ejects floating substances
through an ejection pipe installed in the center of devices that employ it. However, such flotation
separation devices where the suspended substances (referred to as ‘‘scum”) float to the surface face
a complication where it is difficult to adjust water levels that ensure stable overflow of scum due to
the aggregation of flotation towards the center of the water surface of the cylindrical float
separation tank.

Estimation of air concentration in dissolved air flotation (DAF) systems using a simple predictive
tool

Alireza Bahadori a,∗, Gholamreza Zahedi b, Sohrab Zendehboudi c , Mohammad Bahadori d

Dissolved air flotation (DAF) is a water treatment process that clarifies wastewaters (or other
waters) by the removal of suspended matters (Wang et al., 2004; Diya’uddeen et al., 2011). Air
bubbles are introduced near the bottom of the basin containing the water to be treated. As the
bubbles move upward through the water, they become attached to particulate matter and floc
particles, and the buoyant force of the combined particle and air bubbles will cause the particles to
rise to the surface (Amato and Wicks, 2009; Crossley and Valade, 2006). The released air forms tiny
bubbles which adhere to the suspended matter causing the suspended matter to float to the surface
of the water where it may then be removed by a skimming device (Edzwald, 2007; Leppinen and
Dalziel, 2004). Thus, particles that have a higher density than the liquid can be made to float.
Particles that rise to the surface are removed for further processing as residuals, and the clarified
liquid is filtered to remove any residual particulate matter (Edzwald, 2010). DAF has been used for
several decades in drinking water treatment as an alternative clarification method to sedimentation.
It is more efficient than sedimentation in removing turbidity and particles for these type supplies.
Furthermore, it is more efficient in removing Giardia cysts and Cryptosporidium oocysts (Han et al.,
2009).

Fig. 1 shows a schematic of dissolved air flotation (DAF) system.

Like other gravity separation processes, raw water is coagulated and flocculated prior to entering
the DAF basin. The water is introduced into the contact zone ofthe basin near the floor. A baffle wall
separates the contact zone from the clarification zone and limits short circuiting. In the DAF basin, a
cloud of air bubbles called white water, typically 10–100m in diameter, adheres to floc particles,
causing them to float by reducing the net specific gravity of the floc–bubble aggregate below that of
surrounding liquid (Lundh and Jonsson, 2005). Additional details may be found in Valade et al.
(2009), Parker and Monteith (1996), Gopalratnam et al. (1988) and Steiner and Gec (1992). Effluent
turbidity declines with increasing air loading until a breakpoint is reached where the application of
additional air provides no corresponding increase in process performance. The mass concentration
of air released can be calculated from the following expression (Gregory et al., 1999; Crittenden et
al., 2005): Cb = Cr − Cfl 1 + r r (1) The air concentration in the saturator can be expressed either as
the bubble number concentration (Nb) or the bubble volume concentration (ϕb). These values can
be determined from the expressions: ϕb = Cb air (2) Nb = 1012 × 6ϕb

d3 b (3) In the above equations, Cb is mass concentration of air released, Cfl is mass concentration of
air in floc tank effluent, Cr is mass concentration of air in recycle flow and db is mean bubble
diameter. It has been found that flotation performance increases as Nb increases because there are
more collision and attachment opportunities between the bubbles and particles. Attached air
bubbles provide lower floc particle density and larger volume, producing floc particle–bubble
aggregates that have high upward velocities (Gregory et al., 1999; Crittenden et al., 2005). In view of
the above, it is necessary to develop an accurate and simple correlation which is easier than existing
approaches, less complicated and with fewer computations to predict air saturated concentration in
dissolved air flotation (DAF) systems (i.e. Cr in Eq. (1) or mass concentration of air in recycle flow).
This paper discusses the formulation of such a predictive tool in a systematic manner along with an
example to show the simplicity of the model and usefulness of such a tool. The proposed method is
exponential function which leads to wellbehaved (i.e. smooth and non-oscillatory) equations
enabling more accurate and non-oscillatory predictions and this is the distinct advantage of
proposed method.
Modeling an industrial dissolved air flotation tank used for separating oil from wastewater

J. Behina,∗, S. Bahrami b

Dissolved air flotation (DAF) is an alternative process for solid–liquid and liquid–liquid separation
whereby particles are removed by their attachment to air bubbles. The DAF process consists of a
saturator system, where water is saturated with air under pressure, and a flotation tank. The
flotation tank is divided into the contact zone and the separation zone [4]. In the contact zone, the
supersaturated water is injected into the flotation tank through a nozzle. The resultant pressure
reduction releases air from the solution as micro-bubbles, i.e., bubbles with diameters ranging from
10 to 100 m. The contact zone of a DAF reactor is the zone where suspended particles and air mix for
the first time to form stable, buoyant agglomerates. The purpose of the contact zone is to collide
particles with bubbles and attach those particles to bubbles, while the purpose of the separation
zone is to provide relatively quiescent conditions for particle-bubble agglomerates to rise to the
surface of the tank [5,6].

Evaluation of multiphase CFD models for Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) process

J.P. Rodrigues, R. Béttega⁎

The combination of this current issue with existing studies on dissolved air flotation (DAF) indicates
that DAF can be considered a process of great importance and application in the wastewater
treatment field.
A model to estimate the size of aggregates formed in a Dissolved Air Flotation unit

Mia Bondelind a,⇑ , Srdjan Sasic b , Lars Bergdahl a

Flotation is used in many industrial applications where a solid phase is to be separated from a liquid
phase. As an aid for recovery of the solid particles in a flotation unit, a gaseous phase is injected into
the liquid phase. The injected bubbles attach to the solid particles and the formed aggregates rise to
the surface in the tank where they are removed. Although general mechanisms for recovery of the
solid phase are the same in the process of flotation, there are substantial differences singling out the
diverse areas of application. Flotation units in operation can be found in, for example, water and
wastewater treatment facilities [1], paper and pulp mills [2] and in the mining industry where
minerals are separated from the ore [3]. In this paper we focus on Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF), used
for drinking water treatment. However, in our modeling, we benefit from the studies and results
obtained in the field of Dispersed Air Flotation used in the mining industry. The latter type of
flotation has been a research-intensive area for much longer than the relatively new area of flotation
used for drinking water treatment. Consequently, many flotation models originate from mineral
flotation. Dissolved Air Flotation used for water treatment has been shown to operate adequately
for handling raw water containing low-density particles, e.g. dissolved organic matter and algae.
Additionally, the process efficiently removes microorganisms such as Giardia cysts and
Cryptosporidium oocysts [4], which can cause severe infections for the consumers if not removed
from the water [5]. Generally, the substances to be removed are either dissolved in the water or of
very small sizes. Therefore, the flotation unit is typically preceded by a flocculation step where the
dissolved matter and the small particles are flocculated into larger particles, hereafter referred to as
flocs [4]. The water containing flocs is afterwards introduced into a flotation unit for the subsequent
removal of the flocs.