title: Demonstration of FBRM as process analytical technology tool for dewatering processes via CST correlation.
abstract: The current challenges associated with the design and operation of net-energy positive wastewater treatment plants demand sophisticated approaches for the monitoring of polymer-induced flocculation. In anaerobic digestion (AD) processes, the dewaterability of the sludge is typically assessed from off-line lab-bench tests - the capillary suction time (CST) test is one of the most common. Focused beam reflectance measurement (FBRM) is a promising technique for real-time monitoring of critical performance attributes in large scale processes and is ideally suited for dewatering applications. The flocculation performance of twenty-four cationic polymers, that spanned a range of polymer size and charge properties, was measured using both the FBRM and CST tests. Analysis of the data revealed a decreasing monotonic trend; the samples that had the highest percent removal of particles less than 50 microns in size as determined by FBRM had the lowest CST values. A subset of the best performing polymers was used to evaluate the effects of dosage amount and digestate sources on dewatering performance. The results from this work show that FBRM is a powerful tool that can be used for optimization and on-line monitoring of dewatering processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cobbledick
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: latulippe@mcmaster.ca.
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Latulippe
mesh_terms: D002623:Chemistry Techniques, Analytical; D005427:Flocculation; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers
keywords: Capillary suction time (CST); Dewaterability; Focused beam reflectance measurement (FBRM); Process analytical technology (PAT) tool