title: Polytitanium sulfate (PTS): Coagulation application and Ti species detection.
abstract: Interest in the development of inorganic polymerized coagulants is growing; however, there are only limited studies on the synthesis of polytitanium coagulants, which are expected to exhibit improved coagulation efficiency with better floc properties. This study presents the synthesis of polytitanium sulfate (PTS) for potential application in water purification, followed by characterization of PTS flocs and titanium species detection. Stable PTS solutions were successfully synthesized and standard jar tests were conducted to evaluate their coagulation efficiency. Electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-TOF-MS) speciation analysis revealed that a variety of mononuclear and polynuclear complexes were formed in PTS solution, indicating the polymeric nature of the synthesized coagulant. Floc characteristics were studied through on-line monitoring of floc size using a laser diffraction particle size analyzer. Results showed that PTS had a comparable or in some cases even higher organic matter and particulate removal efficiency than Ti(SO4)2. The effluent pH after PTS coagulation significantly improved toward desirable values closer to neutral pH. Properties of flocs formed by PTS were significantly improved in terms of floc size, growth rate and structure. This study showed that PTS could be an efficient and promising coagulant for water purification, with the additional benefit that its coagulated sludge can be used to recover valuable TiO2nanoparticles for various commercial applications.
authors.affiliation: Shandong Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China; Key Laboratory for Special Functional Aggregated Materials of Education Ministry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China.
authors.forename: Yanxia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia.
authors.forename: Sherub
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Phuntsho
authors.affiliation: Shandong Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China. Electronic address: baoyugao_sdu@aliyun.com.
authors.forename: Baoyu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia. Electronic address: Hokyong.Shon-1@uts.edu.au.
authors.forename: Hokyong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shon
mesh_terms: D005427:Flocculation; D053758:Nanoparticles; D013431:Sulfates / Q000737:chemistry*; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D013431:Sulfates; D014025:Titanium
keywords: Coagulation and flocculation; Floc properties; Polytitanium sulfate; Titanium species