Abstract
Synthetic polymers, mostly polyacrylamides (PAMs), are frequently used in the water industry to improve the performance of clarification. However, synthetic polymers may increase headloss in granular media filters, biodegrade slowly, and are potentially toxic. Alternatively, bio-sourced starch-based polymers may eliminate the drawbacks of synthetic flocculants. Similarly to poly(acrylamide‐co‐acrylic acid), carboxymethylated starch is expected to adsorb on metal hydroxides via hydrogen bonding on carboxyl groups. However, it is already known that starch, like many other polysaccharide flocculants, is required in higher dosages for its performance to be comparable to PAM. This study identified the conditions favorable to the use of an activated starch polymer as an alternative to PAM during ballasted flocculation: mixing intensity and time, coagulation pH, ballast size and chemical composition, and polymer charge density. Ultimately, under optimal conditions, only 0.66 mg of activated starch/L was required to reach the settled water turbidity objective of 1 NTU.
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