Purification and characterization of Al13 species in coagulant polyaluminum chloride

Nano-Al-13 was separated and purified by four methods to investigate its characteristic, and was analyzed by Al-Ferron timed complexation spectrophotometer, Al-27-NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Coagulation efficiency of nano-Al-13, polyaluminum chloride (PAC), and AlCl3 in synthetic water were also investigated by jar test. The dynamic process and aggregation state of kaolin suspensions coagulating with nano-Al-13, PAC, and AlCl3 were also investigated. The experimental results indicated that the efficiency of gel column chromatography method was the highest for separating PAC solution with low Al concentration. Ethanol and acetone method was simple and could separated PAC solution with different Al concentrations, while silicon alkylation white block column chromatography method could separate PAC solution only with low Al concentration. The SO42-/Ba2+ displacement method could separate PAC solution with high Al concentration, but extra inorganic cation and anion could be introduced into the solution during the separation. The coagulation efficiency and dynamic experimental results showed that nano-Al-13 with a high positive-charged species was the main species of electric neutralization in coagulation process, and it could reduce the turbidity and increase the effective particles collision rate efficiently in coagulation process. Its coagulation speed and the particle size of coagulant formed were of greatest value in this study.