Does cationic polyacrylamide have effective flocculant behaviour?

They concluded that cationic and anionic polyacrylamide showed effective flocculant behaviour at pH 6 and pH 11 respectively. Leet and Somasundaran studied adsorption of neutral polyacrylamide (MW 700 kg/mol) on a series of mineral oxides including Fe 2 O 3, Cr 2 O 3, Al 2 O 3, TiO 2, SnO 2 and SiO 2 (Leet and Somasundaran, 1989).

What are high-molecular-weight polymers based on anionic polyacrylamides?

High-molecular-weight polymers based on anionic polyacrylamides (PAMs) are used as tailing flocculants in mineral processing plants. The recirculation of water recovered from the tailing thickeners to the flotation process introduces residual PAMs, which can impact the flotation of important copper sulfides like chalcopyrite, bornite, and enargite.

Does anionic polyacrylamide adsorb more strongly to iron oxide at low pH?

Anionic polyacrylamide adsorbed more strongly to iron oxide at low pH. Anionic polyacrylamide adsorption exceeded that of neutral polyacrylamide at low pH. Acrylamide-based polymers such as polyacrylamide (PAM) and their derivatives are widely used as additives to enhance solid-liquid separation in the mineral processing industry.

Is polyacrylamide adsorption on iron oxide selective?

Polyacrylamide adsorption on iron oxide is selective over silica as a function of pH. The adsorption of polyacrylamide on magnetite and hematite was compared. Anionic polyacrylamide adsorbed more strongly to iron oxide at low pH. Anionic polyacrylamide adsorption exceeded that of neutral polyacrylamide at low pH.

Does anionic polyacrylamide cause system destabilization?

Thus, it can be stated that anionic polyacrylamide causes the system destabilization. The PAM adsorption effect on the goethite aggregate size was already visible during the sample preparation. With naked eye, it was noted that the polymer accelerates the mineral aggregation. The particle size measurements confirmed the visual observations.

How is ionic polyacrylamide characterized?

Anionic polyacrylamide (PAM, Korona) was characterized by average molecular weight (Mw) equal to 13,000 kDa and 40% share of ionizable groups. Its pK a parameter was equal to 5.3, whereas the dissociation degree (α) was as follows: at pH 5—0.33, pH 5.3—0.5, pH 7—0.98, pH 9—0.99 (Szewczuk-Karpisz et al. 2018).