The flocculation of kaolin suspensions with cationic polyacrylamides of varying molar mass but the same cationic character

Cationic polyacrylamides of varying molar masses but of similar charge density were tested as flocculants for kaolin suspensions. Flocculant performance was assessed by determining the extent of polymer adsorption, the subsidence rates of the flocculated suspensions and the residual turbidities of the resulting supernatants. The sol concentration was kept constant at 20 g kaolin dm⁻³ in 10⁻³ mol dm⁻³ NaCl solution; pH was varied from 3 to 10. It was found that the subsidence rates did not reflect the trends of polymer adsorption. Polymer adsorption decreased while subsidence rates increased as the molar mass of the polymers increased. Increased adsorption of polymer with pH did not result in higher rates of subsidence. The principal effect of the quaternary cationic charge is to produce a partially extended polymer molecule at all values of the pH. The positive polymeric charge is of secondary importance to the length of the molecule in determining the efficacy of flocculation by polymer bridging and does not counteract the increasing self-repulsion of the clay particles with increasing pH which produced poor floc formation.