Aluminum formate (AF): Synthesis, characterization and application in dye wastewater treatment.

ABSTRACT

Aluminum formate (AF), a degradable and non-corrosive coagulant, was synthesized from aluminum hydroxide and formic acid. Polyamidine (PA), as a coagulation aid, was combined with AF for dye wastewater treatment. AF was characterized by XPS, FT-IR, viscosity, zeta potential, mass spectrum and XRD, and the flocculation properties of the dual-coagulation system were characterized by FT-IR and SEM. The results showed that COOH, Al2O3-Al and O2-Al bonds were formed in the AF synthesis process, and AF had a higher molecular weight and higher charge neutralization ability than PAC. The hydrolysates of AF were determined to contain Al13 Al11 and Al2, and the components of AF were confirmed to comprise a mixture including aluminum formate (C3H3AlO6) and its hydrate. When the color removal efficiency reached 100% in jar tests, the optimized dosage of AF/PA was 18.91/0.71mg/L, while the optimized dosage of PAC/PA was 21.19/0.91mg/L. According to the variance analysis, the interaction between AF/PA and PAC/PA were insignificant in macroscopic view. FT-IR spectrum indicated AF captured pollutant by means of CCO bond, PAC captured pollutant by δ CH, CC and δ CH. Overall, although the coagulation mechanism of AF was different from that of PAC, AF/PA showed better coagulation efficiency than PAC/PA in dye wastewater treatment.