How to Judge Excessive PAM Dosage: Problems, Causes, and Solutions

In the sewage treatment process, Polyacrylamide (PAM), as an important flocculant, is widely used to enhance water quality. However, excessive PAM dosage often occurs, which not only affects sewage treatment effectiveness but may also have adverse environmental effects. This article will explore how to identify excessive PAM dosage issues, analyze their causes, and propose corresponding solutions.

Symptoms of Excessive PAM Dosage

When excessive PAM is added, the following issues may arise:

Poor Flocculation Effect: Despite increased PAM dosage, water remains turbid, and the flocculation effect is inadequate.

Abnormal Sedimentation: Sediment in the tank becomes fine, loose, and difficult to settle.

Filter Clogging: Excessive PAM flocculant increases water viscosity, leading to filter and pipe clogging, necessitating frequent cleaning.

Deterioration of Effluent Water Quality: Effluent quality significantly declines, with pollutant levels exceeding standards. Excessive PAM affects water molecular structure, elevating COD and BOD content, reducing organic matter degradation rates, and worsening water quality. PAM may also impact water microorganisms, causing odor issues.

Reasons for Excessive PAM Dosage

Lack of Experience and Understanding: Operators lack scientific PAM dosing knowledge and rely solely on limited experience.

Equipment Problems: Metering pump or flow meter failure or error results in inaccurate dosing.

Water Quality Fluctuation: Significant incoming water quality fluctuations make PAM dosage control challenging.

Operational Errors: Operator mistakes or recording errors lead to excessive dosage.

Solutions

To address excessive PAM dosage, consider the following measures:

Strengthen Training: Provide operators with professional training to enhance their understanding and operational proficiency in PAM dosing. Proper PAM dosage ensures optimal flocculation effects.

Optimize Equipment Maintenance: Regularly inspect and maintain metering pumps, flow meters, and other equipment to ensure accuracy and reliability.

Enhance Water Quality Monitoring: Increase water quality monitoring frequency to promptly identify incoming water quality fluctuations.

Establish Operating Specifications: Develop detailed operating procedures outlining PAM addition steps and precautions.

Introduce Intelligent Control: Implement an intelligent control system for automatic PAM dosing to minimize human error.

Adjust Dosage Timely: Based on water quality monitoring and actual operations, adjust PAM dosage promptly to maintain stable flocculation effects and effluent water quality.

Strengthen Communication and Collaboration: Foster communication and collaboration among departments to ensure seamless information flow and jointly address excessive PAM dosage issues.

Summary and Suggestions

To prevent excessive PAM dosage, it is essential to carefully monitor PAM addition in sewage treatment. Dosage should be observed and analyzed from various perspectives, and professionals should promptly identify and address problems. To mitigate excessive PAM dosing, consider strengthening training, standardizing operations, optimizing equipment maintenance, enhancing water quality monitoring, and introducing intelligent control systems. Through these measures, PAM dosage can be effectively controlled, sewage treatment effectiveness improved, and environmental quality safeguarded.