The Importance of Polyacrylamide Coagulant in Pharmaceutical Wastewater Treatment

Filter aid for pharmaceutical wastewater. Wastewater generated by pharmaceutical companies in industrial production is one of the more difficult industrial wastewaters to treat due to its complex composition, high organic content, high toxicity, deep color, high salt content, especially poor biodegradability and intermittent discharge. High molecular weight coagulants play an indispensable role in the treatment of industrial wastewater treatment. Pharmaceutical wastewater, as the name suggests, is the wastewater generated by pharmaceutical factories during the production of finished or western medicines. Pharmaceutical wastewater mainly includes wastewater from antibiotic production (biopharmaceuticals), wastewater from synthetic drug production (chemical pharmaceuticals), wastewater from Chinese medicine production, as well as washing water and flushing wastewater from various formulation production processes.

Characteristics of pharmaceutical wastewater

The production process of drugs determines the characteristics of pharmaceutical wastewater. The production of drugs relies on chemical synthesis processes and the extraction and purification of active ingredients from medicinal plants. Due to the different types of drugs, different production processes, and complex processes, there are many types of raw and auxiliary materials, strict quality control of raw materials and intermediates, low material net yield, and many by-products. As a result, pharmaceutical wastewater has large compositional differences, complex components, high pollutant levels, high COD, low BOD5 to CODcr ratio with large fluctuations, poor biodegradability, difficult-to-degrade substances, strong toxicity, intermittent discharge, large fluctuations in water volume, water quality, and pollutant types, which pose great challenges to treatment.

Methods for the treatment of industrial wastewater treatment

The methods for the treatment of industrial wastewater treatment can be summarized as follows: physical and chemical treatment, chemical treatment, biological treatment, and combination of multiple methods. Among them, coagulation is a water treatment method widely used internationally. It is widely used in the pretreatment and post-treatment processes of pharmaceutical wastewater. By adding coagulants, it causes the adsorption, neutralization, and coagulation of charges between particles, destroying the stability of colloids in wastewater, causing colloidal particles to aggregate and settle under the action of gravity. The key to efficient coagulation treatment lies in the appropriate selection and addition of high-performance coagulants, such as aluminum sulfate, polyaluminum chloride, polyferric sulfate, and polyacrylamide (PAM).

Due to the wide range of coagulant types and the complex composition of pharmaceutical wastewater, the quality of wastewater produced by different companies varies, and the selection of polyacrylamide product models is also different. Therefore, it is recommended to conduct small-scale trials when selecting coagulants for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment, and then conduct on-site testing in the factory to determine the optimal dosage and purification effect of polyacrylamide.