PREPARATION AND APPLICATION OF CHITOSAN/ATTAPULGITE COMPOSITE FLOCCULANT

A chitosan/attapulgite (CS/ATP) composite flocculant with excellent adsorption was prepared from chitosan (CS) and attapulgite clay (ATP). The micro morphology and structure of the composite flocculant were characterized with SEM and IR. The effect of the CS/ATP composite flocculant on the recovery of the main components from the bezafibrate (BZ) wastewater of a pharmaceutical plant was investigated. The influences of the flocculation temperature, mixing time and standing time on the flocculation effect were investigated by determining the BZ content of the recovered crude products as the evaluation index so as to obtain the best recovery process. The experimental results show that the best flocculation condition is created when we add 20 mg/mL of CS/ATP to the waste liquid, stir it at 30 °C for 10 min and allow it to stand for 30 min. Compared with the traditional recovery process, the BZ content of the recovered crude products can be increased from 47 % to 74 % when using the CS/ATP composite flocculant. This flocculant can effectively overcome the defects of single material residues and difficult separation, accelerate the settlement of impurities in a waste liquid effectively, and can be used in the field of solution clearing and waste liquid separation.