Methods for optimizing water treatment coagulant dosing

A method for optimizing water treatment comprising the steps of:

• determining a dosage of pH adjusting chemicals to be added to input water to produce pH-dosed water in response to the organic content, the alkalinity, and the pH of the input water;
• determining a dosage of hydrolyzing metal salt to be added to the pH-dosed-water to produce metal-salt-dosed water, wherein:
• determining the dosage of hydrolyzing metal salt comprises a hydrolyzing metal salt flocculation test;
• the hydrolyzing metal salt flocculation test comprises a light source and a digital camera;
• the light source and the digital camera are configured to generate a first plurality of digital images of illuminated suspended floc particles in the metal-salt-dosed water;
• and
• the dosage of hydrolyzing metal salt is determined in response to the first plurality of digital images of the illuminated suspended floc particles from the digital camera;
• and
• determining a dosage of polymer coagulant to be added to the metal-salt-dosed water to produce flocculatable water wherein determining the dosage of polymer coagulant comprises:
• a first polymer coagulant flocculation test that comprises the light source and the digital camera configured for recording a second plurality of digital images of illuminated suspended floc particles in the metal-salt-dosed water that further comprises a first polymer coagulant dosage;
• and
• a second polymer coagulant flocculation test that comprises the light source and the digital camera configured for recording a third plurality of digital images of illuminated suspended floc particles in the metal-salt-closed water that further comprises second polymer coagulant dosage, wherein the second polymer coagulant dosage is different from the first polymer coagulant dosage;
• a comparison of the results of the first polymer coagulant flocculation test the results of the second polymer coagulant flocculation test.

A method for optimizing the treatment of water, the method comprising the steps of:

• determining a dosage of pH adjusting chemicals to be added to the water to produce a pH-dosed mixture in response to the organic content, the alkalinity, and the pH of the water;
• producing the pH-dosed mixture that comprises the water and the dosage of pH adjusting chemicals;
• determining a dosage of hydrolyzing metal salt to be added to the pH-dosed mixture by:
• adding hydrolyzing metal salt to the pH-dosed mixture to produce a metal-salt-dosed mixture;
• observing a first plurality of digital camera images of suspended floc particles in the metal-salt-dosed mixture;
• determining the dosage of hydrolyzing metal salt in response to the first plurality of digital camera images;
• determining a polymer coagulant dosage to be added to the metal-salt-dosed mixture by:
• adding a first polymer coagulant dosage to the metal-salt-dosed mixture to produce a first coagulant-dosed sample;
• observing a second plurality of digital camera images of suspended floc particles in the first coagulant-dosed sample;
• adding a second polymer coagulant dosage to the metal-salt-dosed to produce a second coagulant-dosed sample, wherein the second polymer coagulant dosage is different than the first coagulant dosage;
• observing a third plurality of digital camera images of suspended floc particles in the second coagulant-sample;
• selecting the polymer coagulant dosage in response to the second plurality of digital images and the third plurality of digital images.