Full-scale dissolved air flotation (DAF) equipment for emergency treatment of eutrophic water.

Eutrophication of urban rivers has caused severe environmental problems due to the pollution from point and diffuse sources. Although eutrophication can be alleviated by reducing the input to the river system, fast-treating terminal control technologies, especially under emergent situations, should be developed to reduce risks induced by eutrophication. The present study developed an emergency purification device based on dissolved air flotation (DAF) technology. After equipment commissioning and parameter optimization for applications in the field of engineering, the device was found to effectively remove total phosphorus, chlorophyll a, chemical oxygen demand, and turbidity in water by controlling the coagulant dosage and adjusting the gas-liquid mixing pump parameters. Dissolved air in water could enhance dissolved oxygen, and dissolved oxygen in polluted rivers could be raised from 0.2-2 mg/L to 3-3.5 mg/L. Removal of total nitrogen was poor because the majority of nitrogen contents were dissolved. Finally, DAF has been proven to be a promising technology due to its ease of implementation, low equipment investment requirement, and low operation cost.