Terpolymers and use thereof are provided comprising one or more nonionic monomers, one or more anionic monomers and one or more cationic monomers, These terpolymers and compositions containing may be used as flocculants, for example, for treating tailings, such as oil sands tailings, to facilitate solid-liquid separation, for example, in order to efficiently recycle water and/or to reduce the volume of tailings which may be transferred to a tailings pond and/or to a dedicated disposal area.

A water treatment apparatus using a lamella structure according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a first treatment tank which includes a plurality of inclined plates and is configured to pass water subject to treatment between the inclined plates adjacent to each other and a second treatment tank which is installed at a rear end of the first treatment tank to accommodate the water subject to treatment and into which bubbles are supplied, wherein the plurality of inclined plates include positive electrode plates and negative electrode plates that are alternately arranged, and the water subject to treatment passes between the positive electrode plate and the negative electrode plate.

A method of separating sludge which involves adding an insoluble mineral colloidal suspension into an industrial sludge to destabilize the industrial sludge and separating destabilized components of the industrial sludge. The insoluble mineral colloidal suspension includes magnesium hydroxide. In an alternative embodiment dry finely divided magnesium hydroxide can be added and then dispersed into an industrial sludge. Conventional flocculants and/or coagulants can also be added. Conventional physical separation processes can be used to separate the destabilized industrial sludge.

A method of coagulation sedimentation process for water to be treated, including a process of selecting the G.sub.R value and T.sub.R value that allow energy consumption for rapid agitation to be reduced and turbidity of sedimentation-treated water to be lowered. The method including: a step of injecting an inorganic coagulant into the water to be treated and a rapid agitation step in which injection is carried out, by first setting the same value of G.sub.R.Math.T.sub.R with respect to the G.sub.R value in a range of 150 s.sup.1 to 2000 s.sup.1 and the T.sub.R value in a range of 1 minute to 5 minutes, which are ranges commonly employed in the prior art, and then selecting the G.sub.R value with a smaller numerical value than the G.sub.R values in this range, and selecting the T.sub.R value with a large numerical value that is longer than 10 minutes.

A method of separating sludge which involves adding an insoluble mineral colloidal suspension into an industrial sludge to destabilize the industrial sludge and separating destabilized components of the industrial sludge. The insoluble mineral colloidal suspension includes magnesium hydroxide. In an alternative embodiment dry finely divided magnesium hydroxide can be added and then dispersed into an industrial sludge. Conventional flocculants and/or coagulants can also be added. Conventional physical separation processes can be used to separate the destabilized industrial sludge.

An automated waste water treatment system includes a collection tank constructed to hold waste water, a first flow line connected to the collection tank to output the waste water from the collection tank, an electrocoagulation unit that receives the waste water and outputs the waste water as coagulated waste water to a flow line, a polymer dosage tank to provide a polymer dosage into the flow line where the polymer dosage mixes with the coagulated waste water to produce and output flocculated waste water. A clarifier connected to the flow line receives the flocculated waste water and produces sludge-free waste water and concentrated sludge, a series of filters to output filter-treated water, and an ultrafiltration system that receives filter-treated water and outputs ultrafiltration-treated water to a reverse osmosis system.

An automated waste water treatment system includes a collection tank constructed to hold waste water, a first flow line connected to the collection tank to output the waste water from the collection tank, an electrocoagulation unit that receives the waste water and outputs the waste water as coagulated waste water, a polymer dosage tank to provide a polymer dosage to the coagulated waste water to produce and output flocculated waste water. An air grid of the electrocoagulation unit, the latter housing a plurality of electrodes, increases the lifespan and efficiency of the electrodes to perform electrocoagulation of the waste water. A clarifier connected to the flow line receives the flocculated waste water and produces sludge-free waste water and concentrated sludge, a series of filters to output filter-treated water, and an ultrafiltration system that receives filter-treated water and outputs ultrafiltration-treated water to a reverse osmosis system.

In an insoluble material-generating apparatus, an iron salt and/or an aluminum salt, and a cationic polymer flocculant, are added to waste water containing dissolved substances to generate insoluble material. To the insoluble material-containing waste water, an anionic polymer flocculant is added, after which the waste water containing the anionic polymer flocculant and the insoluble material is stirred in a granulating flocculation precipitation tank, the insoluble material is granulated, and solid-liquid separation of the generated granulated material is performed to obtain treated water. The amount of the iron salt or the aluminum salt added is an iron or aluminum concentration of at least 0.4 mmol/L, and the cationic polymer flocculant and the anionic polymer flocculant are added so that the product of the cationic polymer flocculant concentration and the cationic group percentage is equal to or less than the product of the anionic polymer flocculant concentration and the anionic group percentage.

A method for treating a wet-painting booth circulation water, includes, into somewhere along a path for a wet-painting booth circulation water supplied from a water tank to a painting booth for collecting an unapplied paint and then returned to the water tank, adding a treatment agent to a wet-painting booth circulation water so as to detackify the unapplied paint collected in the circulation water, wherein the treatment agent includes a cellulose acetate solution.

A method for treating water, the method including adding, as coagulants, a polymer compound having a phenolic hydroxyl group and an iron-based coagulant to water to be treated, filtering the coagulated water with a clarification filter, and subjecting the filtered water to a reverse osmosis membrane treatment, wherein the addition of the coagulants is controlled such that a ratio between an addition concentration of the polymer compound having a phenolic hydroxyl group and an addition concentration of the iron-based coagulant is constant.