Study of Kaolin for Synthesis of Aluminum Chloride

Aluminum chloride enhanced polyacrylamide (AlCl3-PAM) hybrid polymer has been synthesized in this study. Aluminium chloride was synthesized with polyacrylamide via free radical solution polymerization to fabricate inorganic-organic hybrid polymer (AlCl3-PAM). A redox initiation system - (NH4)2S2O8 and NaHSO3 was used to initiate the polymerization at 50ºC in aqueous medium. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FT-IR) was used to characterize aluminium chloride-polyacrylamide hybrid polymer by determining its functional groups exist in the hybrid polymer chain. Inorganic aluminium chloride salt was incorporated into the polyacrylamide to enhance the aggregation ability at kaolin particle interface. A physico-chemical method which is flocculation was used in this study to flocculate kaolin suspension. The effect of pH on the flocculation of kaolin suspension was studied between pH 5 to 7.5. The result showed the aluminium chloride-polyacrylamide (AlCl3-PAM) hybrid polymer was able to remove >99% of turbidity at pH 6.5 using 5 mg/L of dosage.