What is a focculant?

Answer 1

A floculent is a material that is cast onto the water and has the effect of attracting and taking suspended impurity's to the bottom of the water. After having added floculent to a cloudy swimming pool and leaving it to settle for a couple of day there will be a layer of cloudy sludgy looking water at the bottom which needs to be removed to wast leaving the rest of the water clear. Different floculents are used in many water cleaning application's.

The following chemicals are used as flocculants (wikipedia)

* alum

* aluminum chlorohydrate

* aluminum sulfate

* calcium oxide

* calcium hydroxide

* iron(II) sulfate

* iron(III) chloride

* polyacrylamide

* polyDADMAC

* sodium aluminate

* sodium silicate

The following natural products are used as flocculants

* Chitosan

* Isinglass

* Moringa oleifera seeds (Horseradish Tree)

* Gelatin

* Strychnos potatorum seeds (Nirmali nut tree)

* Guar gum

* Alginates (brown seaweed extracts)