Dissolved air flotation (DAF) was evaluated for thickening of the sludges from a water
treatment plant which uses DAF. Solid flux theory for gravity thickening was applied to
the solid flux of DAF sludge. The higher the polymer dosage, at fixed solid
concentration, the greater the rising velocity becomes. When applied with solid flux
equations, a similar relationship to that of gravity thickening has been found.
However, the values were much higher than in gravity thickening, because both the inflow
solid concentration and the floating velocity were higher than for settled sludge. With
this result, the proper dosage of polymer could be derived from the relationship
between total solid flux and withdrawal velocity of DAF sludge.