ABSTRACT
Polyelectrolytes and other polymers with active sites find numerous applications in water treatment and pollution control, including the related aspects of water conservation, water recovery, and water conditioning for subsurface injection, such as oil field well drilling and water-flooding processes. Concentrated attention has been given to the evaluation of modified natural polymers and synthetic polyelectrolytes in the broad areas of flocculation, dispersion, and scale control, as related to systems using or recovering water or in which water is treated for pollution control. W. E. Zimmie, a marine architect, conceived the novel approach of adding a polyelectrolyte which would penetrate, disperse, and suspend caked mud in fluffy, flocculant particles; being less viscous, these could be pumped out with ballast water. Resulting clean surfaces responded better to corrosion inhibition than did those of similar systems conditioned by natural organics, modified natural organic polymers and synthetic polyelectrolytes.
