How to judge whether the treatment effect is achieved or the formula needs to be adjusted during the use of water treatment chemicals?

The use of water treatment chemicals is directly related to the stability and safety of the treated water quality. Whether it is industrial wastewater, urban domestic sewage or drinking water source purification, chemical agents are required to achieve the synergistic effects of flocculation, precipitation, disinfection, descaling and other links. A preliminary judgment can be made by observing the physical changes in the water treatment process. The formation of flocs after the addition of flocculants is an intuitive indicator. If the flocs are formed quickly, the structure is dense and can settle quickly, it means that the reaction is relatively sufficient. On the contrary, if the flocs are loose, floating or difficult to settle, it may mean that the agent is not added enough, the reaction time is not enough, or the type of impurities in the water has changed. In this case, it is necessary to consider adjusting the dosage appropriately or choosing a more suitable type of agent to improve the coagulation effect.
The treatment effect of chemicals can be judged by the changes in water quality indicators. Common test items include turbidity, chromaticity, pH value, chemical oxygen demand, heavy metal ion concentration, etc. If the key parameters of the water sample change slowly or even have no obvious improvement after treatment, it means that the current formula does not match the water quality, and there may be low agent reaction efficiency or insufficient mixing. On the contrary, if the water quality changes rapidly and tends to be stable after the addition of the agent, the current dosage can be considered to be basically applicable.
In some scenarios with high water quality requirements, such as reverse osmosis membrane pretreatment or food-grade water purification, online detection equipment is often required to monitor water quality changes in real time. These monitoring systems can record the fluctuation trend of various parameters, thereby providing data support for judging the effect of the use of the agent. When the monitoring system shows that a certain indicator deviates from the target value for a long time, or fluctuates greatly under the same working conditions, it is necessary to re-evaluate the agent formula, the location of the dosing point or the stirring efficiency.
The consumption of agents during operation is also a reference dimension. If the agent consumption continues to rise during the treatment of a unit of water volume, it may mean an increase in pollutant load, or it may be that the agent reaction efficiency is reduced, resulting in repeated dosing, which in turn prompts the need to re-evaluate the formula or switch the treatment process. On the contrary, if the long-term dosage remains unchanged but the water quality improvement effect decreases, it may also be caused by the weakening of the agent activity or storage failure.
In addition to the technical basis for judgment, on-site management experience is also an important link that cannot be ignored. Skilled operators can often rely on their long-term experience to judge whether the agent is suitable by observing the coagulation and sedimentation effect, water sample color, foam and other details. For example, if the odor persists or the elimination time is prolonged when the disinfectant is used, it may indicate that the dosage is insufficient or the location of the dosing point is unreasonable. Such experience judgment can be used as a reference for real-time adjustment to improve the overall treatment efficiency.
Small tests or simulation experiments should also be conducted regularly. By fine-tuning the agent ratio under experimental conditions and simulating the reaction effects of different water quality backgrounds, engineers can make on-site adjustments more based on evidence and avoid the waste and safety risks caused by blindly increasing the dosage or changing the agent.