Question:
Where does the slurry of suspended technical-grade magnesium hydroxide solids, or milk of magnesia, go when it is added to a biological wastewater stream?

Answer:
In short, approximately three-quarters of what's added in each gallon of Mg(OH)₂ becomes water. The major balance becomes soluble salts with minor organic and inorganic compounds going to biosolids and effluent, the fractions and compositions of which are predicated by the treatment biology and operating conditions.

Some Mg⁺² ends up in the biosolids:
1) Intercellular: From divalent cation bridging 
2) Intracellular: Biological uptake, enzymatic catalysis, protein synthesis and structure, and energy regulation, production and transport — chiefly ATP.

Some Mg⁺² passes through with the wastewater effluent as soluble magnesium salts (Cl-, SO₄-, HCO₃-, etc.).

A large fraction of the OH- neutralizes H+ and ends up as water.

A lesser, but not insignificant fraction of OH- neutralizes CO₂ and ends up as bicarbonate alkalinity. Thioguard, as a treatment chemistry for odor and corrosion control, supplies cations and anions that are both beneficial to wastewater treatment processes.

For more information, visit www.thioguard.com.