The flocculation activity of commercially available anionic poly (acrylamide‐co‐acrylic acid), p (AAm‐co‐AA) has been significantly improved, without any inorganic coagulant aid. The effect of three types of surfactants, anionic sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES) (Palm Epimen), nonionic cocamide DEA, zwitterionic amphoteric Amphotensid B5, and one organic cation, trimethylammonium bromide (TAB) on coagulation/flocculation performance have been investigated. The performance has been analysed in terms of turbidity, total suspended solid (TSS), total iron (TI) content, and BTEX for treating two kinds of industrial wastewater, produced water (PW) and starch water. We have shown that adding a small amount of each of the studied surfactants, and especially cationic TAB, significantly increases the coagulation/flocculation performance without modifying pH levels. A combination of low dosage of flocculant (310 ppb) and TAB (310 ppb), after 5 minutes, presented 88%, 81%, and 62% reduction in turbidity, TSS, and TI content, respectively, whereas by using 5 ppm of flocculant alone (16 times more), only 76%, 75%, and 43% removal was obtained. The results reveal that TAB performs as an efficient coagulant booster. Compared with regular inorganic coagulants, it is more cost‐effective, reduces the consumption of treatment chemicals, and the pH‐dependency of contaminants removal.

Hydroxamic acid containing organic polymeric flocculants were synthesized from three different commercially available polymeric flocculants, such as WAS590, Zetag 4100, and Zetag 4110. These three polymers are acrylamide and acrylic acid‐based copolymers with different molecular weights and anionic charge density. The conversion of the amide groups to hydroxamic acid groups in the polymers was carried out by the reaction with hydroxylamine at pH 14. The modified polymers were characterized for structure and composition by elemental analysis, FTIR, and NMR. The chelation activity of the modified polymers was determined toward iron (Fe3+) and copper (Cu2+). The flocculation activity of the non‐modified and modified polymers was evaluated toward produced water and scrubber water. The results showed that all the modified flocculants exhibit better chelation with Fe3+ and Cu2+. In addition, the modified polymers display improved flocculation effect on tested wastewater.