a laboratory comparison of clay / polymer ; clay / amine ; and melamine / formaldehyde , polyvinyl alcohol , styrene - acrylate detackifiers was made . each of the systems sludge was dewatered utilizing as a water conditioner acrylamide / dimethylaminoethylmethacrylate methylsulfate quat . the results are provided below : table i______________________________________ melamine - clay / formaldehydechemical program polymer clay / amine styrene - acrylate______________________________________total sludge 80 cu 20 cu 15 cu yd / weekproduction yd / week yd / weeksludge solids 20 % 40 % 55 %% sludge removal 40 % 80 % 95 %% sludge settling 60 % 20 % 5 % pit cleaning every every once a yearfrequency 2 months 6 monthsmicrobial heavy some minimumcontrolfoam control heavy some minimum______________________________________ for each of the above tests , the chemical detackifier was added to the waste water collection system to form a detackified floc . subsequent to floc formation , sludge was separated from the waste water . when that sludge was then pumped to filtering machinery , the water conditioner was added . mixing occurred in the piping on the way to the filtration machinery . the filtration process utilized was a &# 34 ; filter assisted by vacuum &# 34 ; such as provided by the hoffman vacu - matic and the pecormatics . however , any mechanical process for dewatering can be used . a series of tests were conducted at an existing automotive paint spray application facility . the following table ii provides a synopsis of the data collected : table ii______________________________________ btu / lb % % btu / lb . of dry am / dmaem msqsolids ash of wet sludge sludge active______________________________________32 12 3 , 684 10 , 960 0 . 155 ppm - 0 . 31 ppm20 16 3 , 800 10 , 420 0 . 155 ppm - 0 . 31 ppm40 8 . 9 5 , 385 11 , 460 0 . 155 ppm - 0 . 31 ppm31 . 9 14 . 9 3 , 740 10 , 720 0 . 155 ppm - 0 . 31 ppm36 . 3 8 . 3 4 , 0155 11 , 430 0 . 155 ppm - 0 . 31 ppm40 . 6 12 . 5 4 , 170 11 , 210 0 . 155 ppm - 0 . 31 ppm53 12 6 , 080 -- . sup . 0 . 775 - 1 . 55 pm______________________________________ additional data from another automotive paint spray booth waste water collection system is provided below in table iii : table iii______________________________________ am / dmaem msq % % btu / lb . 70 - 100 ppmsolids ash of wet sludge as active______________________________________51 1 7 , 490 rk - 3840 &# 34 ; 43 11 8 , 940 2 k clear &# 34 ; 36 8 6 , 110 wbe &# 34 ; ______________________________________ rd - 3840 is a dupont acrylic malamineformaldehyde resin used as a clear coat . 2k clear is a two component isocyanate urethane clear coat . wbe is a white base enamel coating used in conjunction with either rk384 or 2k clear . the data generated in tables ii and iii utilized the &# 34 ; filter assist by vacuum &# 34 ; method . for each of those tables , the melamine - formaldehyde , polyvinyl alcohol , styrene - acrylate detackifier mixture was used prior to the addition of the water conditioner . laboratory studies were conducted for the water conditioning aid . these studies are presented in table iv below : table iv__________________________________________________________________________ 1a 1b 2a 2b 3a 3b__________________________________________________________________________dmaem - msq 16 ppm 29 ppm 51 ppm 29 ppm 94 ppm 53 ppmpaint 5453 ppm 5776 7538 7538 10624 8122sprayedsludge 56 . 1 46 62 45 . 5 57 38 % solidsratio of 0 . 29 % 0 . 50 % 0 . 68 % 0 . 51 % 0 . 88 % 0 . 63 % conditioner / paintdetackifiers 300 ppm 861 ppm 420 ppm 970 ppm 445 ppm 1060 ppmused__________________________________________________________________________ a = clear coat . the clear coat is an acrylic melamineformaldehyde resin designated by dupont as rk3840 . b = base coat . the base coat is an acrylic / polyester / melamine resin sold by dupont as a high solids base coat having the dupont designator 872ab839 . c = is a combination of a and b . that is the base coat has been applied and the clear coat has been applied so that both compositions are in the waste water for detackification . although the acrylamide / dimethylaminoethylmethacrylate quat is designated as a methylsulfate quat . the salt does not have to be a sulfate salt it could be any other salt reasonably generated , such as for example the chloride , the bromide , and the like . the use of the designator then is intended to be equivalent to all the other salts specified . the use of the term ppm is defined to mean parts per million on an actives basis . for all of the data given in the tables the water conditioner had an rsv of 7 - 10 and was approximately 31 mole % dmaem . generally the ratio of polyvinyl alcohol to melamine formaldehyde to styrene acrylate is preferably within the ratio of 0 . 7 : 2 . 4 : 1 to 1 . 32 : 4 . 5 : 1 on a weight ratio based on actives . the initial dosage ideally will be within the range of 25 to 500 ppm . but a maintenance dosage within the range of from 12 : 1 to 40 : 1 paint to detackifier on an active weight basis .