FLOPAM FO 4550 Equivalent: Suffix-Controlled Cationic PAM Supply Route

The figures on this page come from one source: SNF SAS Catalogue 2007 Poudres. That catalogue prints FO 4550 in three separate rows rather than one. Page 6 carries FO 4550 SSH, described on SNF’s scale as High charge and Very High molecular weight, with Brookfield readings of 770 cps at 5 g/L, 370 cps at 2.5 g/L and 170 cps at 1 g/L, and a make-up line of 3 g/L recommended, 5 g/L maximum, 90 minutes. Page 8 carries FO 4550 SH and FO 4550 SHU, both described as High charge and High molecular weight, with a make-up line of 4 g/L recommended, 10 g/L maximum, 60 minutes.

SH and SHU share those band descriptors but not their published viscosity rows: 550/260/100 cps against 350/150/100 cps at the same three test concentrations. That is the clearest reason the suffix has to stay on the enquiry. Two grades can carry the same qualitative labels in the same table and still be printed with different numbers, so the label pair alone does not identify which product a buyer holds. These are 2007 figures given for information; they are not a current SNF specification and we make no claim about what SNF supplies today.

We supply cationic PAM powder and we can quote against a confirmed FO 4550 suffix. What we will not do is read a code across from the SNF table and present it as a match. Our current public grade master describes cationic powders by qualitative charge and molecular-weight bands only, and several of our grades sit on the same band pair as each other. A band pair is therefore not a unique identifier on our side either, which is why the grade we quote is confirmed at quotation after we have seen your enquiry, rather than asserted in advance on this page.

The starting routes differ by suffix, and we state them plainly. An FO 4550 SH or FO 4550 SHU enquiry starts from our High-charge, High-molecular-weight cationic powder screening route. An FO 4550 SSH enquiry starts from a chain-length-priority route instead, and it carries its own separate comparison on your own material rather than borrowing the SH result. Those band names are ours and belong to our own scale; the High and Very High descriptors in the SNF rows belong to SNF’s scale. Naming a starting route on our scale is not a conversion between the two scales and is not a claim that the route matches any FLOPAM row.

Two unknowns stay open and we would rather name them than paper over them. The first is whether the 2007 figures still describe the FLOPAM grade you buy today — only a current SNF document can settle that. The second is how our powder performs on your specific material, which only a comparison on that material can settle. Neither unknown blocks a quotation, and neither is a reason to send you away: send the grade string and we will price it, discuss sample options and tell you which documents we can provide for the grade quoted.

The SNF make-up figures on this page belong to the FLOPAM grades: 3 g/L recommended and 5 g/L maximum for SSH, 4 g/L recommended and 10 g/L maximum for SH and SHU. Our preparation parameters are separate — 1–3 g/L recommended, 5 g/L maximum, dissolution within 60 minutes at working concentration.

Keeping the two sets apart matters for the sample plan. Making up our powder at a concentration taken from the competitor row changes the dissolved polymer mass per litre of solution, so a dose that looks equal by volume is not equal by active polymer. Prepare each product at its own stated concentration and compare on the basis of active polymer, and the comparison stays meaningful. If your existing system cannot run at 1–3 g/L, tell us at the enquiry stage — that is a practical constraint worth knowing before a sample plan is agreed, not after.