FLOPAM FO 4698 SH Equivalent — Medium-Charge High-MW Cationic PAM

Buyers replacing FLOPAM FO 4698 SH often arrive with just the four-digit number. In the SNF 2007 cationic powder table on page 15, FO 4698 appears in three separate rows: bare FO 4698, FO 4698 SH and FO 4698 U. The bare row sits at High charge and Standard molecular weight. The SH row sits at Medium charge and High molecular weight. That is not a refinement of the same grade — it is a different charge and a different molecular weight tier. Starting a screening trial from the bare FO 4698 profile when you are running FO 4698 SH means starting from the wrong position on both axes. The 5 g/L Brookfield reference also differs: the bare row gives approximately 250 cps, the SH row approximately 550 cps. A solution viscosity check at 5 g/L on your incumbent material is the fastest way to confirm which row describes what you actually run.

ChinaPAM screens for FO 4698 SH duty from C8015 as the charge-aligned starting lane. C8015 sits in our Medium charge, Medium molecular weight band on our own scale. SNF's High molecular weight and our Medium molecular weight band are different scales; they do not convert directly and no equivalence is claimed on that dimension. The second lane, C8035, has a longer chain on our scale and is opened only if the buyer's process evidence — typically floc survival data under centrifuge shear — points to a molecular weight step. This is a screening programme, not a drop-in substitution.

We do not claim that our grades replicate the structured-polymer attribute SNF lists for FO 4698 SH. The catalogue prints that descriptor for the grade; it does not publish what the attribute does in any given duty, and we make no claim about what it delivers. Our own master does not document a structured attribute for C8015 or C8035, so on this dimension the page records only that the attribute is not documented on our side. Our grades are standard cationic powder grades selected on the charge and molecular weight bands closest to the published FO 4698 SH descriptor. If the structured-polymer notation is a requirement in your procurement or QC specification, raise it at enquiry so it is settled before the trial is designed.

The first failure mode is omitting or replacing the SH suffix. A buyer who requests "FO 4698 equivalent" without the suffix will be screened against the bare row — High charge, Standard molecular weight, ~250 cps at 5 g/L — when the grade actually in service is the SH row at Medium charge, High molecular weight, ~550 cps. The consequence is that screening starts from the wrong charge and molecular weight lane, so the material put on trial is not the one the published FO 4698 SH position points to and the comparison against your incumbent is invalidated before any dosing begins. We make no prediction here about how the mis-screened grade would behave in your process. Check the complete bag label and measure the incumbent 5 g/L solution viscosity before placing any enquiry.

The second failure mode is claiming structural identity between ChinaPAM grades and SNF FO 4698 SH. SNF describes FO 4698 SH as a structured polymer. Our current master does not document a structured-polymer attribute for C8015 or C8035, so the page does not claim it. If a customer's procurement or QC specification requires an equivalent structured-polymer descriptor, that needs to be resolved by same-material testing with full characterisation data, not by matching grade names. The correct protocol is to keep the structured-polymer notation in the OEM reference column and verify the ChinaPAM screening lanes against it by same-material performance testing.

Start the trial with C8015, our charge-aligned lane. Make up at 1–3 g/L, allow full dissolution within 60 minutes, and dose against your incumbent FO 4698 SH active polymer rate as the reference point. Run CST or jar test at matched active polymer dose — not matched product weight — on the same sludge sample with both grades on the same day. Record cake solids, filtrate clarity and polymer consumption at each dose rate.

If C8015 passes the primary performance criteria but floc survival under centrifuge or belt press shear is marginal, open C8035 as the second lane. C8035 has a longer chain on our scale. Run the same paired test protocol and compare cake release and throughput directly.

Contact us to discuss the trial plan, current pricing and the document package — batch TDS, COA and MSDS — before any volume commitment. We can also discuss sample shipping arrangements for your plant.