Looking for help anywhere I can find it. I work in wastewater treatment (treating landfill leachate) and we are finding that our fluid viscosity rapidly builds. We utilize antifoam/defoaming products in our process to combat foam that forms from the leachate. These products have a core component by the name of polydimethylsiloxane.
Our process fluid has relatively high pH (~9-10 range), contains very noticeable amounts of ammonia, and various other organics. In process, we operate at the ~90C mark.
My question: Is there a chance that at sustained temperature, or with periodic spikes of exposure to high temperature (the process is evaporative), that polydimethylsiloxane breaks down into a polymer component that will act in a manor that increases fluid viscosity?
I'm chasing leads here, so this might be complete nonsense. I'm just hitting dead ends and will take anything I can get.
