Method of floc classification after the coagulation process

Opole University of Technology, Department of Thermal Engineering and Industrial Facilities, 5 Mikołajczyka Street, 45-271 Opole, Poland

^* Corresponding author: e.lukasiewicz@po.opole.pl

Abstract

Coagulation is one of the processes of water and wastewater treatment. During this process, flocs are formed and are characterized by different shapes, structures and dimensions. Due to this fact, removing of these particles may produce some problems for researchers because the sedimentation way of this particles is disturbed. In this paper, the method of flocs classification is presented where coefficients k₁, k₂ and k₃ were calculated. An appropriate value of coefficient k enables the classification of the considered particle to a specific group. The idea of the classification method consists in calculating surface areas for a particle image registered using a microscope. After that, the images are analyzed (computer image processing). The analyzed images will be used for future studies, in which the settling phenomenon will be described.