Two-dimensional Fractal Dimension Research Articles

High sedimentation efficiency and enhanced rare earth recovery in the impurity removal process of rare earth leachate by flocculation system

The main impurity ion in rare earth (RE) leachate are aluminum ions, which can be effectively removed by precipitation in the form of aluminum hydroxides. The flocculent colloidal precipitation formed by aluminum ions has a loose structure and high liquid content, resulting in lower sedimentation efficiency and higher RE loss. The addition of flocculants in the impurity removal process of RE leachate is expected to solve this problem. The cationic polyacrylamide flocculant (CPAM) was screened as the flocculant to accelerate the sedimentation of the impurity removal process as well as to effectively improve the recovery of RE. The effects of CPAM concentration, dosage, stirring rate and stirring time on the flocculation process was investigated. The optimal flocculation effect could be obtained under conditions of dosage of 0.5 mL, concentration of 0.1%, stirring speed of 700 r/min and stirring time of 2 min. Under this condition, RE recovery efficiency was 97%, Al removal efficiency was 96%, and the sedimentation time of the flocs was 20 min. Compared with absence of flocculants in this process, Al removal efficiency remained almost unchanged, while RE recovery efficiency and the sedimentation time of flocs increased by 4% and shortened by 40 min, respectively. The flocculation mechanism was discussed by the theory of two-dimensional fractal dimension, and it was found that the flocculation was mainly based on the combined effect of bridge flocculation and electrical neutralization.

Methodological Study on the Full-Range Pore Structure and Fractal Characteristics of the Tight Reservoirs

Scholars have used the method of splicing various experimental data to evaluate the full-range pore structure of tight reservoirs, but its applicability has not been discussed. When the fractal theory is used to characterize the heterogeneity of tight reservoirs, there is a lack of research on the controlling factors of segmented fractal pore size (the inflection points in the fractal curve) and the relationship between the fractal dimensions of different dimensions. In this paper, mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), N2 adsorption (N2-GA), and large-field splicing scanning electron microscopy (MAPs) were conducted to study the pore structure and full-range pore size distribution (PSD) of tight sandstone, and fractal theory was used to evaluate the heterogeneity of the reservoir. Combining the PSD of MIP and N2-GA, two parameters “cosine similarity” and “data similarity” were introduced to characterize the overlapping pore size range of the two experimental methods; then, the PSD of MAPs was used to verify the rationality of the data splicing. The results show that the characterization of the full-range pore structure should not only be based on simple data splicing but should focus on the data similarity of the overlapping pore size range. The study on the segmented fractal pore size of MIP shows that the segmented fractal pore size increases gradually with an increase in the main skeleton mineral content, the decrease in the clay mineral content, and the increase in the pore radius and porosity. For the same sample, the segmented fractal pore size is fixed and does not change with the calculation model of fractal dimension. Comparing the two-dimensional (2D) fractal dimension with the three-dimensional (3D) fractal dimension, calculating the 3D fractal dimension by +1 directly with the 2D fractal dimension is more applicable for the large pores, but it is not applicable for the small pores due to the influence of the extensive development of linear pores.

Response Surface Optimization and Floc Structure Analysis of Magnetic Flocculation Technology for Anaerobic Digestion Reject Water

In order to improve the removal efficiencies of SS and Fe3+ in anaerobic digestion reject water for the subsequent biological treatment process, on the basis of the single factor test in the early stage, the response surface method was used, and the structure of the formed floc was analyzed by magnetic flocculation. The optimum amounts of magnetic powder, polyaluminum chloride (PAC) and polyacrylamide (PAM) were 40.51 mg/L, 31.31 mg/L and 4.05 mg/L, respectively. At this time, the removal efficiencies of SS and Fe3+ were 97.84% and 98.35%. The effects of floc particle size, scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy and two-dimensional fractal dimension of flocs on the flocculation ability showed that: compared with conventional coagulation, the average particle size of flocs treated by magnetic flocculation was 76.56 μm, the Fe-O-Al absorption peak appeared at 984 cm−1, the flocculation ability was significantly improved, the surface of the floc was rough and porous, and the structure was dense, and the sedimentation performance was significantly improved also.

STUDY ON FRACTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FISSURE SPACE STRUCTURE AND TIGHT SOLID STRUCTURE OF COAL

The microstructure of a coal is a kind of fissured fractal tight porous media. The formation and action mechanism between its space and solid structure has a strong fundamental significance for engineering seepage problem. Currently, the research and experimental theory of the quantitative characterization of the fissure space structure is relatively complete. However, the physical meaning of the fractal dimension used to characterize structural features remains unclear. At the same time, the tight feature is attributed to the original complexity, and fractal topography dominates the behavioral complexity. Therefore, it is of great significance to clarify the distribution of tight solid structure from the fractal perspective for clarifying the complexity of coal structure. In this paper, the proportion of space structure and solid structure in coal body is accurately measured by scanning electron microscope (SEM) experiment combined with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiment, and a theoretical model which can be used to measure the fractal dimension of solid structure is proposed based on Menger sponge theory. In the process, the physical meaning of fractal dimension of the fissure space structure measured by the image analysis method and fluid intrusion method is proposed. The research shows that for the fissure space structure, the fractal dimension of fissure space structure calculated based on the SEM image and the box dimension method is between 1 and 2, showing an obvious positive correlation with the proportion of the fissure space structure area. The fractal dimension based on NMR [Formula: see text] spectrum curve fitting mainly characterizes the complexity of the pore size distribution. The fractal dimension increases with the increasing complexity of pore size distribution. For the tight solid structure, the fractal dimension obtained by theoretical calculation is less than 3, the compound fractal scaling law. The two-dimensional fractal dimension obtained through experiments and related algorithms is greater than 2, which do not conform to the fractal scaling law in general, but it can represent the proportion of solid structure in a limited scale as the theoretical fractal dimension.

Mass fractal dimension from 2D microscopy images via an aggregation model with variable compactness.

Microscopy-image analysis provides precious information on size and structure of colloidal aggregates and agglomerates. The structure of colloids is often characterized using the mass fractal dimension , which is different from the two-dimensional (2D) fractal dimension that can be computed from microscopy images. In this work, we propose to use a recent morphological aggregation model to find a relationship between 2D image fractal dimension and 3D mass fractal dimension of aggregates and agglomerates. Our case study is represented by scanning transmission electron microscopy images of boehmite colloidal suspensions. The behaviour of the computed at different acid and base concentration shows a fair agreement with the results of small angle x-ray scattering and with the literature, enabling to use the versus relationship to study the impact of the composition of the colloidal suspension on the density of colloidal aggregates andagglomerates.

The VMC survey – XLVII. Turbulence-controlled hierarchical star formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud

ABSTRACT We perform a statistical clustering analysis of upper main-sequence stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) using data from the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy survey of the Magellanic Clouds. We map over 2500 young stellar structures at 15 significance levels across ∼120 square degrees centred on the LMC. The structures have sizes ranging from a few parsecs to over 1 kpc. We find that the young structures follow power-law size and mass distributions. From the perimeter–area relation, we derive a perimeter–area dimension of 1.44 ± 0.20. From the mass–size relation and the size distribution, we derive two-dimensional fractal dimensions of 1.50 ± 0.10 and 1.61 ± 0.20, respectively. We find that the surface density distribution is well represented by a lognormal distribution. We apply the Larson relation to estimate the velocity dispersions and crossing times of these structures. Our results indicate that the fractal nature of the young stellar structures has been inherited from the gas clouds from which they form and that this architecture is generated by supersonic turbulence. Our results also suggest that star formation in the LMC is scale-free from 10 to 700 pc.

ANALYSIS OF POROSITY, PERMEABILITY, AND ANISOTROPY OF SANDSTONE IN FREEZE–THAW ENVIRONMENTS USING COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY AND FRACTAL THEORY

An in-depth understanding of the deterioration characteristics of porous rock materials in freeze–thaw (F–T) environments is very important for rock mass engineering in cold regions. However, quantitative descriptions of key rock indicators such as porosity, permeability, and anisotropy are lacking. In this paper, computed tomography (CT) was used to study saturated intact sandstone, saturated fractured sandstone, and ice-filled fractured sandstone under various F–T cycles and stress states. Meso-structural parameters were obtained by reconstructing the three-dimensional fracture networks from CT images. Then, based on fractal geometry theory, the fractal dimension ([Formula: see text], tortuosity fractal dimension ([Formula: see text], and anisotropic two-dimensional fractal dimension ([Formula: see text] of the sandstone samples were analyzed quantitatively. The [Formula: see text] gradually increased during the F–T process, while [Formula: see text] gradually decreased. Compared with [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] was found to describe changes in the absolute permeability of rocks under F–T cycling more accurately. Anisotropy in sandstone was enhanced by F–T cycling. After uniaxial compression, the [Formula: see text] value was the greatest in ice-filled fractured sandstone. In addition, the tree-like fracture structure produced by F–T cycling expanded the range of self-similarity, which enhanced the fractal characteristics of sandstone. However, due to the large frost heave pressure of ice-filled sandstone, fracture expansion accelerated in the later period of F–T cycling, which destroyed the self-similarity. These results assist in understanding the F–T characteristics of porous rock materials. The method described provides a new way to better evaluate and predict F–T-related engineering disasters.

Effect of Hydrophobic Silica Nanochannel Structure on the Running Speed of a Colloidal Damper

A colloidal damper (CD) can dissipate a significant amount of vibrations and impact energy owing to the interface power that is generated when it is used. It is of great practical significance to study the influence of the nanochannel structure of hydrophobic silica gel in the CD damping medium on the running speed of the CD. The fractal theory was applied to observe the characteristics of the micropore structure of the hydrophobic silica gel by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the primary particles were selected to carry out fractal analysis, and the two-dimensional fractal dimension of the pore area and the tortuous fractal dimension of the hydrophobic silica gel pore structure were calculated. The fractal percolation model of water in hydrophobic silica nanochannels based on the slip theory could thus be obtained. This model revealed the relationship between the micropore structure parameters of the silica gel and the running speed of the CD. The CD running speed increases with the addition of grafted molecules and the reduction in pore size of the silica gel particles. Continuous loading velocity testing of the CD loaded with hydrophobic silica gels with different pore structures was conducted. By comparing the experimental results with the calculation results of the fractal percolation model, it was determined that the fractal percolation model can better characterize the change trend of the CD running velocity for the first loading, but the fractal dimension was changed from the second loading, caused by the small amount of water retained in the nanochannel, leading to the failure of fractal characterization.

Genesis and Propagation of Fractal Structures During Photoelectrochemical Etching of n-Silicon

The genesis, propagation, and dimensions of fractal-etch patterns that form anodically on front- or back-illuminated n-Si(100) photoelectrodes in contact with 11.9 M NH4F (aqueous) have been investigated during either a linear potential sweep or a constant potential hold (E = +6.0 V versus Ag/AgCl). Optical images collected in situ during electrochemical experiments revealed the location and underlying mechanism of initiation and propagation of the structures on the surface. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) data collected for samples emersed from the electrolyte at varied times provided detailed information about the chemistry of the surface during fractal etching. The fractal structure was strongly influenced by the orientation of the crystalline Si sample. The etch patterns were initially generated at points along the circumference of bubbles that formed upon immersion of n-Si(100) samples in the electrolyte, most likely due to the electrochemical and electronic isolation of areas beneath bubbles. XPS data showed the presence of a tensile-stressed silicon surface throughout the etching process as well as the presence of SiOxFy on the surface. The two-dimensional fractal dimension, Df,2D, of the patterns increased with etching time to a maximum observed value of Df,2D = 1.82. Promotion of fractal etching near etch masks that electrochemically and electronically isolated areas of the photoelectrode surface enabled the selective placement of highly branched structures at desired locations on an electrode surface.

A combined experimental and numerical approach to the assessment of floc settling velocity using fractal geometry.

Sedimentation processes are fundamental to solids/liquid separation in water and wastewater treatment, and therefore a robust understanding of the settlement characteristics of mass fractal aggregates (flocs) formed in the flocculation stage is fundamental to optimized settlement tank design and operation. However, the use of settling as a technique to determine aggregates' traits is limited by current understanding of permeability. In this paper, we combine experimental and numerical approaches to assess settling velocities of fractal aggregates. Using a non-intrusive in situ digital image-based method, three- and two-dimensional fractal dimensions were calculated for kaolin-based flocs. By considering shape and fractal dimension, the porosity, density and settling velocities of the flocs were calculated individually, and settling velocities compared with those of spheres of the same density using Stokes' law. Shape analysis shows that the settling velocities for fractal aggregates may be greater or less than those for perfect spheres. For example, fractal aggregates with floc fractal dimension, Df = 2.61, floc size, df > 320 μm and dp = 7.5 μm settle with lower velocities than those predicted by Stokes' law; whilst, for Df = 2.33, all aggregates of df > 70 μm and dp = 7.5 μm settled below the velocity calculated by Stokes' law for spheres. Conversely, fractal settling velocities were higher than spheres for all the range of sizes, when Df of 2.83 was simulated. The ratio of fractal aggregate to sphere settling velocity (the former being obtained from fractal porosity and density considerations), varied from 0.16 to 4.11 for aggregates in the range of 10 and 1,000 μm, primary particle size of 7.5 μm and a three-dimensional fractal dimension between 2.33 and 2.83. However, the ratio decreases to the range of 0.04-2.92 when primary particle size changes to 1.0 μm for the same fractal dimensions. Using the floc analysis technique developed here, the results demonstrate the difference in settlement behaviour between the approach developed here and the traditional Stokes' law approach using solid spheres. The technique and results demonstrate the improvements in understanding, and hence value to be derived, from an analysis based on fractal, rather than Euclidean, geometry when considering flocculation and subsequent clarification performance.

Computer-aided assessment of the extra-cellular matrix during pancreatic carcinogenesis: a pilot study

BackgroundA hallmark of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is the desmoplastic reaction, but its impact on the tumor behavior remains controversial. Our aim was to introduce a computer -aided method to precisely quantify the amount of pancreatic collagenic extra-cellular matrix, its spatial distribution pattern, and the degradation process.MethodsA series of normal, inflammatory and neoplastic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded Sirius red stained sections were automatically digitized and analyzed using a computer-aided method.ResultsWe found a progressive increase of pancreatic collagenic extra-cellular matrix from normal to the inflammatory and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. The two-dimensional fractal dimension showed a significant difference in the collagenic extra-cellular matrix spatial complexity between normal versus inflammatory and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. A significant difference when comparing the number of cycles necessary to degrade the pancreatic collagenic extra-cellular matrix in normal versus inflammatory and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma was also found. The difference between inflammatory and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma was also significant. Furthermore, the mean velocity of collagenic extra-cellular matrix degradation was found to be faster in inflammatory and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma than in normal.ConclusionThese findings demonstrate that inflammatory and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas are characterized by an increased amount of pancreatic collagenic extra-cellular matrix and by changes in their spatial complexity and degradation. Our study defines new features about the pancreatic collagenic extra-cellular matrix, and represents a basis for further investigations into the clinical behavior of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and the development of therapeutic strategies.

Fuzzy controller design for breast cancer treatment based on fractal dimension using breast thermograms.

In this study, three non-linear indices consist of compression, one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) fractal dimensions are used for the determination of the malignancy or benignity of cancer tumours in breast thermograms. On the other hand, by developing the high-precision infrared cameras as well as new methods of image processing, biomedical thermography images have found a prominent position among the others. Furthermore, cancerous tissue can be affected by the laser. In this study, in order to treat the cancerous lesion identified by breast thermograms, the laser parameters are designed. The basis of controller designing is the obtained non-linear indices. If the indices are moved from the chaotic behaviour to normal condition, the treating tissue is going from cancerous to a healthy condition and the treatment process is completed. Radiation frequency and the energy density of laser are designed as two key elements in the cancer treatment. In this study, the type I and type II fuzzy controllers are employed for the control strategies. Using the proposed closed-loop control, the non-linear indices of the cancerous lesion will be reduced during the treatment process. The simulation results on two datasets of breast thermograms indicate the superiority of type II fuzzy controller.

FRACTAL AGGREGATES EVOLUTION DURING FLOCCULATION

ABSTRACT A temporal analysis of fractal aggregates during water flocculation is presented. Water was prepared using kaolin solution and a non-intrusive image-based analysis method was used for two-dimensional fractal dimension assessment (dF). The dF values were determined for aggregates larger than 270 µm from 100 images taken in each combination of velocity gradients (Gf) and flocculation times (Tf). The Gf values of 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 s-1 and Tf values of 2 to 180 minutes were studied, with a ΔTf of 1 minute for 2 ≤ Tf ≤ 10 minutes and a ΔTf of 5 minutes for 10 ≤ Tf ≤ 180 minutes. Results showed that dF tends toward stability from a Tf of 40 minutes, with distinct levels in each Gf. Further, dF values decrease from 1.80 to 1.35 for Gf from 20 to 60 s-1.

Effect of aluminum ion on sedimentation of kaolinite using anionic polyacrylamides as flocculant based on two-dimensional fractal dimension

ABSTRACTBased on 2D fractal dimension, the effect of aluminum ion (Al3+) on kaolinite flocculation using anionic polyacrylamides (APAMs) as flocculant has been investigated at pH 4. The settling performance was tested, and fractal dimensions of flocs were analyzed. The results show that the clearer the supernatant, the bigger fractal dimension was obtained using APAM in distilled water. With the addition of Al3+, the supernatant turbidity increases first and then decreases, while the trend of fractal dimension with Al3+ concentration is opposite. Zeta potential results indicate that different sedimentation performance and floc fractal dimension of kaolinite are caused by the different APAM flocculation mechanism.

Fractal dimension of large aggregates under different flocculation conditions

The two-dimensional fractal dimension (Df) of large aggregates of kaolin (>540μm) during the shear flocculation process for kaolin solution was investigated using non-intrusive in situ image-based acquisition system. Separate experiments were also carried out for three different sized sub-ranges of large aggregates (0.540–1.125mm; 1.125–1.750mm; 1.750–2.375mm). Digital images were taken at a frequency of 10Hz for 10s for each different pairs of gradients of velocity (Gf) of 20 and 60s−1 and flocculation times of 2; 3; 4; 5; 10; 20; 30; 60; 120 and 180min. For the same conditions, particle size distribution (PSD) was also determined. Under the investigated conditions, the lowest Gf produced the greatest Df (1.69) at a flocculation time of 30min for the whole range of aggregates. Also, the evolution of the longest length of aggregate (l) and Df with time, showed that the dynamic steady-state was reached at different times for each shear rate and l ranges. However, Df varied for each size sub-range (ca. 1.1 to 1.8). Finally, the behavior of the aggregate structure may be understood by the predominance of different aggregation mechanisms such as cluster-cluster for Gf of 60s−1 and particle-cluster for Gf of 20s−1.

Characteristics of Biochemical and Fractal Structure of Activated Sludge with Thermochemical Lysis

In this study, we investigated the structural characteristic and biochemical properties of waste-activated sludge after thermochemical pretreatment. The results show that with the increase dosage of hydrochloric acid or sodium hydroxide, the concentration of suspended solid (SS) and volatile suspended solids (VSS) declined, especially at pH 12 + H (“H” means heating). At the same time, soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) all increased as well, especially at pH 12, the greatest lysis effect appeared. Protein and polysaccharide presented a similar law with SCOD. Furthermore, the specific surface area (SSA), two-dimensional fractal dimension (D 2), and three-dimensional fractal dimension (D 3) all increased to a certain degree with acid/alkali pretreatment whether or not heating. Otherwise, the median particle size (d 0.5) and zeta potential decreased leading to more compact and stable floc structure and reduction effect compared with the original sludge. In Pearson correlation analysis, SSA and SS, SSA and VSS, zeta potential and SCOD, and zeta potential and protein have significant negative correlations; D 3 and SSA have a significant correlation with SS, VSS, SCOD, and protein. Consequently, measuring the structural parameters D 3 and SSA online can reflect the effects of sludge lysis indirectly, which will be helpful to guide the practical application.

Flocculation performance of cationic polyacrylamide with high cationic degree in humic acid synthetic water treatment and effect of kaolin particles

Abstract In current research, the flocculation performance of cationic polyacrylamide flocculant PAMC with high cationic degree was investigated in HA synthetic water treatment, and the effect of kaolin particles was studied in kaolin-HA flocculation. Influencing factors, such as pH, PAMC dosage, initial HA concentration, cationic degree, stirring speed and stirring time, were investigated and optimized for HA removal efficiency. Two-dimensional fractal dimension of the flocs was analyzed based on flocs images, and FTIR analysis was accomplished to understand chemical structures of the flocs. Three-dimensional excitation emission matrix spectra was measured to analyze the changes in organic composition and concentraion. Finally, the HA and kaolin-HA synthetic water flocculation mechanism were studied and summarized based on analysis of zeta potential and pH. The results showed that 80.7% and 91.2% of HA removal efficiency was achieved in HA and kaolin-HA flocculation process by using 12.5 mg/L and 4–6 mg/L of PAMC, respectively. Moreover, partial colloidal HA was absorbed by kaolin particles before flocculation and was removed in flocculation through synergetic effect from kaolin particles. Charge neutralization and bridging effect was confirmed to be dominant in acidic and alkaline environment, respectively.

Dual functionality of a graft starch flocculant: Flocculation and antibacterial performance

In this work, a series of quaternary ammonium salt grafted starch flocculant, starch-graft-poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl) trimethyl ammonium chloride (St-g-PDMC), with different grafting ratios was prepared by a simple method. Various characterization techniques were employed to investigate the structure and charge property of the starch-based flocculants. The efficiencies of St-g-PDMC for flocculation of kaolin and Escherichia coli suspensions as well as their mixtures were systematically examined in laboratory scale. In addition to environmental factors, such as flocculant dose and pH, the effects of grafting ratio were also evaluated. Results indicated that St-g-PDMCs exhibited dual functionality of high flocculation effects and antibacterial properties. Moreover, the flocculation and antibacterial mechanisms were investigated in detail based on apparent flocculation performance, charge properties, floc structures (floc size and its two-dimensional fractal dimension), and cell surface morphology, respectively.

Two-dimensional fractal analysis of retinal tissue of healthy and diabetic eyes with optical coherence tomography

In the ophthalmic research, the measurement of the retinal thickness is usually employed for characterizing the structural changes of the retinal tissue. However, changes in the fractal dimension (FD) may provide additional information regarding the structure of the retinal layers and their early damage in ocular diseases. In the present paper, we investigated the possibility of detecting changes in the structure of the cellular layers of the retina by applying a two-dimensional fractal analysis to optical coherence tomography (OCT) images. OCT images were obtained from diabetic patients without retinopathy (DM, n = 38 eyes) and with mild diabetic retinopathy (MDR, n = 43 eyes) as well as in healthy subjects (Controls, n = 74 eyes). The two-dimensional fractal dimension was calculated using the differentiate box counting methodology. We evaluated the usefulness of quantifying the fractal dimension of layered structures in the detection of retinal damage. Generalized estimating equations considering within-subject inter-eye relations were used to test for differences between the groups. An adjusted p-value of <0.001 was considered statistically significant. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to describe the ability of the fractal dimension to discriminate between the eyes of DM, MDR, and healthy eyes. Lower values of the fractal dimension were observed in all layers in the MDR eyes compared with controls except in the inner nuclear layer (INL). Lower values of the fractal dimension were also found in all layers in the MDR eyes compared with DM eyes. The highest area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) values estimated for the fractal dimension were observed for the outer plexiform layer (OPL) and outer segment photoreceptors (OS) when comparing MDR eyes with controls. The highest AUROC value estimated for the fractal dimension were also observed for the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and OS when comparing MDR eyes with DM eyes. Our results suggest that fractal dimension of the intraretinal layers may provide useful information to differentiate pathological from healthy eyes. Further research is warranted to determine how this approach may be used to aid diagnosis of retinal neurodegeneration at the early stage.

Influence of Activated Sludge Surface Properties on Flocculating Settling and Effluent Suspend Solid

In this paper, the influence of the surface properties of the activated sludge on flocculating settling and ESS was studied in seven different sewage treatment plants in Beijing, such as the sludge volume index (SVI), the protein/carbohydrate (P/C) ratio in extracellular polymeric substance, Zeta potential, two-dimensional fractal dimension(D2f). The relationships between the surface properties of the activated sludge and flocculation ability (FA) or effluent suspend solid(ESS) were also analyzed. The results showed that no obvious correlation was obtained between SVI and FA or ESS, but obvious negative correlation between the FA and ESS (R2=0.787) was observed. When the P/C increased from 1.28 to 25.34, the FA could increase from 0.19 to 0.73 correspondingly, but the ESS decreased from 14.89 mg·L-1 to 6.08 mg·L-1. This was because the amino acids in protein with positive charge could neutralize the negative charge on the surface of floc, the increase of protein ratio in EPS could decrease the absolute value of Zeta potential, which made a contribution to form more stable floc structure, and improved the ability of flocculation. Moreover, the Zeta potential had a positive correlation with FA but a negative correlation with ESS. The absolute value of Zeta potential decreased by 1 mV, FA increased by 0.059 and ESS decreased by 0.934 mg·L-1 correspondingly. In addition, there was an obvious index correlation (R2=0.935, P<0.01) between D2f and FA; While D2f increased from 1.10 to 1.45, FA could increase by 4.3 times and ESS decreased linearly (R2=0.868).