RAPID-DETERMINATION OF FRACTAL STRUCTURE OF BACTERIAL ASSEMBLAGES IN WASTE-WATER TREATMENT - IMPLICATIONS TO PROCESS OPTIMIZATION

A rapid method of determining the structure of aggregated particles us ing small angle laser light scattering is applied here to assemblages of bacteria from wastewater treatment systems. The structure informati on so obtained is suggestive of fractal behaviour as found by other me thods. Strong dependencies are shown to exist between the fractal stru cture of the bacterial aggregates and the behaviour of the biosolids i n zone settling and dewatering by both pressure filtration and centrif ugation methods. More rapid settling and significantly higher solids c ontents are achievable far ''looser'' flocs characterised by lower fra ctal dimensions. The rapidity of determination of stuctural informatio n and the strong dependencies of the effectiveness of a number of wast ewater treatment processes on aggregate structure suggests that this m ethod may be particularly useful as an on-line control tool. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.