Abstract
The main purpose of the flocculation process is to make flocs bigger to be removed easily in the following processes. The flow pattern and mixing intensity have a great influence on flocculation. In this study, the flow pattern was examined by a hydraulic tracer-test, where 3 water treatment plants having $800,000m^3/d$, $44,000m^3/d$ and $40,000m^3/d$ were employed. Also, the settling test was conducted to find out the relationship between the mixing intensity and the settling ability of flocs. The hydraulic tracer-test was conducted for the various flocculation processes that have different structures of flocculation basins. In the result, the retention time distribution (RTD) curves for the flocculation processes were quite different. In case of the inappropriate structure of the flocculation basin, the flow is not even so that the floc does not grow enough. To find out the relationship between mixing intensity and settleability of flocs, G-values were calculated and the settling test was conducted for two flocculation basins which have the same conditions except the G-value. For the flocculation basin with uneven G-value, the floc settleability was revealed poor. On the other hand, the flocculation basin with even G-value, the settleability was better than the previous one. From these experimental results, it is confirmed that the flow pattern is closely related to the structure of the flocculation basin and the settleability is affected by mixing intensity. Therefore the flow pattern and the strength of the mixing intensity should be examined sufficiently to design and operate flocculation basin.