Fractal analysis of polyferric chloride-humic acid(PFC-HA) flocs in different topological spaces

The fractal dimensions in different topological spaces of polyferric chloride-humic acid （PFC-HA） flocs, formed in flocculating different kinds of humic acids （HA） water at different initial pH （9.0, 7.0, 5.0） and PFC dosages, were calculated by effective densitymaximum diameter, image analysis, and N2 absorption-desorption methods, respectively. The mass fractal dimensions （De） of PFC-HA floes were calculated by bi-logarithm relation of effective density with maximum diameter and Logan empirical equation. The Df value was more than 2.0 at initial pH of 7,0, which was 11% and 13% higher than those at pH 9.0 and 5.0, respecively, indicating the most compact flocs formed in flocculated HA water at initial pH of 7.0. The image analysis for those flocs indicates that after flocculating the HA water at initial pH greater than 7.0 with PFC flocculant, the fractal dimensions of D2 （logA vs. logdL） and D3 （logVsphere vs. logdL） of PFC-HA floes decreased with the increase of PFC dosages, and PFC-HA floes showed a gradually looser structure. At the optimum dosage of PFC, the D2 （logA vs. logdL） values of the flocs show 14%-43% difference with their corresponding Dr, and they even had different tendency with the change of initial pH values. However, the D2 values of the floes formed at three different initial pH in HA solution had a same tendency with the corresponding Df. Based on fractal Frenkel-Halsey-HiU （FHH） adsorption and desorption equations, the pore surface fractal dimensions （Ds） for dried powders of PFC-HA flocs formed in HA water with initial pH 9.0 and 7.0 were all close to 2.9421, and the Ds values of flocs formed at initial pH 5.0 were less than 2.3746. It indicated that the pore surface fractal dimensions of PFC-HA floes dried powder mainly show the irregularity from the mesopore-size distribution and marcopore-size distribution.