Agglomeration generally refers to a process in which several or many individual parts combine stably to form a larger compound.
Important in the field of wastewater treatment are:
- The agglomeration of individual suspended sludge bacteria into sludge flocs. These larger agglomerates then have, for example, better sludge settling properties (here link to sludge settling properties) and thus enable sludge retention in the secondary clarifier of a biological wastewater treatment plant. This effect is particularly evident in the S::Select^® process , where the agglomeration of bacteria is promoted by the addition of starter material and subsequently leads to particularly stable granules (or large agglomerates).
- The agglomeration of fine particles in precipitation reactions (see also : precipitation/flocculation). Here, the individual particles often cannot agglomerate without "help" and are usually not separable from the wastewater. . For this reason, flocculation aids are used which allow the finest individual particles to agglomerate. The resulting agglomerates can then be separated from the water phase, e.g. by settling/sedimentation or by floating/flotation.


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