Mechanistic Flocculation Model Incorporating the Fractal Properties of Settling Particles

Improving the prediction of environmental fate of engineered nanomaterials by fractal modelling

“…However, it is stressed that relevant factors of engineered nanoparticles' (ENP) size, structure, chemical activity and evolution in the environment are not taken into consideration. To model such parameters, new mechanistic approaches (Maggi, 2009;Sithebe and Nkhalambayausi Chirwa, 2016) that would take specific physical and chemical nanoscale phenomena (Bishop et al, 2009;Walker et al, 2010a) into consideration are needed.…”

“…However, it does not give insight on the phenomenological processes governing aggregation or on specific morphological properties of particles. Fractal modelling (FM) is often applied to enhance kinetic models (Saunders and Plane, 2006;Sithebe and Nkhalambayausi Chirwa, 2016) but no classification of NMs based on fractal properties has yet been proposed.…”