What is "flocculation"

Flocculation \Floc`cu*la"tion\, n. (Geol.) The process by which small particles of fine soils and sediments aggregate into larger lumps.

"the union of small particles into granular aggregates," 1875, from flocculate + -ion.

n. A condition in which clays, polymers or other small charged particles become attached and form a fragile structure, a floc.

n. the process of flocculating; forming woolly cloudlike aggregations

Flocculation, in the field of chemistry, is a process wherein colloids come out of suspension in the form of floc or flake; either spontaneously or due to the addition of a clarifying agent. The action differs from precipitation in that, prior to flocculation, colloids are merely suspended in a liquid and not actually dissolved in a solution. In the flocculated system, there is no formation of a cake, since all the flocs are in the suspension.

Coagulation and flocculation are important processes in water treatment with coagulation to destabilize particles through chemical reaction between coagulant and colloids, and flocculation to transport the destabilized particles that will cause collisions with floc.