Fettweis, M.

Lee, B.J.

Toorman, E.

Open Marine Archive

3 Conceptual Model: TEP-Mediated Heterogeneous Flocculation 
1 Heterogeneous Flocculation 2 Transparent Exopolymer Particles (TEP) 
Acknowledgements: This research is funded by the Research Foundation – Flanders (the FWO project G.0263.08), the Maritime Access Division of the Ministry of 
the Flemish Community (MOMO project), and the Belgian Science Policy (Science for a Sustainable Development, QUEST4D, SD/NS/06A).  
References 
•Alldredge, Passow, Jackson, 1993. The abundance and significance of a class of large, transparent organic particles in the ocean. Deep-Sea Res. I. 40: 1131-1140. 
•Lancelot, Hannon, Becquevort, Veth, De Baar, 2000. Modelling phytoplankton blooms and carbon export in the Southern Ocean: dominant controls by light and iron in 
the Atlantic sector in Austral spring 1992. Deep-Sea Res. I 47, 1621–1662. 
•Engel, Thoms, Riebesell, Rochelle-Newall, Zondervan, 2004 Polysaccharide aggregation as a potential sink of marine dissolved organic carbon, Nature, 428, 929–932 
•Lee, Toorman, Molz, Wang, 2011. A two-class population balance equation yielding bimodal flocculation of marine or estuarine sediments. Water Res. 45: 2131-2145. 
•Toorman. 2002. Modelling of turbulent flow with cohesive sediment. In: Proceedings in Marine Science, Vol.5: Fine Sediment Dynamics in the Marine Environment (J.C. 
Winterwerp & C. Kranenburg, eds.). Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, 159-169. 
 
   
 Flocculation:  
 is a reversible floc-size growth 
and decay process, due to particle 
aggregation and breakage. 
Poster No: 2 
 
 
 B. Joon Lee
1, Michael Fettweis2, and Erik A. Toorman1 
1 Hydraulics Laboratory, Department of Civil Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Info: joon.lee@bwk.kuleuven.be) 
2 Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Science Science, Management Unit of the North Sea Mathematical Models 
TEP combines the Biological and Mineralogical Populations into a Heterogeneous Floc. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Heterogeneous Flocculation Combining the Biological and 
Mineralogical Populations in a Marine and Coastal Environment 
 
 
   
HYDRAULICS 
LABORATORY 
4 Mathematical Model: Initiative Strategy 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5 Multi-disciplinary Collaboration Required 
Heterogeneous 
Flocculation 
Sedimentation 
Problems of Ecologists, 
Microbiologists 
Algae move upward 
to get more sunlight 
Problems of Geologists, 
Hydraulic Engineers 
Sediments move 
downward 
to the bottom 
   
 TEP is an organic particles formed by 
aggregation of polysaccharides excreted by 
microorganisms (Alldredge et al., 1993). 
   
 Heterogeneous Flocculation:  
 is flocculation combining 
heterogeneous fractions of the 
biological and mineralogical 
populations into a bio-mineral floc, 
thereby bridging the biological and 
mineralogical worlds. 
Polysaccharide 
Macromolecules Colloids 
TEP 
Floc 
Marine Snow 
Sticky & Flexible TEP 
are able to build 
Heterogeneous Flocs 
Biotic World 
Microbial Population 
TEP from Cell Exudates Abiotic World          
Mineralogical Population 
Heterogeneous 
Flocculation 
Advection & Dispersion, 
Settling, Erosion & Deposition 
Aggregation 
Breakage 
Dissolved cell exudates aggregate 
finally to particulate TEP 
Floc or Marine Snow 
settle fast with  
Mineral Ballasts 
TEP binds  
Cells and Particles 
Ecological Modeling 
   
Microbial Growth and Death:  
Phytoplankton, Zooplankton, 
Heterotrophic Bacteria, etc. 
Nutrient Flux: N, P, Si, Fe, etc. 
Carbon Flux: CO2, Dissolved and 
Particulate Organic s, etc. 
 
e.g. SWAMCO (Lancelot, 2000) 
Cohesive Sediment    
Transport & Flocculation 
   
Transport: Advection, Dispersion, 
Sedimentation, Erosion, Deposition,  
Fluid-Sediment Interaction, etc. 
e.g. FENST, COHERENS 
 (Toorman, 2002) 
 
Flocculation: Floc-Size Growth and 
Decay by Aggregation and Breakage 
e.g. TCPBE (Lee et al., 2011) 
 
TEP Formation 
   
Polymerization & Aggregation:  
Self-Assembling Polymerization, 
Cluster-Cluster Aggregation 
e.g. Engel et al. (2004) 
 
Cell Exudates 
TEP 
   
Combining  
Three Model Compartments 
Ecological Engineer 
Developing Ecological 
Models of Microbial 
Population Dynamics 
Microbiologists 
Physiology of Microbial 
Species, e.g. Finding 
EPS-Producing Species 
Hydraulic Engineer 
Large-scale Simulation 
of Sediment Transport 
and Ecological Models  
Process Engineer 
Developing Biological 
and Physicochemical 
Process Models 
Marine Geologist 
Mineralogical and 
Geomorphological 
Investigation 
and more … 
Growth 
Death 
Exudation 
This is me … 


Heterogeneous flocculation combining the biological and mineralogical populations in a marine and coastal environment [POSTER]

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