The purpose of the present thesis is to shed light on a very complex subject such as the modeling and control of industrial wastewater physico-chemical treatments, with particular attention to the coagulation-flocculation process with simoultaneous precipitation of heavy metals. After a brief but comprehensive introduction to the theory of coagulation, some concerns about the applicability of DLVO theory in the context of process simulation are raised, thus urging the need to find simpler but equally explanatory formulations that can be practically implemented within numerical models. In this regard, a fairly in-depth review of the progress that flocculation theory has made over the past forty years is given, going as far as modeling flocs as porous and hydraulically permeable fractal aggregates.