Loading...
A CFD strategy to retrofit an anaerobic digester to improve mixing performance in wastewater treatment
Dapelo, Davide Bridgeman, John
Dapelo, Davide
Bridgeman, John
Citations
Altmetric:
Publication Date
2020-04-15
End of Embargo
Supervisor
Rights
(c) 2020 The Authors. This is an Open Access article distributed under the Creative Commons CC-BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Peer-Reviewed
Yes
Open Access status
Accepted for publication
2020-02-03
Institution
Department
Awarded
Embargo end date
Files
Loading...
dapelo_bridgeman_2020
Adobe PDF, 985.33 KB
Additional title
Abstract
To date, mixing design practice in anaerobic digestion has focussed on biogas production, but no adequate consideration has been given to energy efficiency. A coherent, comprehensive and generalized strategy based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling is proposed to improve mixing efficiency of a full-scale, unconfined gas-mixed digester for wastewater treatment. The model consists of an Euler-Lagrange (EL) model where biogas bubbles are modelled as the Eulerian dispersed phase, and non-Newtonian sludge as the Lagrangian continuous phase. Robustness tests show that mixing predictions are independent of bubble size. The CFD strategy comprises the assessment of different mixing geometries and a range of input gas flow rates. Quantitative results show that simple retrofitting measures are able to achieve a significant improvement in the degree of mixing with reduced mixing times, and consequently recommendations for best mixing geometry and gas flow rate are given. A generalization to a generic digester is discussed in a form that is readily usable by professionals and consultants.
Version
Published version
Citation
Dapelo D and Bridgeman J (2020) A CFD strategy to retrofit an anaerobic digester to improve mixing performance in wastewater treatment. Water Science And Technology. 81(8): 1646-1657.
Link to publisher’s version
Link to published version
Link to Version of Record
Type
Article