CFD Simulation on Hydrodynamic Behaviors of Anaerobic Granule Swarms

Abstract

An internal circulation (IC) anaerobic reactor is widely used in the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewater with high volumetric loading rates. The performance of an IC reactor is closely related with hydrodynamic behaviors of anaerobic granules. Typically, anaerobic granules work in swarms and the settling behavior of a granule is disturbed by other granules. However, the research on anaerobic granule swarms is insufficient. In this work, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method was employed to study the hydrodynamic behaviors of anaerobic granule swarms with various voidages. The simulated results showed that the average velocity inside granules increased significantly as the voidage of granule swarm decreased and as the Reynolds number increased. The maximum shear stress on the granule’s surface increased with decreasing voidage and increasing Reynolds number. Based on the hydrodynamic behaviors of anaerobic granule swarms, an improved model of drag force coefficient for granule swarms was developed. The predicted expanded height, using the improved model, gives better consistency with experimental results. The improved model can embed in CFD code to improve the precision of the description of the IC reactor model and provide valuable information for designing and operating an IC reactor.