Novel aeration of a large‐scale flat sheet MBR: A CFD and experimental investigation |
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| Authors: | Bing Wang Kaisong Zhang Robert W. Field |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China;2. Institute of Urban Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;3. Dept. of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PJ, U.K |
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| Abstract: | Having previously established that the hydrodynamic effect introduced by slug bubbles is more effective and economic in fouling amelioration in flat sheet MBRs (FSMBR) than conventional bubbling, this work is focused on its implementation in a commercial FSMBR. The overall objective is to enhance the hydrodynamic effect on fouling control through the use of two‐stage large‐sized bubble development (coalescence and split). Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was used to predict hydrodynamic features and substantial agreement was observed with experimental measurements. The critical height for bubble development space was determined to be circa 250 mm. Slug bubbles could be introduced into 14 channels, resulting in six‐fold stronger shear stress than that from single bubbles. Energy demand could be reduced by circa 50% compared with industry average usage and the shear stresses developed would, for most applications, be sufficient to ameliorate fouling. Furthermore, the specific air demand per permeate would be halved. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 64: 2721–2736, 2018 |
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| Keywords: | membrane bioreactor large‐scale bubbling slug bubbling computational fluid dynamics fouling control |
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