Abstract:
Three-phase flow models of conventional and unconventional upflow anaerobic
sludge blanket reactors were developed using the Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD)
package, CFX V.12.0 to study the effects of liquid upflow velocity (Vup), gas
volumetric flow rate and volume of solid to volume of reactor (solid volume fraction)
on distribution of solid inside the reactors. Solid distribution was defined as the
frequency of position containing solids. The models of the two different types of
Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactor had similar solid distribution
pattern. Moreover, the models were validated with the experimental results of Plaipol
et aI., [2006] using chi-square test. The simulation results well represented the
experimental solid distribution at a level of confidence of 0.05%.
By comparing the simulation results varying the solid volume fraction at 0.05, 0.10 and
0.15, and Vup at 0.0142, 0.0085 and 0.0061 m/hr, at constant gas volumetric flow rate
of 10 ml/min, the change of Vup did not affect the distribution of solid at the equivalent
solid volume fraction. In addition, when the gas volumetric flow rate was varied at 10,
30 and 50 mllmin and Vup of 0.0142, 0.0085 and 0.0061 m/hr, at constant solid volume
fraction of 0.05, the results showed that the different gas volumetric flow rate did not
affect the distribution of solid at the same Vup. This is because the Vup and gas
volumetric flow rate were relatively low compared with the solid volume, causing an
insufficient force to distribute the solid differently. For the effect of solid volume
fraction, it was found that the volume of solids after simulation was lost, therefore the
simulation results couldn't be used to study the effect of the distribution of solid in the
reactors.