Optimization of the Mixing in a Gas-lift Anaerobic Digester of Municipal Wastewater Sludge

This research aims to optimize the mixing process in gas-lift anaerobic digesters of municipal sewage sludge since mixing and maintaining uniform contact between methanogenic bacteria and nutrients is essential. Wastewater municipal sludge sampling was performed at the Ahvaz West treatment plant (Chonibeh, Iran) during the summer of 2022. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model was implemented to simulate, optimize, and confirm the simulation process using ANSYS Fluent software 19.0. The velocity of the inlet-gas into the digester was determined and a draft tube and a conical hanging baffle were added to the digester design. Different inlet-gas velocities were investigated to optimize the mixing in the digester. Furthermore, turbulence kinetic energy and other evaluation indexes related to the sludge particles such as their velocity, velocity gradient, and eddy viscosity were studied. The optimal inlet-gas velocity was determined to be 0.3 ms-1. The simulation results were validated using the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) method and the correlation between CFD and PIV contours was statistically sufficient (98.8% at the bottom corner of the digester’s wall). The results showed that the model used for simulating, optimizing, and verifying the simulation process is valid. It can be recommended for gas-lift anaerobic digesters with the following specifications: cylindrical tank with a height-to-diameter ratio of 1.5, draft tube-to-digester diameter ratio of 0.2, draft tube-to-fluid height ratio of 0.75, the conical hanging baffle distance from the fluid level equal to 0.125 of the fluid height, and its outer diameter-to-digester diameter of 2/3.