Journal of Water Process Engineering 7 (2015) 131140

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Journal of Water Process Engineering

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Application of CFD methods to an anaerobic digester: The case of

Ontinyent WWTP, Valencia, Spain
P. Amparo Lpez-Jimnez a, , Juan Escudero-Gonzlez a , Tatiana Montoya Martnez c ,
c

Vicente Fajardo Montanana

, Carlo Gualtieri b
a

Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering Department, Universitat Politcnica de Valncia, Valncia, Spain
Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering Department (DICEA), University of Napoli Federico II, Napoli, Italy
c
Grupo Aguas de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
b

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 30 March 2015
Received in revised form 27 May 2015
Accepted 29 May 2015
Keywords:
Computational uid dynamics
Anaerobic digester
Mixing
Velocities proles
Dead zones

a b s t r a c t
In recent years, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods have increasingly been used to characterize hydrodynamics and mass-transport in wastewater treatment units. Despite being a well-known
and widely applied treatment method to stabilize sludge before nal disposal, the hydrodynamics and
mass transport in the anaerobic digester have been less studied than those of other treatment units.
This paper presents the preliminary results of a 3D numerical study, investigating the characteristics
of sludge ow inside the Ontinyent Wastewater Treatment Plant anaerobic digester (Valencia, Spain).
An approach based upon the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equation was applied, and closure was obtained using the classical standard k model. In this particular case, a single-phase model
was applied considering both Newtonian and Non Newtonian behavior for the sludge simulations. These
single-phase preliminary results allowed the occurrence of dead zones to be identied as well as possible shortcuts inside the digester. The analysis was carried out considering the velocities and the ow
patterns inside the digester as well as the sludge volume in the digester that had lower velocities than a
determined settling velocity. The model was calibrated using available experimental pressure and temperature data. Finally, as well-mixed conditions are strongly desirable for effective anaerobic digestion,
proposals to reduce the volume of dead zones are suggested and discussed.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
1.1. Operational conditions in anaerobic digesters
Anaerobic digestion is one of the most widely used sewage treatment techniques [46,32] . In general terms WWTP involves three
stages, the so called primary, secondary and tertiary treatment.
Primary treatment involves basic processes to remove suspended
solid wastes in order to reduce their biochemical oxygen demand.
Secondary treatment uses biological processes to catch the dissolved organic matter missed in primary treatment. It may require
a separation process to remove the water micro-organisms before
discharging it on tertiary treatment. Furthermore, a highest level
of wastewater treatment is proposed when plants include tertiary
treatment. This is any process that can be included in the plant by
using sophisticated technology to further remove contaminants or

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: palopezji@gmail.com (P.A. Lpez-Jimnez).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2015.05.006
2214-7144/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

specic pollutants. In this sense, management of sludge achieves

paramount importance for the whole process of WWTP processes
[39,2].
Anaerobic digestion reduces the organic content and the number of pathogens in sludge that are left over from primary and
secondary treatment [36]. Anaerobic digestion converts the sludge
into a stable product and produces a usable gas as a byproduct
of anaerobic bacterial activity and they are particularly useful in
sludge treatment and materials recovering [31,5]. This stable product can be used or disposed after digestion [13,11]. Hence, control
and monitoring of digesters is crucial for a good nal operation fo
the whole WWTP [34]. Thus, well-mixed conditions are required
in the digester to maintain a uniform distribution of substrate and
microorganisms, to keep solid heavy particles from settling and
biomass from being suspended or oating at the surface of the
sludge [29], and to maintain the desired sludge pH and temperature that are suitable for microbiological processes [47]. The total
volume of dead zones was suggested by [3] as a possible mixing parameter to characterize anaerobic digesters. Therefore, it is
important to identify a proper criterion to evaluate the total volume

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of dead zones. The settling velocity of the solid particles, if known,

can be used as a threshold velocity to identify the occurrence of
dead zones [47].
1.2. Traditional approaches versus CFD in the study of anaerobic
digesters
Experimental procedures for determining digester performance
require adding tracers to feeding sludge (e.g., lithium chloride).
The sludge hydraulic retention time is derived from the measurements of the tracer concentration in the tank and at the outlet over
extended periods of time of up to 90 days [27] . More recently, prototypes in demonstration scale have been investigated [8]. These
methods can only be applied to existing digesters or prototypes,
whereas mathematical models are an alternative tool for future
digester designs.
In the early 1970s, the rst mathematical models of anaerobic
digestion were proposed to dene the most important operation
parameters. These rst models focused on describing the limiting
step of the process. They considered anaerobic digestion as a multistep process where the slowest step controlled the global rate [18].
These simple models were unable to describe the conditions inside
the digester. Later, bacterial activities, such as acidogenesis and
acetogenesis, were introduced separately [19]. Further microbiological studies led to improved models that incorporated additional
processes, species, inhibition, substrates, and details of the kinetic
processes [11]. These models were focused on determining bacterial conditions, and they assumed complete mixing to calculate the
detention time of the digester. However, these approaches did not
consider the uid dynamics of the digester.
To accomplish this goal, more recent approaches involve
the application of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods [4]. These methods were developed over 40 years ago by
engineers and mathematicians to solve ow problems in the
industrial engineering eld. The fundamental uid dynamics equations that formed the basis of these methods had been known
since the 19th century. However, their solution to problems
with complex geometries and boundary conditions required the
development of efcient numerical solution techniques and the
ability to implement these techniques on computers. The development of both numerical techniques and digital machines with
increased computational power allowed for the wide application of CFD methods to many areas of uid dynamics during
the last few decades, including water and wastewater engineering [20,17,33,24,14,22,35,41,40,12,49,42,16,38,26,30] . Recently,
CFD methods were also applied to study ows inside anaerobic
digesters. Karim et al. [21] developed a non-invasive technique to
measure velocities, turbulent kinetic energy, and gas holdup in a
lab-scale digester with a gas draft tube mixer. The results showed
that the gas ow rate did not signicantly reduce dead zones
inside a at bottom digester. Vesvikar and Al-Dahhan [47] implemented CFD to observe a scaled digester. Mixing in the digester
was accomplished by sparging gas at three different ow rates. The
gas phase was simulated with air and the liquid phase with water.
Wu [51,52] applied a CFD model to characterize mechanical draft
tube mixing in egg-shaped anaerobic digesters. The simulation of
ow patterns was carried out using a propeller rotating from 400
to 750 rpm. They assumed liquid manure to be Newtonian (water)
and non-Newtonian uids depending on the total solids concentration, which affects viscosity. Terashima et al. [44] developed a 3D
CFD model that incorporates rheological properties to quantify the
mixing conditions in a full-scale anaerobic digester. Meroney and
Colorado [27] implemented CFD to simulate the mixing characteristics of four different circular anaerobic digester tanks equipped
with both single and multiple phase draft tube. In this case, the
commercial code FluentTM was used for modeling. The standard

Fig. 1. The plant digester.

k turbulence model was used for all calculations with standard

wall function approximations near walls.
The application of CFD models has demonstrated that complete
mixing is not often achieved. Instead, preferential ow patterns and
varying detention times are present in the digesters. In general,
mixing in the tank deviates from ideal behavior for a variety of
reasons associated with inlet and outlet placement, stratication,
and tank geometry. Currently, quantifying the effects of geometry
on digester performance is the main research focus in this eld.
This paper presents a study of the mixing characteristics that
resulted from different ow entrance geometries in a real anaerobic
digester using CFD simulation methods with different ow considerations for the sludge. Mixing conditions were analyzed with dead
volumes and streamlines (quantitative and qualitative parameters)
to understand the effect of geometry on digester performance.
2. Model development
2.1. Geometry
The numerical simulations presented here were based on the
Ontinyet-Agullent WWTPs digester. It is a circular plant made of
concrete (Fig. 1).
The diameter is 15 m; the cylindrical height is 12,9 m, and the
total height is 13,83 m not including the dome. Its internal volume
is 2380 m3 , and it has a hydraulic retention time of at least 20 days,
for a 2032 kg load of volatile solids/d/m3 . On the one hand the inlet
tubes (with a diameter of 300 mm) are in the top part of the digester,
entering the ow radially; on the other hand, the outlet tubes, with
the same diameter, let the ow go out in a tangential direction, with
a 700 mm radius (Fig. 2).
Generally, in anaerobic digesters, mixing can be achieved during operation using impellers, sludge pumping and gas. In digesters
equipped with draft tubes, part of the impelled sludge is recycled
into the tank at high velocities with the help of pumps and nozzles [27]. This is the case in this study (Fig. 1). The HEATMIX are
agitation and heating units that consist of two tubes with an inter-

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133

Fig. 2. (a) Geometry of the anaerobic digester; (b) plan view; (c) dimensions in vertical plane; (d) dimensions in horizontal plane (mm).

nal diameter of 31 mm. They are equipped with an external grid

arranged outside of the primary digesters. They achieve sludge agitation by injecting a relatively high-pressure ow into the tubes,
and warm water circulating in the external mesh. Flow enters from
the top and leaves from the bottom of the digester. Fig. 2 shows the
geometry considered in this modeling study (Fig. 3).

The momentum equation is:

(v)
+ (vv) = p +  + g + F
t

where p is the static pressure;  and the gravitational and outer

forces are dened on the control volume, respectively, and the
stress is tensor dened by:

2.2. Equations
 = T
Numerical simulations of ow in the above geometry were
obtained with CCM+TM (Version 6.06, CD-Adapco, London, UK),
which is a commercial CFD code CD-Adapco, 2011. This code solves
the basic conservation laws of Fluid Mechanics, i.e., the laws of conservation of mass, momentum and energy. The continuity or mass
conservation equation used is:


+ v = Sm
t

(1)

where  is the uid density, v is its velocity and Sm is the mass

source in the control volume. Cartesian coordinates were used in
this case.

(2)



v + vT

2
vI
3

(3)

where T is the eddy dynamic viscosity and I is the unit tensor

[7]. Steady-state conditions were used for all simulations. For the
closure problem, the standard k model was applied. This is a
semi-empirical model based on the transport equations for kinetic
turbulent energy (k) and the dissipation rate (). The turbulence
equations were solved separately from the mass and momentum
equations at each time step. The k model has been successfully
used by many researchers for similar mixing problems [27]. According to these authors, other turbulence models have been assessed
for these sort of problems and results were acceptably good compared with the computational cost of simulations. In the particular

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Table 2
Rheological properties for sludge modeling in non Newtonian simulations.

Fig. 3. Detail of the boundary conditions in the initial geometry.

Table 1
Physical parameters values for Newtonian Sludge.
Parameter
Density
Dynamic viscosity  (Newtonian uid assumption)
Gravity g
Heat transfer coefcient (bottom) Ub
Heat transfer coefcient (buried wall) U1
Heat transfer coefcient (non-buried wall) U2

Value
999.66 kg/m3
0.065 Pa s
9.81 m\s2
1.000 W/m2 C
2.361 W/m2 C
0.933 W/m2 C

case of the research presented by Bridgeman in 2012, validation

considering the applied torque for determining the overall power
consumption in a particular digester with sludge similar to the one
here described, pointed out that standard k model gives good
results when compared with other turbulence closure strategies
for validating this torque.
The energy equation is:

(T )

T + 
+  (vT ) =
Pr
t

(4)

where T is the temperature; Pr is the Prandtl Number (a dimensionless number describing the ratio of momentum diffusivity, i.e.,
kinematic viscosity, to thermal diffusivity); and is a source of heat
ux.

TS (%)

K (Pa sn)

Density

2.5
5.4

0.042
0.192

0.71
0.562

226702
50702

100.36
1000.78

Second, as the characteristics of the sludge could change, the

assumption of non-Newtonian uid was even considered. Rheological properties of sludge are important in the model [45]. The
rheological properties of the sludge modeling, according to Wu and
Chen [50] and Bridgeman [6], are described in Table 2. In this case,
non Newtonian uids have a viscosity which is depending on shear
rate ( )
and it is also related to apparent viscosity
. Sewage has a
pseudo-plastic behavior, where the viscosity can be expressed by
using a power law:
n1 eT0 /T In Eq. (5), K is the consistency index and n
(5)
= K( )
indicates the ow behavior index (n < 1 for pseudo-plastic uids, T0
is the reference temperature and T is the uid temperature.
A single-phase approach was assumed in all simulations, as suggested from the available literature [48,44]. In this case, biogas is
present inside the digester. However, it enters through the top into
the digester; as it ascends, it is recovered in the dome. Furthermore, the phenomenon studied is the uid jet entering the tank
that creates a radial and circumferential circulation pattern from
the top to the bottom of the tank. Therefore, the focus of the ow
modeling was sludge movement. Other studies have considered
the presence of biogas, especially those with animal waste and gas
impulsion [47] or at laboratory scale [23].
2.4. Boundary conditions
A classical velocity inlet boundary condition was used with two
inlets located at the top of the digester. The outlet was rst dened
as a pressure outlet located on the bottom of the digester. The
remaining geometry was represented using standard wall conditions.
2.5. Mesh
Different mesh were analyzed, in order to nd a compromise between simplicity and accuracy. Finally, a trimmed meshing
model was used as it provides a robust and efcient method of
producing a high quality grid for both simple and complex mesh
generation problems. The used mesh has the main characteristics:

2.3. Physical parameters

Different considerations for the ow were applied in this paper.

Steady state simulations were performed for digester mixing both
for Newtonian sludge uid or non Newtonian uid, with different total dissolved solids (TDS) contents sludge according to the
possible sludge treated in this plant: 2.5, 5.4 and 9.1 TDS. In
the Newtonian uid case the density and dynamic viscosity were
assumed to be constant. Their values were obtained from measurements of the uid sludge at the digester outlet (Table 1).
As a rst assumption, the uid was considered Newtonian. This
was supported by viscosity measurements from a rotating viscosimeter that showed little variation between different samples.
Referenced papers suggest using the mean value of uid viscosity
for CFD simulations when active mixing occurs [9,37,27,25] as a
rst approximation to the problem.

The resulting mesh is predominantly composed of hexahedral

cells with trimmed cells next to the surface. Trimmed cells are
polyhedral cells but can usually be recognized as hexahedral cells
with one or more corners and/or edges cut off. With these characterizations, a high-quality mesh of the whole considered volume
was nally used. In these conditions, considering the zones with
more turbulence, the results were consistent with a limited time
for calculations.
Therefore, the surface mesh has 80,232 faces (Fig. 4a), and the
volume mesh was composed of 359,900 cells (Fig. 4b).
A trimmed mesh was chosen to account for the ow movement
in areas where a ne mesh was needed. It was generated using the
trimmer wake renement and the volume shape (Figs. 5 and 6)
tools.

predominantly hexahedral mesh with minimal cell skewness;

automatic curvature and proximity renement;
surface quality independence;
alignment with the user specied coordinate system.

P.A. Lpez-Jimnez et al. / Journal of Water Process Engineering 7 (2015) 131140

135

Fig. 4. Mesh applied in the simulations.

2.6. Solver parameters

Fig. 5. Detail of the volume shapes.

Fig. 6. Detail of the prism layer.

A 3D, implicit, pressure-based, segregated, steady solver

algorithm was used to predict the ow eld. The SIMPLE
pressurevelocity coupling method was applied, and a secondorder upwind discretization scheme was used for all discretized
terms. Under-relaxation factors were 0.3, 1.0, 1.0, 0.7, 1.0, and 0.9
for pressure, density, body forces, momentum, kinetic energy, and
dissipation, respectively. The magnitude of scaled residuals was
checked for convergence. Residuals are dened as the imbalance
between each conservation equation following each iteration. Convergence was achieved when the scaled residuals are below 103 .
More than 5000 iterations were run for each simulation.
Visualization and analysis of processed magnitudes provide an
opportunity to examine alternative inlet, outlet and element congurations. This visualization of uid velocity vectors, streamlines
and particle trajectories can help the designer to understand mixing processes. Additionally, it can identify possible problems in
advance. Moreover, the issue of evaluating hydraulic performance
in water and wastewater treatment units has received attention in
recent years [43,15,1]. Several indicators of hydraulic performance
were proposed to characterize both plug-ow and mixing conditions in those units, such as the dispersion index and the Morril
index.
This study was implemented in a full-scale real digester model
and therefore was mainly focused on design. In this case, the novelty of this research is the engineering purpose, which was to dene
benchmark parameters of the digesters hydraulic behavior that
would be suitable as a tool for making decisions about changes in
the design and for improving the efciency of the whole device .
The results were analyzed by using the following parameters:
Histogram: used to observe the velocity of cells contained in a
specic volume.
Stream lines: used to show the uid movement direction;
Dead zones: settling is the process in which particles fall to the
bottom of a liquid and form sediments. Particles in which a force
is applied, either due to gravity or to centrifugal motion, tend
to move in a uniform manner in the direction of the applied
force. Stokes law regarding settling was used to dene dead zones
[28,10]. Stokes law describes the motion of a small spherical
object in a viscous uid. The particle is subjected to the downward force, Fg , of gravity and the buoyancy force FA , which is also
known as the applied force in Archimedes law. As soon as the particles considered as spheres start moving, a third frictional force,

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P.A. Lpez-Jimnez et al. / Journal of Water Process Engineering 7 (2015) 131140

Table 3
Runs performed.
Case

Characteristics

Run 1

Radial inlets

Run 2.1

Inlet tangentially forced

Run 2.2

Inlet tangentially forced with different entrance angle and nozzle to accelerate inlet velocity

Run 2.3
Run 2.4

Initial geometry with an increment of owrate of 20%

Initial geometry with a decrement of owrate of 20%

Ff , of the uid becomes relevant. Its direction opposes the direction of motion. As long as Ftot is positive, the velocity increases.
However, Ff is proportional to the ow velocity. The resulting
force (Fr = Fg FA ) is directed downward when the specic density of the particle (p ) is higher than that of the uid (f ) and
upward when it is smaller than that of the uid.
The equilibrium or settling velocity vs can be calculated from
the previous equations, with Ftot = Fr Ff = 0. The result is:
vs =

2
9

r 2 g(p f )/

(6)

Using this expression with a particle diameter of 0.0001 0.0006

m, threshold velocities were dened for the dead zones (velocity
lower than 0.005 m/s) and the mixing zones (velocity larger than
0.005 m/s). In the non Newtonian uid simulations, velocity threshold is increased until 0.02 m/s and the size of dead zones reasonably
increased.
Velocity study in the direction of gravity: the velocity study refers
to the vertical component of the velocity. If the main ow direction is downwards, upward-ow (positive) velocities will involve
recirculation. To calculate these parameters, JavaTM functions in
the software Star-CCM+ have been implemented.

Run 1-T2.5: Non Newtonian uid with TDS 2.5%; Run 1-T5,4: nonNewtonian uid with TDS 5.4%.
Run 2.1. In this run a small geometrical change in the inlet digester
was made (Table 3) with the Newtonian uid assumption. The
change was to force the ow to come inside the digester in
the tangential direction with a radius similar to outow pipes
(700 mm).
In comparison to Fig. 2 where the entrance is radially forced, in
these second set of runs, the inlet velocities are tangentially forced
by the inlet ow pipes. The entrance and outer congurations are
symmetric.
Run 2.2: In this simulation, the digester inlet was changed
(Table 3). In particular, the entrance angle was signicantly
changed and a nozzle reducing 20% the inlet diameter, with a
small angle of convergence (30 ) was added.
Run 2.3: In this simulation the owrate was increased by 20%;
with Newtonian uid assumption.
Run 2.4: In this simulation the owrate was decreased by 20%.
with Newtonian uid assumption.
3. Results
3.1. Newtonian uid simulations

2.7. Runs
Several runs were performed, and some conditions from the current conguration (Run 1) were changed. First, the inlet conditions
were changed in Runs 2.1 and 2.2. Second, the uid ow rate was
increased and decreased by 20% (Runs 2.3 and 2.4). This increment
was determined by the ability of the pumps to work with reasonable performance efciency. The change in the ow was analyzed
to understand the effect of the ow rate on the internal distribution
of the velocity eld.
Run 1: This simulation is used as a reference for comparison to
the simulations that followed with Newtonian uid assumption.

In this section, the results of the initial scenario using the actual
digester geometry and Newtonian uid are presented (Run 1). The
distribution of the uid velocities in the digester are shown in Fig. 7.
In this gure, the number of cells with a certain velocity modulus
is presented. As can be observed, most of the cells have velocities
of similar magnitudes. Small changes in these magnitudes are typical of a digester with a mostly uniform velocity eld. In this case, a
deviation of approximately 0.015 m/s was observed, determining a
quite uniform velocity inside the whole simulated volume. Streamlines for velocity are presented in Fig. 8. The dead zones and the
zones with a positive (downward) vertical velocity are presented
in Figs. 9 and 10, respectively.

P.A. Lpez-Jimnez et al. / Journal of Water Process Engineering 7 (2015) 131140

137

Fig. 7. Velocityvolume histogram.

Fig. 8. Streamlines inside the digester.

In this case, the dead zones were 3.67% of the volume. Low
upward velocities were observed in the 56.08% of volume. Some
improvements were proposed to decrease the dead zone volume
inside the digester.
3.2. Non-Newtonian uid simulations
New simulations were carried out in the assumption of nonNewtonian uid (Table 2).

Fig. 10. Recirculation volume v [z] > 0 in the transverse and longitudinal planes.

Table 4
Results of the velocities in vertical directions upwards and downwards; and dead
zones in different runs simulations.
Run
1
1-T2,5
1-T5,4

Newtonian
Non-Newtonian, T 2,5%
Non-Newtonian, T 5,4%

V+ (%)

V (%)

56,1
58,14
56,14

40,26
41,65
39,68

Dead zones (%)

3,67
0,21
4,2

Table 4 compares the results obtained using the assumption

of Newtonian uid and non-Newtonian uid, respectively. Interestingly, both the velocities, upward and downward, and the
percentage of dead zones are of the same order of magnitude..
Therefore, in order to propose improvements in the geometry of the
digester, the assumption of Newtonian uid was applied Table 5.

4. Model validation

Fig. 9. Dead zones.

In this study, the model was validated by comparing the bulk

pressure and temperature differences in the digester. These were
the available measurements in this case. Therefore, the velocities
inside the digester could only be studied with CFD.

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Table 5
Comparison of the results from Run 1 and the proposals for improvement.

Run 1
Run 2.1
Run 2.2
Run 2.3
Run 2.4

Volume v[z] > 0%

Volume v[z] < 0%

Volume dead zones%

0.00
-2.85
-0.69
0.88
-1.24

0.00
5.93
4.14
1.03
-1.07

0.00
3.08
3.46
1.91
2.31

Fig. 12. Temperature inside the digester.

Fig. 11. Pressure inside the digester.

4.1. Pressure validation

Measurements of pressures were performed in situ. The measurements were taken from the bottom and the top of the uid
column. The pressure gain between the top and bottom measured
up to 1.425 bar and the pressure in the outlet pipe was 1.4 bar, representing only 1.78% of deviation. With this boundary condition,
the pressures generated in this simulation are shown in Fig. 11.
4.2. Temperature validation
The temperature was known at the inlet and outlet of the
digester. The inlet temperature was 35.48 C. The temperature
decrease under any operating condition was lower than 0.5 C. In
this case, the energy conservation equation was also applied in the
model. The worst local temperature condition was assumed: Air:
0 C; Soil: 10 C. The values of the coefcient of heat transfer are
listed in Table 1. The heat transfer coefcient along the walls was
2.361 W/m2 C in the part of the digester above ground level and
0.933 W/m2 C for the part of the digester that was below groundlevel (2 m). In digester base, a value of 1.0 W/ m2 C was used for
this coefcient. The temperature distribution inside the digester
that results from these conditions is presented in Fig. 12.
The temperature in the outlet ow was 35.17 C. The temperature decrease measured in the digester was within the expected
interval, as it is expected to decrease between 0.25 and 0.5 C. In
this particular case the decrease was 0.31 C, in the normal range of
temperature deviation. The uniformity of velocities in the digester
was ensured, as this condition is important for an effective digestion
process by analyzing the dead zones, as indicated. Furthermore, the
pressure and temperature were used to calibrate the CFD model,
which was then used to improve the geometry.

Fig. 13. Velocity analysis in the digester under different conditions with Newtonian
ow consideration.

digester. Several runs were carried out with the new congurations listed in Table 2. The resulting dead zones proportions and
the recirculation volumes are presented in Fig. 13.
Vertical velocities and dead zones with the new inlet geometry
have been compared to those obtained with the original model.
The velocity parameters in the gravitational axis and the dead zone
volumes have been compared in Table 3 to study the effect of each
case.
Comparing the effect in velocities of each conguration
(Table 4), it is observed that Run 2.1 has smaller recirculation zones
than Run 2.2. Yet, the dead zones are highly decreased in both congurations with slightly more efciency in Run 2.2. Nevertheless,
the geometric design for Run 2.1 is easier to implement, as it has
the same inlet and outlet conguration. The more circumferential
forcing angle in the entrance signicantly diminishes recirculations
and dead zones with few changes in geometry. Furthermore, as the
ow rate increased (Run 2.3), the volume of dead zones decreased.
In contrast, the volume of dead zones increased if the ow rate
decreased (Run 2.4).
6. Conclusion

5. Proposals for improvement

Changes in the inlet conguration were proposed, as described
in Section 2.7, to reduce the proportion of dead zones inside the

This paper presents a CFD study of the anaerobic digester in

the Ontinyent Wastewater Treatment Plant (Valencia, Spain). The
computational model was validated using in-situ measurements

P.A. Lpez-Jimnez et al. / Journal of Water Process Engineering 7 (2015) 131140

of pressure and temperature to demonstrate the ability of the

CFD model to predict ow patterns in the digester. The ow eld
in the digester was analyzed because it signicantly affects the
performance of the digestion process. In particular, the hydraulic
performance of the digester was studied using the percentage
of dead zones and the recirculation volume as indicators. These
performance indicators were also used to compare two different
geometries for the digester inlet to improve mixing. First, numerical simulations were carried out considering both the assumption
of Newtonian uid and non-Newtonian uid. The results were in
the same order of magnitude. Second, a set of numerical simulations were performed using the assumption of Newtonian uid in
order to propose improvements in the geometry of the digester.
It was demonstrated that the more tangential is the angle at the
entrance the less are the dead zones and the recirculation volume.
Despite the uncertainties typically affecting CFD simulations,
this preliminary study of a full-scale digester provides the tools and
condence to explore full-scale anaerobic digester tank congurations in the future. Possible improvements to the model include
adding a biphasic and more complex model, which will consider
the biological and chemical processes occurring in the digester
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the cooperation of the Entidad Pblica
de Saneamiento de Aguas Residuales. This work has been partially
Industria Valensupported by Instituto de la Mediana y Pequena
ciana (IMPIVA, Project IMIDTF/2011/107) and Fondo Europeo de
Desarrollo Regional (FEDER). The authors also acknowledge the
help of Vincenzo Morone in the preliminary development of the
present research.
References
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