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Modeling Water Treatment Reactor Hydraulics Using Reactor Networks
Author(s) -
Gorzalski Alexander S.,
Harrington Gregory W.,
Coronell Orlando
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal ‐ american water works association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.466
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1551-8833
pISSN - 0003-150X
DOI - 10.1002/awwa.1071
Subject(s) - tracer , hydraulics , residence time distribution , contactor , environmental science , chemical reactor , plug flow reactor model , residence time (fluid dynamics) , baffle , process engineering , flow (mathematics) , computer science , nuclear engineering , continuous stirred tank reactor , engineering , mechanics , chemical engineering , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics , aerospace engineering , power (physics) , physics , geotechnical engineering
Reactor hydraulics are integral to water treatment processes such as disinfection and chemical contaminant oxidation. This work uses reactor networks—conceptual reactors arranged in parallel and series combinations—to simplify the accurate modeling of residence time in water treatment reactors. Reactor networks were selected for 14 clearwells, ozone contactors, clarifiers, and filters using tracer data sets from literature. For seven of 14 full‐scale reactors, two parallel tanks‐in‐series reactors best balanced accuracy and simplicity. Reactor networks accurately represented tracer data using between two and eight fitting parameters, while segregated flow analysis required 32–164 inputs (two per tracer data point). The modeling work revealed that tracer data sets may have overestimated baffle factors by >10% in 10 of the 14 full‐scale reactors, potentially as a result of inaccurate measurement of flow rate or volume. Applications of reactor networks include more accurate approaches to disinfection regulation and modeling the degradation of emerging contaminants.