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Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis of the Effects of Reactor Configuration on Disinfection Efficiency
Author(s) -
Greene Dennis J.,
Haas Charles N.,
Farouk Bakhtier
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
water environment research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.356
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1554-7531
pISSN - 1061-4303
DOI - 10.2175/106143005x72984
Subject(s) - computational fluid dynamics , micromixing , mixing (physics) , residence time distribution , residence time (fluid dynamics) , chemistry , plug flow reactor model , continuous stirred tank reactor , chemical reactor , tracer , plug flow , reactor design , nuclear engineering , mechanics , environmental science , flow (mathematics) , thermodynamics , chromatography , analytical chemistry (journal) , engineering , physics , geotechnical engineering , quantum mechanics , nuclear physics
The efficacy of disinfection processes in water purification systems is governed by several key factors, including reactor hydraulics, disinfectant chemistry, and microbial inactivation kinetics. The objective of this work was to develop a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model to predict velocity fields, mass transport, chlorine decay, and microbial inactivation in a continuous flow reactor. The CFD model was also used to evaluate disinfection efficiency in alternative reactor designs. The CFD reactor analysis demonstrates that disinfection efficiency is affected by both kinetics and mixing state (i.e., degree of micromixing or segregation). Residence time distributions (RTDs) derived from tracer analysis do not describe intrinsic mixing conditions. The CFD‐based disinfection models account for reactor mixing patterns by resolution of the reactor velocity field and thus provide a better prediction of microbial inactivation than models that use an RTD.