CFD investigation of dissolved oxygen distribution in a full-scale aeration tank of an industrial wastewater treatment plant

In this study, we conduct a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study of an aeration tank in a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) that takes into account the mass transfer of oxygen and the distribution of dissolved oxygen (DO). The validity of the multiphase Euler-Euler CFD simulation is established through a comparison of the numerical simulation results with experimental data. The mixture k-ε turbulence closure model is used to account for the turbulent interactions between the phases. A good agreement is found between the results of the simulation and measurements of mean DO and flow patterns in the aeration tank. Furthermore, this work shows the vertical and horizontal DO distribution patterns inside the tank, which can help in selecting a suitable location to install the DO sensor to get stable and reasonable readings of DO inside the aeration tank. This CFD model can forecast the DO distribution and hydrodynamic behavior of a full-scale aeration tank, and it can be used for further parameter design for more WWTP tanks.