Analysis of Design Factors Influencing the Oxygen Transfer of a Pilot-Scale Speece Cone Hypolimnetic Aerator
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 3
Abstract
The objective of this research was to characterize the performance of a pilot scale downflow bubble contact (DBCA) hypolimnetic aerator, the Speece Cone. The effect of two key design factors, inlet water velocity and the ratio of gas flow rate to water flow rate on four standard units of oxygen transfer, was examined: (a) the oxygen transfer coefficient, , corrected to 20°C, ; (b) the standard oxygen transfer rate, SOTR (); (c) the standard aeration efficiency, SAE (); and (d) the standard oxygen transfer efficiency, SOTE (%). Two sources of oxygen, pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen (87% purity oxygen) and air ( oxyzen) were compared. , SOTR, and SAE increased with an increase in the ratio of gas flow rate to water flow rate for both air and oxygen, over a range of 0.5% to 5.0%; while SOTE deceased. An increase in inlet water velocity resulted in a decrease in , corrected to 20°C, SOTR, and SAE, but an increase in the SOTE. Experimental treatments with air showed similar, but much less dramatic effect of the gas flow rate to water flow rate ratio and water inlet velocity on , SOTE, SAE, and SOTE, when compared to treatments with PSA oxygen. The best oxygen transfer performance was achieved with an inlet water velocity of and oxygen flow rate to water flow rate ratio of about 2.5%. At this combination, the SOTE was about 66–72%. Further experimentation with inlet water velocity is required to increase oxygen transfer performance to the range which has been reported in the literature for Speece Cone oxygenation systems.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Susan Harper and Paula Parkinson in the Civil Engineering Lab at UBC for assisting with this study. NSERC funding from D.S. Mavinic supported the majority of this research project. Special thanks to Dr. Richard Speece for personally visiting the research site and providing his amazing wisdom and encouragement for this study.
References
American Public Health Association, American Water Works Association, and Water Pollution Control Federation. (1980). Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 15th Ed., American Public Health Association, Washington, DC.
ASCE. (1992). “Measurement of oxygen transfer in clean water.” ANSI/SSCE 2-91, 2nd Ed., New York.
Ashley, K. I. (2002). “Comparative analysis of oxygen transfer in full lift and downflow bubble contact hypolimnetic aerators.” Ph.D. thesis, Civil Engineering Dept., Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Ashley, K. I., Mavinic, D. S., and Hall, K. J. (2008). “Oxygenation performance of a laboratory-scale Speece Cone hypolimnetic aerator: preliminary assessment.” Can. J. Civil Eng., 35(7), 663–675.
Beak Consultants Ltd. (1977). “State of the art review: Aeration.”, Beak Consultants, Montreal, QC.
Bewtra, J. K., Nicholas, W. R., and Polkowski, L. B. (1970). “Effect of temperature on oxygen transfer in water.” Water Res., 4(1), 115–122.
Boyd, C. E. (1986). “A method for testing aerators for fish tanks.” Prog. Fish Cult., 48(1), 68–70.
Boyd, C. E., and Watten, B. J. (1989). “Aeration systems in aquaculture.” Rev. Aquat. Sci., 1(3), 425–472.
Colt, J. (1984). “Computation of dissolved gas concentrations in water as functions of temperature, salinity and pressure.” Special Publication No. 14, American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, MA.
Cooke, G. D., and Carlson, R. E. (1989). Reservoir management for water quality and THM precursor control, AWWA Research Foundation, Denver, CO, 387.
Cooke, G. D., Welch, E. B., Peterson, S. A., and Nichols, S. A. (2005). Restoration and management of lake and reservoirs, 3rd Ed., CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
Doke, J. L., Funk, W. H., Jull, S. T. J., and Moore, B. C. (1995). “Habitat availability and benthic invertebrate population changes following alum treatment and hypolimnetic oxygenation in Newman Lake, Washington.” J. Fresh Water Ecol., 10(2), 87–102.
Fast, A. W., Dorr, V. A., and Rosen, R. J. (1975). “A submerged hypolimnion aerator.” Water Resour. Res., 11(2), 287–293.
Fast, A. W., and Lorenzen, M. W. (1976). “Synoptic survey of hypolimnetic aeration.” J. Environ. Eng. Div., Proc. Amer. Soc. Civil Eng., 106(EE6),1161–1173.
Kowsari, S. A. (2008). “Analysis of design factors influencing the oxygen transfer efficiency of a Speece Cone hypolimnetic aerator.” M.A.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Lorenzen, M., and Fast, A. W. (1977). “A guide to aeration/circulation techniques for lake management.” Technical Rep. Prepared for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 600/3-77-004. Tetra Tech, Layfayette, IN.
Mavinic, D. S. (1973). “Optimization of oxygen transfer into water in a coarse-bubble, diffused aeration system.” Ph.D. thesis, Civil Engineering Depart., Univ. of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada.
McGinnis, D. F., and Little, J. C. (1998). “Bubble dynamics and oxygen transfer in a Speece Cone.” Water Sci. Technol., 37(2), 285–292.
Muller, R., and Stadelmann, P. (2004). “Fish habitat requirements as the basis for rehabilitation of eutrophic lakes by oxygenation.” Fisheries Manag. Ecol., 11(3–4), 251–260.
Point Four Systems. (1997). PT4 users manual for UBC Civil Engineering Dept., Point Four Sytems, Richmond, BC, Canada.
Schmit, F. L., Wren, J. D., and Redmon, D. T. (1978). “The effect of tank dimensions and diffuser placement on oxygen transfer.” J. Water Poll. Control Fed., 50(7), 1750–1767.
Singleton, V. L., and Little, J. C. (2006). “Designing hypolimnetic aeration and oxygenation systems—A review.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 40(24), 7512–7520.
Speece, R. E. (1971). “Hypolimnion aeration.” J Amer Water Works Ass., 63(1), 6–9.
Speece, R. E. (1994). “Lateral thinking solves stratification problems.” Water qual. int., 3, 12–15.
Speece, R. E., Nirmalakhandan, N., and Tchobanoglous, G. (1990). “Commercial oxygen use in water-quality management.” Water Environ. Technol., 2(7), 54–61.
Tate, C. H., and Arnold, K. F. (1990). “Health and aesthetic aspects of water quality.” Water quality and treatment, F. W. Pontius, ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 63–154.
Tchobanoglous, G., and Burton, F. L., 1991. Wastewater engineering. treatment, disposal and reuse, 3rd Ed. McGraw-Hill, New York.
Wu, R. S., Zhou, B. S., Randall, D. J., Woo, N. Y., and Lam, P. K. S. (2003). “Aquatic hypoxia is an endocrine disruptor and impairs fish reproduction.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 37(6), 1137–1141.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 140 • Issue 3 • March 2014
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 18, 2012
Accepted: Sep 23, 2013
Published online: Sep 25, 2013
Published in print: Mar 1, 2014
Discussion open until: May 3, 2014
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.