Mechanical Aerators' Power and Aeration Control in Bioreactors

Mechanical aerators, used in many industrial plants for wastewater treatment, are the largest energy consumers in biological reactors. A number of aerators of equal or different power may be used with aeration control achieved by selecting appropriate working aerator combinations, and by changing aerators' submergence, provided by a control weir lift at the exit of reactors. Effective control may be implemented by selecting an adequate combination of working aerators and control weir lift for achieving the necessary oxygen demand. In this paper an approximate method is proposed for determining the characteristics of aerators used for controlling the necessary oxygen supply. The method is based on an experimental determination of power characteristics of aerators under field conditions at different water levels in reactors, and on the use of known oxygen transfer rate under normal conditions and characteristics of weirs for water level control. Application of the proposed method has made it possible to obtain a mathematical model, which is used for the control of aeration in two biological reactors of Netanya Wastewater Treatment Works (Netanya, Israel).