Thomas Ruby Bentzen

Heavy Metal and PAH Concentrations in Highway Runoff Deposits Fractionated on Settling Velocities

The correlation between settling velocity and associated pollutant concentrations is of major importance for best management practice in designing, redesigning, or evaluation of the efficiency of existing pond facilities for retaining unwanted pollutants. The prospect of this note is to state the relationship between the settling velocity of the runoff particles and the corresponding metal and polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentration directly instead of dealing with two unknowns—the density and the shape of a single particle fraction in a settling velocity calculations. The measurements show that the highest cadmium, chromium, zinc, and nickel concentrations is associated with the most slowly falling particles and the lowest concentration associated within the faster falling fraction. This tendency is not clear for some of the sediments due to high content of organic matter and clearly not for lead and copper and there is no significant correlation between PAH concentration and settling velocity. The ...

Analytical and numerical modelling of Newtonian and non-Newtonian liquid in a rotational cross-flow MBR

Fouling is the main bottleneck of the widespread use of MBR systems. One way to decrease and/or control fouling is by process hydrodynamics. This can be achieved by the increase of liquid cross-flow velocity. In rotational cross-flow MBR systems, this is attained by the spinning of, for example, impellers. Validation of the CFD (computational fluid dynamics) model was made against laser Doppler anemometry (LDA) tangential velocity measurements (error less than 8%) using water as a fluid. The shear stress over the membrane surface was inferred from the CFD simulations for water. However, activated sludge (AS) is a non-Newtonian liquid, for which the CFD model was modified incorporating the non-Newtonian behaviour of AS. Shear stress and area-weighted average shear stress relationships were made giving error less that 8% compared with the CFD results. An empirical relationship for the area-weighted average shear stress was developed for water and AS as a function of the angular velocity and the total suspended solids concentration. These relationships can be linked to the energy consumption of this type of systems.

Predictions of Resuspension of Highway Detention Pond Deposits in Interrain Event Periods due to Wind-Induced Currents and Waves

The paper presents a numerical study of resuspension of deposits from highway detention ponds based on a previous experimental study. The resuspension process is evaluated in dry weather periods with baseflow/infiltration flow through the ponds only. The resuspension is caused by the bed-shear stress induced by the return flow near the bed and waves both generated by the wind. Wind statistics for 30 years have been applied for prediction of the annual discharged bulk of suspended solids and associated pollutants; fluoranthene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, benzo(a)pyrene, dibenzo(a,h)anthracene and indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene (PAHs) and the heavy metals of cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc. The current and wave-generated bed-shear stresses entail a discharged bulk of pollutants corresponding to approximately 10% of the annual accumulation of pollutants in the present pond due to the baseflow in the pond. The mean outlet concentration of suspended solids is well correlated with the wind speed. To reduce the resuspension of deposited materials, two mechanisms are prevailing; either by increase of the water depth of the pond to minimize the effect of the wind in the near-bed region or by reduction of the wind to some degree. The most efficient action for reducing the wind impact on the shallow waters is the establishment of shelterbelts as known from the agriculture. Just a 20% reduction of the yearly wind speeds will reduce the outlet mass with 70% and a 50% reduction with almost 100%. A 50% reduction of the wind speed is far from impossible to achieve with relatively small investments.

Experimental and CFD simulation studies of wall shear stress for different impeller configurations and MBR activated sludge

Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) have been used successfully in biological wastewater treatment for effective solids-liquid separation. However, a common problem encountered with MBR systems is fouling of the membrane resulting in frequent membrane cleaning and replacement which makes the system less appealing for full-scale applications. It has been widely demonstrated that the filtration performances in MBRs can be improved by understanding the shear stress over the membrane surface. Modern tools such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can be used to diagnose and understand the shear stress in an MBR. Nevertheless, proper experimental validation is required to validate CFD simulation. In this work experimental measurements of shear stress induced by impellers at a membrane surface were made with an electrochemical approach and the results were used to validate CFD simulations. As good results were obtained with the CFD model (<9% error), it was extrapolated to include the non-Newtonian behaviour of activated sludge.

3D modelling of transport, deposition and resuspension of highway deposited sediments in wet detention ponds

The paper presents results from an experimental and numerical study of flows and transport of primarily particle bound pollutants in highway wet detention ponds. The study presented here is part of a general investigation on road runoff and pollution in respect to wet detention ponds. The objective is to evaluate the quality of long term simulation based on historical rains series of the pollutant discharges from roads and highways. A three-dimensional hydrodynamic and mud transport model is used for the investigation. The transport model has been calibrated and validated on e.g. experiments in a 30 m long concrete channel with width of 0.8 m and a water depth of approximately 0.8 m and in circular flume experiments in order to reproduce near-bed specific processes such as resuspension and consolidation. With a fairly good agreement with measurements, modelling of hydrodynamics, transport of dissolved pollutants and particles in wet detention ponds is possible with application of a three dimensional RANS model and the advection/dispersion equation taken physical phenomena like wind, waves, deposition, erosion and consolidation of the bottom sediment into account.

INFLUENCE OF CLOSING STORM SURGE BARRIER ON EXTREME WATER LEVELS AND WATER EXCHANGE; THE LIMFJORD, DENMARK

The Limfjord is the largest Danish estuary and is connected to both the North Sea in the west and the Kattegat in the east. The connection to the North Sea was formed in 1825 by a storm surge, and has since been kept open partly artificially. The debate about the climate changes and thereby the increased risk of flooding in the estuary has revitalized the discussion whether this connection should be closed. In this paper, it is shown by numerical simulation that the establishment of a storm surge barrier across Thyborøn Channel can significantly reduce the peak water levels in the central of the fjord. The reduction is obtained by blocking the ingoing flow with a sluice in due time before the storm surge peaks in the North Sea. In order to avoid problems with reduced water quality and salinity, the water exchange should be controlled by only keeping the sluice open for ingoing currents for the rest of days during the year. Depending on the effective cross-sectional area of the sluice, the depth-averaged salinity in the Limfjord remains status quo for cross-sectional areas of 500 m2, whereas the salinity increases with up to 1.5 PSU for larger openings.

Comparison of four types of membrane bioreactor systems in terms of shear stress over the membrane surface using computational fluid dynamics

Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) have been used successfully in biological wastewater treatment to solve the perennial problem of effective solids-liquid separation. A common problem with MBR systems is clogging of the modules and fouling of the membrane, resulting in frequent cleaning and replacement, which makes the system less appealing for full-scale applications. It has been widely demonstrated that the filtration performances in MBRs can be greatly improved with a two-phase flow (sludge-air) or higher liquid cross-flow velocities. However, the optimization process of these systems is complex and requires knowledge of the membrane fouling, hydrodynamics and biokinetics. Modern tools such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can be used to diagnose and understand the two-phase flow in an MBR. Four cases of different MBR configurations are presented in this work, using CFD as a tool to develop and optimize these systems.

Development of low-cost rotational rheometer

Liquids with non-Newtonian properties are presented in many engineering areas, as for example in membrane bioreactors where active sludge exhibits shear thinning properties. Therefore, the ability to determine the rheologys dependence on shear is important when optimising systems with such liquids. However, rheometers capable of determining the viscosity are often expensive and so a cheaper alternative is constructed with this exact capability. Using the principle of rotating rheometers, a low-cost rheometer was built to determine the rheology of Newtonian and non-Newtonian liquids. The general principles and background assumptions and the physics are described. The rheometer was calibrated by comparison with measurements conducted on a Brookfield viscometer for Newtonian liquids. For validation measurements on non-Newtonian liquids, xanthan gum solutions were made and compared with measurements on the Brookfield viscometer and with values from other sources. Furthermore, the effect of excluding the different shear rates in the system is discussed and good practice hereto is given.

Can we close the long-term mass balance equation for pollutants in highway ponds?

The paper discusses the prospects of finding the long term mass balance on basis of short term simulations. A step in this process is to see to which degree the mass balance equation can be closed by measurements. Accordingly the total accumulation of heavy metals and PAH’s in 8 Danish detention ponds only receiving runoff from highways have been measured. The result shows that the incoming mass of heavy metals from short term runoff events is accumulated. This is not observable in the same magnitude for the toxic organic compounds. The results also show that the accumulation rates significantly depend on the relative pond area (defined as the pond area divided by the catchment area). The conclusion is that the investigation indicates that a combination of short and long term viewpoints can close the mass balance for highway ponds with an acceptable accuracy.

Validation of computational non-Newtonian fluid model for membrane bioreactor

Membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems are often considered as the wastewater treatment method of the future due to their high effluent quality. One of the main problems with such systems is a relative large energy consumption, compared to conventional activated sludge (CAS) systems, which has led to further research in this specific area. A powerful tool for optimizing MBR-systems is computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling, which gives researchers the ability to describe the flow in the systems. A parameter which is often neglected in such models is the non-Newtonian properties of active sludge, which is of great importance for MBR systems since they operate at sludge concentrations up to a factor of 10 compared to CAS systems, resulting in strongly shear thinning liquids. A CFD-model is validated against measurements conducted in a system with rotating cross-flow membranes submerged in non-Newtonian liquids, where tangential velocities are measured with a Laser Doppler Anemometer (LDA). The CFD model is found to be capable of modelling the correct velocities in a range of setups, making CFD models a powerful tool for optimization of MBR systems.