title: Hydrodynamics of an electrochemical membrane bioreactor.
abstract: An electrochemical membrane bioreactor (EMBR) has recently been developed for energy recovery and wastewater treatment. The hydrodynamics of the EMBR would significantly affect the mass transfers and reaction kinetics, exerting a pronounced effect on reactor performance. However, only scarce information is available to date. In this study, the hydrodynamic characteristics of the EMBR were investigated through various approaches. Tracer tests were adopted to generate residence time distribution curves at various hydraulic residence times, and three hydraulic models were developed to simulate the results of tracer studies. In addition, the detailed flow patterns of the EMBR were acquired from a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. Compared to the tank-in-series and axial dispersion ones, the Martin model could describe hydraulic performance of the EBMR better. CFD simulation results clearly indicated the existence of a preferential or circuitous flow in the EMBR. Moreover, the possible locations of dead zones in the EMBR were visualized through the CFD simulation. Based on these results, the relationship between the reactor performance and the hydrodynamics of EMBR was further elucidated relative to the current generation. The results of this study would benefit the design, operation and optimization of the EMBR for simultaneous energy recovery and wastewater treatment.
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Ya-Zhou
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Yun-Kun
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Chuan-Shu
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Hou-Yun
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Guo-Ping
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Sheng
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, Nanjing University of Science and Technology.
authors.forename: Jin-You
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: 1] CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China [2] Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, Nanjing University of Science and Technology.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mu
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Han-Qing
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D019149:Bioreactors; D057446:Hydrodynamics; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods