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Adapting Dissolved Air Flotation For The Clarification of Seawater
Adapting Dissolved Air Flotation For The Clarification of Seawater
Adapting Dissolved Air Flotation For The Clarification of Seawater
Desalination
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/desal
Department of Civil Engineering Science, University of Johannesburg, Box 524, Auckland Park, 2006 Johannesburg, South Africa
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
H I G H L I G H T S
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Received 10 October 2012
Accepted 27 October 2012
Available online 20 December 2012
Keywords:
Dissolved air otation
Saturation pressure
Recycle rate
Seawater
Air solubility
a b s t r a c t
The high ionic strength of seawater affects the performance of the dissolved air otation (DAF) clarication
process in a number of ways. At a reference temperature of 20 C, the density of seawater is 3% higher
than freshwater; the dynamic viscosity 8% higher; and the surface tension 1% higher. These differences
cause very small changes in the rates of movement of particles and bubbles in both the contact and separation zones of the DAF reactor, that can be ignored for practical design purposes. Much more important are the
differences in the solubility of air in seawater (controlled by Henry's constant) and the air transfer efciency
in pressure saturators or other air saturation devices (largely controlled by the molecular diffusivities of the
air gases in water). At 20 C, a typical air saturator only transfers 74% of the air to seawater relative to freshwater. This shortfall can be corrected by either increasing the recycle rate, or by operating the saturator at a
higher pressure. The paper presents design charts for both these options.
2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Dissolved air otation (DAF) is an emerging process for the clarication of seawater before desalination by reverse osmosis. The
success of DAF depends on a number of physical processes relating
to the movement of bubbles and particles through water, and to the
dissolution and precipitation of air. These processes have been studied
in detail in relation to the clarication of freshwater and robust design
procedures are available [2]. The much higher salinity of seawater,
however, requires some adjustments to the conventional design
guidelines to ensure the optimal efciency of DAF. The objectives of
this paper are to identify how seawater affects DAF performance and
to propose methods whereby the design procedures are adjusted.
The concentration of dissolved matter in seawater is described in
terms of its salinity (S). It is expressed on a mass basis as the grammes
of dissolved material per kilogramme of seawater. For seawater of
average composition it is 35.16 g/kg, but varies in the open oceans
from about 31 to 38 g/kg. The higher values are found in the
Corresponding author. Tel.: +27 11 559 2148; fax: +27 11 559 2395.
E-mail addresses: jhaarhoff@uj.ac.za (J. Haarhoff), edzwald@ecs.umass.edu
(J.K. Edzwald).
0011-9164/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2012.10.035
Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea (Arabian Gulf), and the Persian Gulf.
Lower values are found near the mouths of rivers. For the purposes
of this paper, a rounded salinity of S = 35 g/kg is used. Another
measure of the ion content of seawater is the ionic strength (I). I for
freshwaters range from about 5 10 4 to 10 2 M corresponding to
total dissolved solids (TDS) of 20 to 400 mg/L. Brackish and estuarine
waters have I starting at about 102 M up to less than that of seawater.
The average I for seawater is 0.68 mol/kg.
2. Physical properties of seawater
The density, dynamic viscosity and surface tension are all higher in
seawater than in freshwater. The density difference ranges from 2.8%
at 0 C to 2.6% at 40 C; for dynamic viscosity from 6.3% at 0 C to 8.3%
at 40 C; and for surface tension from 0.7% at 0 C to 1.4% at 40 C.
These ratios (seawater/freshwater) were calculated from reference
values published for freshwater [9] and seawater at S = 35 g/kg [8]
and shown in Fig. 1.
The Henry's constants for the principal three gases in atmospheric
air (nitrogen, oxygen and argon) are all signicantly higher in seawater
than in freshwater (and therefore less soluble). The values for oxygen
were calculated from Garcia and Gordon [3] and the values for nitrogen
91
and argon from Hamme and Emerson [5]. Fig. 2 shows seawater/
freshwater ratios for the Henry's constants.
The molecular diffusivity of the air gases in seawater is somewhat
uncertain at present. Earlier experimental measurements showed
that the molecular diffusion coefcient is lower in seawater, which
was used to support a recommendation that seawater diffusivity
should be taken as 6% lower than that of freshwater [6]. A more
recent review pointed out that later experimental work failed to conrm this recommendation [7]. At this point, for practical engineering
design, it seems prudent to assume the seawater/freshwater ratio of
molecular diffusivity to be 0.94 for all the principal air gases.
vb
gw b db
18 w
Fig. 2. Seawater/freshwater ratios for Henry's constants for the principal air gases.
F
F b
S b
S
92
Fig. 4. Process schematic of dissolved air otation pretreatment for SWRO plants.
not dependent on water's physical properties and thus is the same for
freshwater and seawater. Brownian diffusion and settling, which are
dependent on water density, play minor roles. In fact, the settling
collector term plays such a negligible role in the contact zone that
only Brownian diffusion needs to be considered. The collision efciency due to Brownian diffusion is:
2 = " #2 =3 2
3
kb T
1
1
D 6:18
g w b
dp
db
D ratio
2
F b =3
S b
vfb laminar
4g w fb d2fb
3K w
S fb
F fb
!
F
S
6
For DAF, it is likely that the rise rate of some of the larger ocbubble
aggregates will be in the transitional ow regime (Reynolds number
larger than 1), which leads to different expressions for vfb and vfb ratio:
4
vfb transitional
3K
2
3
0:8 g 0:8 0:8 d1:4
w
fb
fb
6
7
4
5
0:6
0:2
w w
S fb
F fb
!0:8
F
S
0:2
F
S
0:6
Eqs. (6) and (8) require an estimate of the density of the ocbubble
aggregates. The difference between water density and ocbubble
density should be about the same in seawater and freshwater, and the
rst bracketed terms on the right of the equations are assumed to be
one. For laminar ow, vfb ratio varies from 0.94 at 0 C to 0.92 at
40 C. For transitional ow, it varies from 0.96 at 0 C to 0.95 at 40 C.
This analysis suggests a reduction in hydraulic loading rates for seawater between 5 and 8%. However, given the small differences and the
conservative nature of design, we expect little or no change in the
design of full-scale plants.
3.4. Air solubility
The solubilities of gases in water are limited by their Henry's constants. Fig. 2 shows that the Henry's constants are considerably higher
in seawater. Because the gas solubility (G) is inversely proportional to
the Henry's constant, then the gas solubility seawater/freshwater
ratio (G ratio) is:
G ratio
HS
H F 1
HF
HS
93
Table 1
Design parameters for typical packed saturators.
Hydraulic loading
Saturator pressure
Packing depth
Packing size
kg/m2-s
kPa gauge
mm
mm
Range
Typical
2060
350600
8002000
2590
40
500
1400
50
aw
K L ratio
5 = 1 = 2 = 1 =
6
6
3
3
F
S
aF
DS
S
F
aS
DF
10
11
Fig. 6. Required seawater recycle rate to match the air produced by a similar air
saturator for freshwater.
1r
A
r
12
13
Fig. 6 provides a chart to obtain the necessary recycle rate for seawater to match the air produced by a similar saturator for freshwater.
To match 10% at 20 C for freshwater, for example, the seawater recycle
rate has to be 14%.
The above analysis holds if the saturation pressure stays the same.
An alternative option would be to keep the recycle rate constant, and
increase the pressure within the saturator. Based on the saturator
design equations presented by Edzwald and Haarhoff [2], Fig. 7
provides a chart to determine the required pressure for a seawater saturator to match the air transfer of a freshwater saturator. To match
500 kPa at 20 C for freshwater, for example, the seawater saturation
pressure has to be 675 kPa.
Fig. 5. Seawater/freshwater ratio for the mass of air transferred in a typical packed
saturator.
Fig. 7. Required pressure for a seawater saturator to match the air produced by a
freshwater saturator.
94
Table 2
Summary of effects of seawater relative to freshwater, at 20 C with salinity S= 35 g/kg.
Property
Change
Comment
Physical properties
Density
Dynamic viscosity
Surface tension
Plus 3%
Plus 8%
Plus 1%
Contact zone
Bubble rise rate
Collision efciency Brownian
Collision efciency interception
Collision efciency total
Minus 4%
Minus 2%
No effect
Very small
Not signicant
Minor importance
Major importance
Dominated by interception
Separation zone
Floc/bubble rise rate (laminar)
Floc/bubble rise rate (transitional)
Minus 7%
Minus 4%
Air solubility
Henry's constant nitrogen
Henry's constant oxygen
Henry's constant argon
Atmospheric air solubility
Plus 32%
Plus 30%
Plus 29%
Minus 24%
Large
Large
Large
Large
Packed saturators
Wetted packing area
Mass transfer constant
Air mass transferred
Minus 2%
Minus 7%
Minus 26%
Minor importance
Important
Large difference
difference
difference
difference
difference
Nomenclature
a
packing area
A
available air concentration entering the contact zone
d
diameter
D
molecular diffusivity
g
gravitational acceleration
G
gas solubility
H
Henry's constant
HLmass
mass hydraulic loading
kb
Boltzmann's constant
K
coefcient for drag constant
KL
mass transfer constant
M
available air concentration leaving the saturator
r
recycle rate
S
salinity
T
absolute temperature
v
rise velocity
density
collision efciency
dynamic viscosity
subscript b bubble
subscript D Brownian diffusion
subscript fb ocbubble
subscript F freshwater
subscript I inertia
subscript S seawater
subscript T total
subscript w water or wetted
References
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