CFD simulation of anaerobic digester with variable sewage sludge rheology

•A CFD model with variable sludge rheology is developed for an anaerobic digester.•Impeller rotation is implemented in the CFD model using an MRF approach.•The Hershel–Bulkley law is used to model the sewage fluid's rheology.•The high shear rate on the impeller results in significant viscous torque.•Sludge age influences the mixing patterns obtained in the digester.

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model that evaluates mechanical mixing in a full-scale anaerobic digester was developed to investigate the influence of sewage sludge rheology on the steady-state digester performance. Mechanical mixing is provided through an impeller located in a draft tube. Use is made of the Multiple Reference Frame model to incorporate the rotating impeller. The non-Newtonian sludge is modeled using the Hershel–Bulkley law because of the yield stress present in the fluid. Water is also used as modeling fluid to illustrate the significant non-Newtonian effects of sewage sludge on mixing patterns. The variation of the sewage sludge rheology as a result of the digestion process is considered to determine its influence on both the required impeller torque and digester mixing patterns. It was found that when modeling the fluid with the Hershel–Bulkley law, the high slope of the sewage stress-strain curve at high shear rates causes significant viscous torque on the impeller surface. Although the overall fluid shear stress property is reduced during digestion, this slope is increased with sludge age, causing an increase in impeller torque for digested sludge due to the high strain rates caused by the pumping impeller. Consideration should be given to using the Bingham law to deal with high strain rates. The overall mixing flow patterns of the digested sludge do however improve slightly.

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