Simulation-based Design of Fluidized Bed Reactors for Wastewater Treatment

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The minimization of phosporous discharge from wastewater streams into the environment is an increasinglyimportant consideration for municipalities in Canada and throughout the world. Phosphorous discharge intostreams, rivers, and lakes is one of the main drivers of eutrophication of these water bodies, where the presenceof high levels of biological nutrients results in increased growth of plants and algae. This increase subsequentlyresults in depletion of oxygen levels in water bodies which has devastating effects on fish and overallbiodiversity within aquatic ecosystems. Removal of phosphorous from wastewater is thus a key area ofresearch and development in CanadaOstara Nutrient Recovery Inc. (Ostara) has developed technologies which enable the recovery of phosphorousfrom wastewater streams in a way such that the recovered phosphorous containing solids (struvite) may be usedas a slow-release fertilizer. Ostara's core technology is the Pearl® fluidized bed reactor, is able to recover up to50% of phosphorous from a wastewater treatment plant and outputs (from the process) phosphorous-richfertilizer production, in a form ready for distribution. At the heart of this technology is a complex multiphasefluidized crystallization process where polydisperse (struvite) solid particles are dispersed in amulti-component liquid phase (wastewater).Further advancement of the Ostara's Pearl reactor technology requires multiphase CFD simulations to enableresolution of the internal multiphase hydrodynamics and, simultaneously, the mass transfer resulting from thecrystallization process occurring at the solid/liquid interface. This research involves the use of the "spectrum"of two-phase flow models in order to determine the most accurate one for Ostara's unique polydispersefluidized bed reactor.