How to simulate an UASB

Hi,

We would like to ask you about a usual process used in industrial facilities like is the UASB, a realistic option when the influent presents huge amounts
of COD. We have used the “anaerobic digester block” in other occasions to treat the decanted sludge, but we have the doubt about if it could be considered correctly to use the same block (anaerobic digestor) directly in the waterline to simulate an UASB.

Thank you for your time.

Hi, I hope that other WEST users may have experience with this kind of application and can provide you with more concrete answers.

I have briefly discussed this with some of our scientific collaborators, namely CEIT (Spain: http://ceit.es/index.php browse to Environmental Engineering) and University of kwaZulu-Natal (South Africa: http://prg.ukzn.ac.za/).
CEIT developed a UASB model in WEST by combining an ASU tank (with anaerobic reactions) to a point settler (for retaining the biomass).
One of the South African students is currently modeling a UASB system based on the new Plant-wide model which is included in WEST 2014.

Hi Enrico,

3 years has passed since the last comment in this topic about how to simulate in WEST a UASB reactor. And I wonder if there has been progress in this aspect.

In WEST 2017, is there a more o lees accurate way to simulate this UASB reactor, with the available blocks in the library?

What about the option to use the anaerobic digestor block in the line water + secondary point settler + underflow rate from the point settler, as recirculation, to the UASB.?  It is the only one that I can imagine without developing a specific model for a UASB….

Thanks.

Hello Hector,
you're right ...
Unfortunately, there's been no progress in this respect - at least in the official block library (rel.2017).
I have however implemented a simple UASB model, using the concept you outline here, i.e. anaerobic digester units in series with different solid retention at different levels.
The model was developed in the scope of a project and for various reason has not made it to the official library yet.
But if you would like to use it, please contact tech support and I will make it available for you to download.