Improving mixing in water aeration tanks using innovative self-powered mixer and power reclamation from aeration tank

The primary objective of the present paper is to increase the standard oxygen transfer efficiency (sote) in aeration tank. to achieve this without increasing the power required to pump air into aeration tanks,a mixer and turbine blades were added to the regular fine bubble aeration diffuser. the turbine blade extracts power from the moving water current and transfers this power to the mixer at the top of the diffuser. a support structure was mounted above the air to connect the turbine blade and the mixer on one shaft. furthermore,an electrical generator was connected to the shaft to extract surplus energy from the system at high flow rates. results showed that the mixer powered by the turbine blade extracted power induce less oxygenated water into the core of the bubble column without using additional energy. thus,this system can lead to a more efficient distribution of oxygen within the water tank. furthermore,it was found that the turbine blade captured more energy than needed by the mixer,the excess energy was collected using electrical generator. results showed that self-powered mixer increase the sote up to 25%. at the same time 11% power used in air pumping can be reclaimed using the electrical generator at high flow rates. © 2016 jordan journal of mechanical and industrial engineering.