Iijme 2019 01 23 1 PDF

IPASJ International Journal of Mechanical Engineering (IIJME)
Web Site: http://www.ipasj.org/IIJME/IIJME.htm

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Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2019 ISSN 2321-6441
Three Dimensional Flow Visualization in a

Mimic Anaerobic Digester to Obtain the Impact
of Temperature on Biogas Production by Star
CCM+
Farhana Huqe 1 , Shuichi Torii2
1
Doctoral student, Department of Mechanical System Engineering, Kumamoto University, Kurokami, 2-39-1,
Kumamoto860-8555, Japan.
2
Professor, Department of Mechanical System Engineering, Kumamoto University, Kurokami, 2-39-1, Kumamoto 860-
8555, Japan.
Abstract
Production of biogas from organic solid wastes by anaerobic digestion method is not a new idea. But still we are facing a lot of
obstacles to optimize the digestion technique. In such situation, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can be very useful to
understand the approaches by which we can enhance the digestion process for maximum biogas production. As we know that, the
increment of the reactor temperature can enhance biogas production, so we have aimed to obtain the optimum temperature range for
maximum biogas production by means of CFD simulation. In this paper, we have develop a three dimensional CFD model to predict
the impact of temperature on biogas production by understanding the vector filed pattern of velocity of the sludge particles. We have
carried out the simulation process with commercial software Star CCM+. Large enough cell count and domain size was taken into
account to achieve an acceptable simulation. Additionally, appropriate initial and boundary conditions were imposed before starting
the simulation process. We have utilized standard k-ε turbulent model for the computational process. Fluid flow characteristics were
presented by means of vector filed contour of velocity of the sludge particles and the vector field variation of velocity were determined
with the increment of the reactor temperature. Here, we have presented five vector field contours at 298K, 308K, 318K, 328K and
333K. The temperature range was set within mesophilic and thermophilic condition (298K to 333K). Besides, we have also
determined the scalar field distribution of both turbulent kinetic energy and turbulent dissipation rate through our simulation.
Although we have found very low turbulent flow in the digester, but such turbulent flow was very momentous to obtain a consistent
growth of velocity with temperature which can be very helpful to understand the favourable temperature condition to accelerate
biogas production before implant real anaerobic digester.
Keywords: Anaerobic digestion, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), turbulence models, vector field pattern, residuals
1. INTRODUCTION
In recent years anaerobic digestion (AD) technology has been increasingly developed by environmental engineers and
scientists to generate biogas and power from organic solid waste as a source of clean and green energy. AD technology not
only generates biogas as an energy source, but also reduces the emissions of green house gases and has become a mandatory
regulatory requirement for developed and developing countries in the management of solid wastes. Biogas is an important
renewable energy source for rural areas in India. It is produced by anaerobic digestion of biological wastes. It is an
environment friendly, clean, cheap and versatile fuel. Biogas generally comprise of 55-65 % methane, 35-45 % carbon
dioxide, 0.5-1.0 % hydrogen sulfide and traces of water vapor. Average calorific value of biogas is 20 MJ/m3. The use of
biogas systems can increase agricultural productivity. Biogas can be produced from various methods. Both combustion and
digestion are convenient process for biogas production. But anaerobic digestion that means; digestion of solid wastes in
absence of oxygen is the most easy and conductive method for biogas production. Because this technique can be handled with
low cost and it even can be conducted in small and medium scale. But a change in feed to the digester can cause various
problems in anaerobic digestion, particularly with mixing. A lot of research has been carried out on the anaerobic digestion,
and good process monitoring can help, control, optimize and evaluate the biogas process very well. In particular, a new
challenge is to optimize the mixing systems in biogas digesters to increase the biogas production rate. Scum, foam, and
froths are major causes of concern in anaerobic digesters as they have the potential to cause failure of the digester operation
(inpart due to their prevention of gas release). Thus, the gas, liquid and solid (GLS) separation in an AD is vital for the
success of the technology for any solid waste AD. Efficient mixing has been proved to increase the biogas production many
fold enabling the recovery of further power from the solid waste. Biogas mixing has been reported to be less expensive and
easier to operate than the impeller and slurry recirculated mixing [1], but has not yet been optimized to maximize the biogas
yield. In future reactor design, a high solid loading is necessary to reduce the size of reactor units, while maintaining a
Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2019 Page 1

relatively low capital investment. High rate anaerobic digesters of high organic loading rates (OLR) and short hydraulic
retention times have become an attractive co-digesting option for AD in recent years. However, high solid loading
contributes to the problem of mixing inefficiency and more energy is required to complete the mixing. Previously, a research
article suggested that minimal mixing may improve high solids anaerobic digestion by providing quiescent environmental
conditions for bacteria [2]. Not only these criteria, for proper anaerobic digestion, the action of bacteria is controlled by
another vital factor; temperature. For biogas production, there are certain ranges of temperatures in which the microbial
community starts their biochemical reactions. Depending upon the properties of the waste materials, the most favourable
temperature conditions are: mesophilic condition (from 25oC to 30oC) and thermophilic condition (from 40oC to 50oC) [3].
But it is really very tough to maintain a proper temperature level as the environmental temperature can also affect the
digestion temperature. In such situation, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can be very useful to understand the
rheological manure of the sludge in both lower and higher temperature. Besides, the continuous change of the velocity of the
particles of the sludge with the increase of temperature can also be observed by means of CFD simulation; so that the
temperature condition can be optimized in realistic anaerobic digester. This is the foremost goal of this study.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
It has been a decade that biogas is being used as an alternative energy source in developed and developing countries and
the obstacles associated with biogas have become a major barrier to achieve the targeted objective of biogas technology. For
this reason, these obstacles have opened a new window for the engineers to find out appropriate solutions both virtually and
practically. Specially, the application of CFD simulation has created a great possibility to realize the mixing behaviour of the
sludge computationally. A 3D model of a covered lagoon digester was developed to solve such problem at very beginning of
this century [4]. This complex model incorporated the processes of bulk fluid motion, sedimentation, bubble mixing, bubble
entrainment, advection, biological reactions, and heat transfer. The model was validated using performance data from full
scale digesters. The importance of mixing in achieving efficient substrate conversion has been reported by several researchers
[4], [5], [6]. The main factors affecting digester mixing are the mixing intensity and duration, the location of the feed inlet
and outlet and the type of mixing. However, the effect of mixing duration and intensity on the performance of anaerobic
digesters are contradictory. For instance, adequate mixing has been shown to improve the distribution of substrates, enzymes
and microorganism throughout the digester [7]. Mathematical modelling is also very useful to understand the anaerobic
digestion; especially this type of modelling is helpful to obtain the degradation phases [8]. All these CFD simulation contain
the basic rheological variation of the waste sludge. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has become a popular tool for
reactor analysis, because it allows the investigation of local conditions in an arbitrary vessel size, geometry and operating
conditions [9]. CFD techniques are being increasingly used for experiments to obtain the detailed flow fields for a wide range
of fluid types. The capability of CFD tools to forecast the mixing behaviour in terms of mixing time, power consumption,
flow pattern and velocity profiles is considered as a successful achievement of these methods and acceptable results have
been obtained in many applications [4]. Besides, CFD simulation can also be useful to understand the rheological nature of
the sludge. Several studies have been conducted to obtain the 3D and 2D pictures of the mixing behaviour of the liquid waste
material [11], [12]. With the help of these results, the conditions for maximum biogas production can be optimized and reset.
There are several factors which are highly responsible for biogas production. The effect of temperature inside the digester,
the PH of the sludge, the mixing ratio between the solid wastes and water are the most important factors which can affect the
biogas production. The role of temperature is the most vital factor for the enhancement of biogas production [3], [13]. In this
study, the effect of temperature shock in the digester has been focused by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
simulation. The standard k-ε turbulent model has been used to solve the turbulent problem. Star CCM+; commercial
software has been used to carry out the simulation process. The main goal of this study is to reveal the rheological variation
of the velocity of the sludge particles with the increase of temperature. The variation of velocity of the sludge particles has
been obtained as vector field pattern. The magnitude of the velocity of the sludge particles has also been taken into account.
3. OBJECTIVES OF THIS STUDY
Biogas has sufficient potentiality to be an entrusted alternative of fossil fuel especially it can easily reduce the application
of natural gas for cooking purpose both in cities and villages. But still we are fighting to obtain adequate amount of methane
in the raw biogas. Besides, the production rate of biogas from solid organic wastes is not very high. For this reason,
researchers trying to find out the appropriate methods so that, biogas production by anaerobic digestion can be enhanced in
satisfactory rate. According to some recent research mentioned in the literature review section of this paper, it has been
observed that, if the reactor temperature can be increased biogas production can also be enhanced [8], [13], [18], [19]. Here
lies the main objective of this paper. In this paper, the vector field pattern of velocity has been perceived to obtain the
variation of this field contour with temperature, so that we can predict the digestion computationally to optimize the
digestion conditions before setting the real anaerobic digester. Because, the faster increment in velocity with temperature
implies to the faster biochemical reaction rate will take place in the mimic reactor. And the faster reaction rate obviously
implies to the faster biogas production. Besides, we also wanted to predict the impact of turbulent flow inside the anaerobic

digester by means of scalar field distribution of both turbulent kinetic energy and turbulent dissipation rate.
4. DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMPUTATIONAL MODELING

The utilization of computational technology to identify and solve the multiphase problem regarding with anaerobic
digestion is not a new idea. But in most of the cases, mathematical models are being used to obtain the biochemical
degradation pattern. Among them, Anaerobic Digestion Model 1 (ADM1) is the most convenient mathematical model [14].
Even the modified ADM1 has been used to find out the methane production from anaerobic digestion process [10]. But these
are the attempts which included the 2D modelling for biogas production. In contrast, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is
very useful to obtain the 3D flow pattern which is more useful to realize the digestion process for methane production. In this
study, we have used Star CCM+ to conduct CFD modelling. The main objective of our study is to observe how the velocity of
the sludge particle changes with the temperature inside anaerobic digester. The reason behind such study is to find out the
optimum temperature range for maximum biogas production. This model solves numerically the laws governing fluid
dynamics, solving equations by a geometric domain. The basic flow equations used are the Navier-Stokes and momentum
equation in discrete form. The magnitudes of velocity and temperature are calculated in a discrete manner at the nodes of a
mesh or network, describing the flow geometry modelling. Additionally, the scalar field of both turbulent kinetic energy and
turbulent dissipation rate were taken into account to anticipate the circumstantial turbulent flow inside the reactor.
4.1 Developing the Geometrical Structure of Mimic Digester

To obtain an acceptable simulated output, a symmetrical geometric structure has been built computationally. The geometry
of the model was built on the basis of a plastic cylindrical biogas digester whose height was 30m and the diameter was 7.5m.
The thickness of the plastic wall was 1.2m. Keeping similarities of the real dimensions of the biogas digester, the replica of
the biogas digester was built using AutoCAD 3D software, and then converted the file type lithography in order to be
implemented in STAR CCM+ Software. For convenience of the simulation, the dimensions of the digester were minimized.
The height of the digester was 0.65m and the diameter of the digester was considered to be 0.25m. The inlet pipe for the
insertion of the raw material and the biogas outlet was also made with suitable dimensions.
Figure 1 Schematic geometry of the digester
4.2 Generation of Mesh for the Simulation

Generation of mesh is the most important step for CFD simulation. Refined base size of the cells computes the desired
parameters more accurately. But at the same time, we have to keep in our mind that, refined cells often taken longer
computational time. For this reason, we have to choose such base size which is both refined and take comparatively shorter
time to figure out the selected parameters. In our CFD simulation, we have conducted both surface mesh and volume mesh.
For surface mesher, surface remesher and surface wrapper remesher models were selected. For volume mesh, volume
polyhedral mesher, advanced layer mesher and prism layer mesher models were designated. Before choosing the base size,
an independent meshing was performed considering three sizes with 25% variation from the selected base size. But no
significant change was obtained. To achieve acceptable meshing within short computational time, the following parameters
were chosen:
Table 1: Mesh parameters
Parameters Values
Base size 0.0075 m

Surface curvature Default
Surface growth rate Default

Number of prism layers 2
Prism layer thickness 0.33 m
Prism layer stretching 1.5
Wrapper feature angel 30o
The base size was selected to be 0.07m and this size was preferred on the basis of the shortest computational time. Figure
2 is presenting the sketch of surface mesh and Figure 3 is presenting the sketch of volume mesh.
Figure 2 Sketch of surface mesh
Figure 3 Sketch of volume mesh
The computational load was low which generated 271840 cells, 1757811 faces and 1459830 vertices after simulation.
Besides, the convergence criteria were determined not to exceed 0.001for continuity, mass, momentum and energy.
4.3 Specifying the Physics Models for Simulation

To conduct CFD simulation, we used the commercial package Star CCM+. This software provides very conventional
physics models which can easily be used to define the properties of the 3D CAD model. In our work, A simplified case is
taken where no flow in or out of the reactor is considered. This is a reasonable representation of initial conditions in a real

reactor at the start of a new process. As this process actually works in a stationary state and only liquids (water and activated
sludge) were simulated, therefore, a 3D and segregated flow were selected. The fluid was assumed to be Newtonian and
single phase. The flow modelling focused on sludge movement to find the optimal degree of mixing of the fluid. The goal of
this study is to obtain the variation of vector field of velocity with the increase of temperature. To fulfil this objective, the
followings were chosen from the physics continuum:
Table 2: Selection of the physics models for simulation
Properties Values
Space Three dimensional
Time Implicit unsteady

Material Liquid
Flow Segregated flow
Equation of state Constant density
Viscous regime Turbulence
Reynolds-Averaged Standard k-ε

Turbulence
Wall treatment All Y+(positive Y
direction)
Besides, the fluid was assumed to have constant density and simulated in the continuum was responsible for managing
velocity and physical processes being modelled in the continuum. The properties of the liquid have been illustrated in Table
3 as follows:
Table 3: Properties of the material
Properties Values
Density 0.786 g/cm3
Dynamic viscosity 5.43×10-4 Poise
Specific heat 2527.18 J/Kg-K
Turbulent Prandtl 0.85
number
4.4 Specification of Initial and Boundary Conditions

In our study, the anaerobic digester was separated four parts to obtain suitable CFD simulation: inlet, outlet, boundary and
wall. Here, the inlet was defined as a classical velocity inlet; the boundary was specified as a symmetric plane, the outlet was
defined as pressure outlet and the sides of the digester were specified as wall. The values of the velocity were calculated
based on mass balance. For the other parts of the digester, the values were computed based on thermal specification. Besides,
for solving turbulence problems, turbulence specification was taken into account.
4.5 Governing Equations Regarding With CFD Simulation

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a numerical approach which can describe and solve a fluid dynamical problem in
a given domain. In general the fluid domain is descretized into small volumes of computational cells, where the governing
equations are solved. The main subjects are therefore the discretization of the domain into what is called a mesh and the
governing equations which have described below.
There are three conservations which are taken into account during pursuing a CFD simulation and they are conservation of
mass (continuity), conservation of momentum (Newton’s second law) and conservation of energy (first law of
thermodynamics) respectively[16].
Different simplifications can then be applied to each, such as selection of incompressible flow which leads to constant
density and so on. The conservation of energy can be decoupled from the other two, and left out for cases where the energy
part can be neglected.
4.5.1 Conservation of Mass

The equation for conservation of mass is often referred to as the continuity equation and it can be written as follows,

(1)
Here ui is the velocity tensor of the compact form using Einstein’s notation, ρ is the density of the fluid, xi is a spacial first
order tensor and t is denoting time [16]. Equation (1) can be written in a simpler form by keeping the volume constant for
incompressible fluids as follows:
(2)
4.5.2 Conservation of Momentum

The conservation of momentum in a fluid volume can be expressed by the Navier- Stokes equations as follows:
(3)
Here, the first part at the left hand side of equation (3) is presenting the transient term and the second part of the left hand
side is the convective term. The two parts at the right hand side of equation (3) are the volumetric and diffusive terms
respectively.
Besides, gi is the volume force (gravity) and σij is the stress on the fluid. On the left hand side the transient and convective
terms are found and on the right hand side the volume and diffusive terms are found.
(4)
Here P is the pressure, δij is Kronecker’s delta and μ is the dynamic viscosity. The first part on the right hand side is the
static pressure in the fluid and the second part is the viscous stress. These two equations are presenting the laminar flow.
Using the method of averaging and Reynold decomposition, the Reynolds equation can be obtained for the turbulent flow as
follows:
(5)
Equation (5) is also known as the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equation or in short, RANS. It expresses the mean of
a turbulent flow and is similar to that of the laminar flow in equation (3) except for the last part, ρu′iu′j. This part is known as
the Reynolds stress and forms a symmetrical second order stress tensor with six unknowns. Thus the turbulent flow contains
ten unknowns: six Reynolds stresses: ρu′iu′j, three velocities: ui and the pressure p.
4.5.3 The Turbulent Modelling

We know that, inside an anaerobic digester, the turbulent flow is very small. But we can envision the rheology of the
sludge inside the digester with the help of this small turbulent flow. Mainly, the turbulent models are divided into Algebraic
models, turbulence-energy equation models and simulation models, where algebraic models are the simplest and simulation
models are the most advanced [17]. In this paper, the CFD simulation was carried out with the well-tested k-ε turbulent
model and this model is widely used in the commercial CFD programmes. This model has been tested under different flow
conditions and is numerically robust and computationally less expensive [16]. The energy equations which are being used to
develop the turbulent model can be derived by the first law of thermodynamics as follows:
(6)
Here, h is the enthalpy, k is thermal conductivity of the fluid, τij is viscous stress and ρ is density of the fluid. These
variables are the function of the primary variables (P, T).
The standard k-ε model is the mostly used model in computational fluid dynamics for turbulence flow. It is a two equation
model which gives a general description of turbulence by means of two transport equations (PDEs) [16].
The first transported variable is the turbulence kinetic energy (k) and the second transported variable is the rate of dissipation
of turbulence energy (ε) and they can be obtained by computing the following transport equations:
To calculate turbulent kinetic energy, k
(7)
And to calculate turbulent dissipation rate, ε
(8)

Here, the term Gk is representing the generation of turbulence kinetic energy due to the mean velocity gradients and Gb is s
the generation of turbulence kinetic energy due to buoyancy. The term YM is presenting the contribution of the fluctuating
dilatation in compressible turbulence to the overall dissipation rate. Besides, these equations are consists of some adjustable
constants such as σk, σε, C1ε and C2ε. The values of these constants have been arrived at by numerous iterations of data
fitting for a wide range of turbulent flows.
These are as follows:
Eij = component of rate of deformation
μ t= eddy viscosity
σ k= 1.00
σε= 1.30
C1ε= 1.44, C2ε= 1.92
Besides, the turbulent heat transport is modelled using the concept of Reynolds' analogy to turbulent momentum transfer.
The “modelled" energy equation is given by the following expression,
(9)
Here, E is the total energy, Keff is effective thermal conductivity and τij is the deviatoric stress tensor [16], [17].
The default values of all the constants are standard ones and most widely used for CFD simulation. But these values can be
changed (if needed) from the “viscous panel” of the software.
5. RESULTS
From recent research articles it have been obtained that, modern Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software helps
modellers to define mixing efficiencies for different digester configurations before construction; or to determine possible
virtual changes in construction parameters. CFD visualization and analysis also opens a window for the researchers to
examine input configurations to design a real anaerobic digester. In computational analysis, there are some parameters which
are very useful to characterize the required design. Velocity is one of such parameters. Because, the vector field pattern of
velocity can easily describe the flow pattern. Additionally, vector field pattern is also useful to predict the mixing behaviour
of the raw materials inside the opaque digester. In this paper, the main goal is set to observe how the vector field changes
with the increment of reactor temperature. Besides, to obtain a suitable simulated output, a large number of iteration has been
considered. There are five consecutive velocity contour were recorded to inspect the variation of velocity field. Figure 4(a-e)
are representing the velocity contour diagrams. These vector field patterns were recorded at eight chronological
temperatures. The temperature scale was set between mesophilic temperature to thermophilic temperature, which means; the
initial temperature was chosen to be 298K (25oC) and the final temperature was specified to 333K (60oC). After completing
the simulation, the lowest magnitude was obtained at 0.1674m/sec and the highest magnitude of velocity was found to be
about 4.9402m/sec. The blue coloured region is presenting the lower magnitude of velocity and the red coloured region is
denoting the higher velocity magnitude.
Figure 4(a) is presenting the velocity contour at 298K (25oC). From this picture it can be observed that, at this initial stage
the velocity of the sludge particle is very low. For this reason, most of the area of this diagram is covered by blue colour.
Additionally, the presence of red colour which is being initiated at the top of the diagram is denoting the increment of
velocity magnitude with temperature. Then, figure 4(b) and 4(c) are presenting the velocity contour at 308K (35oC) and
318K (45oC) respectively. It is well established that, to produce biogas from solid wastes, the favourable temperature range is
started from 298K (25oC) to 328K (55oC) [3]. From figure 4(b) and 4(c), it can be noticed that, the velocity of the sludge
particles is being increased with the accretion of temperature inside the digester. In figure 4(b), we can monitor the red
coloured region has started to increase from the top of the vessel and it is moving towards the bottom at clockwise direction.
Furthermore, figure 4(c) is presenting the velocity contour at 318K (450C). From this figure, we can clearly notice that, the
centre of the vessel is covered by red and yellow colour and area in bottom of the vessel is filled by blue and green colour.
This situation is denoting accession of velocity in the digester. These two figures (figure 4(b) and 4(c)), are denoting the
continuous development of velocity with temperature, which compliment the experimental results of biogas production [21],
[4], [12], [8].

Figure 4(a) Vector field contour of velocity at 298K
Figure 4(b) Vector field contour of velocity at 308K
Figure 4(c) Vector field contour of velocity at 318K

After getting these contours, we wanted to observe what type of variation we can obtain if we increase the reactor
temperature more. Then we proceed our CFD and we obtained that, the velocity of the sludge particles has started to
decreased when the digester temperature has reached to 328K (55oC) which has been shown in figure 4(d) and finally, when
the reactor temperature reached at 333K (60oC), then the velocity of the sludge particles has drastically reduced. Figure 4(e)
is presenting the vector field pattern at 338K and this situation may conclude with that, the production of biogas has been
decreased at temperature 333K (60oC).

Figure 4(d) Vector field contour of velocity at 328K
Figure 4(e) Vector field contour of velocity at 333K
Figure 5 is presenting the scalar field distribution of temperature inside the anaerobic digester. From this picture it can
seen that, the lowest temperature in the digester is 298K (25oC) and the highest temperature in the digester is 333K (60oC).
Besides, from this scalar distribution field it can also clearly noticeable that, most of the area of this diagram is covered with
orange and red color and from this statement we can conclude that, during the anaerobic digestion, the temperature range
was remained within mesophilic and thermophilic condition (from 298K to 328K).
Figure 5 Scalar field pattern of temperature inside the digester

6. DISCUSSION
Anaerobic digestion is very cost effective method for biogas production. But this technique is maintained by the action of
some selective micro organisms and the activities of these organisms are highly influenced by temperature. The main aim of
this paper is to verify the influence of temperature on the velocity of the sludge particles by computational fluid dynamics
(CFD). Presently, many research works have been revealed that, temperature mainly plays a very important role to enhance
the biochemical reaction for biogas production [3, 19, 20, 21]. The most favorable temperature range lies within 298K (25oC)
and 328K (55oC). In our simulation we obtained similar result. We attained computationally that, the velocity of the sludge
particles increases with the regular increment in the reactor. Besides, when the digester temperature reached to 328K (55oC),
the velocity of the slurry particles started to decreased. Even when the reactor temperature increased to 333K (60oC), the
velocity again lowered with the minimum magnitude. From the experimental output of some researchers revealed that,
biogas produced faster both at thermophilic and mesophilic temperature. But after increasing the temperature beyond 328K
(55oC), the biogas production had started to reduce [8, 3]. These experimental outcomes are analogous with our simulated
results.
In this research, we have used k-ε turbulence model to obtain our research outcome. Besides, we also observed the effect of
turbulence in our simulation. To fulfil this objective, we have perceived the scalar filed distribution for both turbulent kinetic
energy and turbulent dissipation rate. Together with this, we also determined the turbulent kinetic energy monitor plot and
turbulent dissipation monitor plot through CFD simulation. Figure 6(a) is presenting the scalar field pattern of turbulent
kinetic energy and figure 6(b) is presenting the turbulent kinetic energy monitor plot.
Figure 6(a) Scalar field pattern of turbulent kinetic energy
Figure 6(b) Turbulent kinetic energy monitor plot

From these two diagrams, we can observe that, the minimum value of turbulent kinetic energy is 0.00176J/Kg and the
maximum value is 1.019J/Kg. From this figure we can also ascertain that, most of the part of the vessel is wrapped by blue
and green color and this may be transpired due to low but significant turbulence inside the digester. Besides, from figure
6(b), it can also be comprehended that, after a certain period, the turbulent kinetic energy reached to the maximum value
(1.019J/Kg) and after that there is a drastic drop of the value of turbulent kinetic energy. But the magnitude of turbulent
kinetic energy remained a harmonic variation within 1J/Kg and this is the indication of very inferior but cogent turbulent
flow inside the anaerobic digester.
In our research, we have also verified the variation of turbulent dissipation rate. Figure 7(a) is demonstrating the scalar
filed distribution of turbulent dissipation rate during CFD simulation and figure 7(b) is representing the turbulent dissipation
rate monitor plot.
Figure 7(a) Scalar field pattern of turbulent dissipation rate
Figure 7(b) Turbulent dissipation rate monitor plot
From these two figures we can clearly observe that, the value of turbulent dissipation rate is not high. The minimum
magnitude of turbulent dissipation rate is found to be 0.036m2s3 and the maximum magnitude of turbulent dissipation rate is
209.89m2s3. From figure 7(b) we can notice that, the magnitude of turbulent dissipation rate reached to the maximum value
and its magnitude has been started to decreased drastically and has been kept a harmonic variation within the range of 100
m2s3 and 120 m2s3. May be very small but substantial turbulent flow which was occurred inside an aerobic digester is the
main reason behind the harmonic fluctuation of turbulent dissipation rate.
Besides, a simulated outcome can acceptable if the solutions of the simulation are converging. And it is easy to verify the
computational outputs by observing the pattern of the values of the residuals after CFD simulation [15]. If the values of

residuals are found to be continuous and stable after completing the simulation process, then the computational results are
said to be converging. In accordance with this statement, the values of residuals are found to be stable after the entire
process. Figure 8 is presenting the values of residuals after our simulation. From this figure it can be clearly observed that,
the values of residuals are continuous and they are not at any descending manure.
Figure 8 Values of residuals after simulation
7. CONCLUSION
In this paper, we have shown the application of CFD technique to obtain the optimization temperature conditions for
maximum biogas production. The prime focus was fixed to attain the variation of velocity of the sludge particles with the
increment of digester temperature by means of vector field pattern. To achieve our goal, we have implemented the standard
k-ε turbulent model to proceed our simulation. We found low but very significant turbulent flow during simulation. Besides,
we have also found very momentous progress in velocity with the temperature, which can be very useful to understand
anaerobic digestion process and we can optimize the process for biogas production before the implantation a real anaerobic
digester. Now, in conclusion, we can compile the following outlines as regards to our CFD simulation:
Researchers found that, temperature has a critical impact on the biogas production by anaerobic digestion. Besides, it is
also revealed that, if the digester temperature can be increased, the biogas production process can be enhanced. For this
reason, our main target was to establish this idea by inspecting the 3D computational diagram.
As meshing is the most influenced step to accomplish a suitable CFD simulation, therefore, the meshing models were
selected properly. Besides, the base size was preferred to be very small or very large. This measurement was checked by the
skewness and aspect ratio on mesh metric and smoothness (change in cell size). Together with this, the parameters which are
used to characterize the physics models were set properly. At last, but not the least, to obtain an acceptable solution, the
simulation was carried out along with a large number of iteration.
To attain our result, the temperature range was scaled between mesophilic and thermophilic temperature (within 298K to
333K). During the simulation it was found that, the magnitude of the velocity of the sludge particles was being increased
with temperature. From the vector field pattern of velocity it can be observed that, the direction of the velocity was clockwise
and the movement of the sludge particles was being started from the top and through the centre part of the vessel, it travelled
the entire vessel. The minimum magnitude of the velocity was found to be 0.164 m/sec and the maximum magnitude was
4.9402 m/sec. The initial temperature was 298K (25oC) and the final temperature was 333K (60oC). The simulated results
were found to be similar with recent experimental outcomes of some research groups which were discussed in the discussion
section of this paper.

Monitoring the pattern of the values of the residuals during and after simulation is an important factor to clarify whether
the solutions are acceptable or not. In our case, the values of residuals after CFD simulation were found to be continuous and
consistent. This is a fair confirmation that, the solutions of our simulation are converging.
In conjugation with the results of our simulation, we can conclude that, biogas production can be improved if the digester
temperature can be increased with mesophilic temperature and thermophilic temperature condition. But the increment of the
reactor temperature beyond thermophilic condition, the biogas production may not take place because; the liquids in the
sludge may start to be vaporized. In conjugation with the above conclusion, we can say that, anaerobic digestion can easily be
optimized to recover biogas production in practical experiment and can help to reduce the application of natural gas in our
civilized life.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to acknowledge the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
(MONBUKAGAKUSHO: MEXT for providing the financial support (PhD scholarship) for this research and the extended
help of Thermal engineering laboratory under the Department of Advanced Mechanical System Engineering, Kumamoto
University, Japan, for providing the facility for the simulation process.
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AUTHORS
Farhana Huqe received B.Sc. (Hons) and M.Sc. from Department of Physics in University of Dhaka,
Bangladesh. She is currently working as a PhD student at Advanced Mechanical System in Kumamoto
University, Japan. Her research interest includes biomass conversion by anaerobic digestion and application of
computational fluid dynamics for designing convenient anaerobic digester.
Shuichi Torii was born on January 27, 1960 in Kumamoto, Japan. He received his B.Sc. in Mechanical
Engineering from Kagoshima University, Japan in 1983. He successfully completed his Masters and PhD
degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Kyushu University, Japan in 1985 and 1989 respectively. He currently
is a PROFESSOR of Department of Mechanical Engineering at Kumamoto University. His research interests on
production and development of clean Energy and renewable Energy, thermal fluid flow transport phenomena
using nano fluids and development of new clean fuel with the aid of shock-wave.

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IPASJ International Journal of Mechanical Engineering (IIJME)

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Three Dimensional Flow Visualization in a

Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2019 Page 1

Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2019 Page 2

4. DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMPUTATIONAL MODELING

4.1 Developing the Geometrical Structure of Mimic Digester

Figure 1 Schematic geometry of the digester

4.2 Generation of Mesh for the Simulation

Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2019 Page 3

Surface curvature Default

Surface growth rate Default

Prism layer stretching 1.5

Wrapper feature angel 30o

Figure 2 Sketch of surface mesh

Figure 3 Sketch of volume mesh

4.3 Specifying the Physics Models for Simulation

Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2019 Page 4

Time Implicit unsteady

Reynolds-Averaged Standard k-ε

4.4 Specification of Initial and Boundary Conditions

4.5 Governing Equations Regarding With CFD Simulation

4.5.1 Conservation of Mass

Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2019 Page 5

4.5.2 Conservation of Momentum

4.5.3 The Turbulent Modelling

Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2019 Page 6

Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2019 Page 7

Figure 4(a) Vector field contour of velocity at 298K

Figure 4(b) Vector field contour of velocity at 308K

Figure 4(c) Vector field contour of velocity at 318K

Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2019 Page 8

Figure 4(d) Vector field contour of velocity at 328K

Figure 4(e) Vector field contour of velocity at 333K

Figure 5 Scalar field pattern of temperature inside the digester

Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2019 Page 9

Figure 6(a) Scalar field pattern of turbulent kinetic energy

Figure 6(b) Turbulent kinetic energy monitor plot

Figure 7(a) Scalar field pattern of turbulent dissipation rate

Figure 7(b) Turbulent dissipation rate monitor plot

Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2019 Page 11

Figure 8 Values of residuals after simulation

Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2019 Page 12

Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2019 Page 13

Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2019 Page 14

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