Analysis on xanthan gum solution to simulate flow performance of digestion sludge

Abstract: Anaerobic digestion is a kind of sludge stabilization technology widely used at home and abroad. As an opaque non-Newtonian fluid, it is difficult to obtain the sludge flow characteristics in the digester exactly. Hence, it is necessary to find a sort of transparent fluid to replace it. To ensure the reliability of flow characteristics obtained from transparent analog fluid, it is indispensable to verify the flow similarity with main physical property of the fluid. The feasibility of xanthan gum transparent solution as a similarity solution of digestion sludge was analyzed according to the rheological property and density, respectively, based on the similarity criteria of fluid flow. Under the premise of satisfying the geometric similarity, the Reynolds criterion and the Froude criterion should be met simultaneously, that is, the Reynolds number and the Froude number of 2 kinds of fluids should be equal. The rheological parameter and density of 95% water content digestion sludge and xanthan gum solution at different concentrations were measured by rotating viscometer and gravimetric method severally. The rheological curve of 2 kinds of fluids was tested for a goodness-of-fit, and curve regression effect was characterized by the determination coefficient R2 on the principle of regression analysis. First, the xanthan gum solution of 13, 16, and 19 g/L was prepared. It was found that the rheological curves of the 16 g/L xanthan gum solution were similar to those of digestion sludge, and both of them were pseudo plastic non-Newtonian fluid, indicating that this xanthan gum solution could replace the sludge as a similarity solution. But, the xanthan gum solution's density was smaller than that of the target fluid in this recipe, which did not conform to the fluid flow similarity criteria. So, for adjusting the density disparity, xanthan gum solution of 14, 15, and 16 g/L was made by using KCl solution as the solvent instead of aqueous solution. Because of the fact that the salt screens the electrostatic repulsions of the trisaccharide side chains, the adoption of a helical backbone conformation is allowed, which in turn promotes the increased association of the ordered xanthan molecules in solution. With the addition of KCl, the rheological curves of 15 g/L xanthan gum solution were in reasonable agreement with those of digestion sludge, which were also typical pseudo-plastic non-Newtonian fluid. The determination coefficients of rheological curve of 2 kinds of fluids were R2=0.995 3 (viscosity curve) and R2=0.893 5 (shear stress curve), separately, showing the highest similarity. Tracing test of mixing performance displayed that tracer concentrations at the outlet in these 2 kinds of fluids had the same tendency with the change of time. The result of Welch's t-test demonstrated that there was no significant difference in the rheological parameter and density of the 2 kinds of fluids at the significant level of 0.05. Given above logical analysis, it should be pointed out that xanthan gum transparent solution used as a similarity solution of digestion sludge is acceptable, which can be used as a basis method for the flow visualization in the anaerobic digester. Generally, future work should focus on applying transparent similarity solution to validate computational fluid dynamics simulation from the perspective of reducing energy consumption and improving biogas yield.