Context:

Dissolved oxygen (DO) transfer is an important matter for water quality. Several devices have been designed to supply the required DO in some bodies of water during their treatment and restoration. However, these entail a high energy consumption, thus requiring the optimization of use parameters.

Method:

This work studies the effect of the power and number of paddles used in a horizontal axis aerator. Measurements were made on anoxic water samples using three mechanical aerating devices made up of 6, 12, and 24 paddles while varying the rotation speed from the supplied voltage.

Results:

The highest values obtained for the transfer coefficient K L a are reported by devices with a greater number of blades. Nevertheless, the Standard Aeration Efficiency (SAE) and the Standard Oxygen Transfer Rate (SOTR) efficiency reveal that the 6-paddle wheels are more energy-efficient.

Conclusions:

It is shown that DO transfer does not depend solely on the impacts associated with the number of paddles, and that the maximum transfer efficiency is obtained with a lower number of paddles. These results contribute to improving the understanding of the operation of these mechanical systems in terms of DO transfer.

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