Optimizing the hydrocyclone for ballast water treatment using computational fluid dynamics

Abstract

Environmental concern related to the transfer of Invasive Aquatic Speciesby ships ballast water has given rise to the development of a vast array ofballast water treatment systems. The complex environmental challengesand tight operational characteristics of marine vessels limits the scope oftechnologies used for Ballast Water Treatment. As a result fewtechnologies have progressed beyond the Research and Developmentstage; however one of the most promising technologies for ship board useis the Cyclonic Separator, or Hydrocyclone. Despite the use ofhydrocyclones in a wide variety of engineering applications they have yet tobe successfully adapted towards the removal of suspended sediment andmarine organisms from large volumes of ballast water. This paper detailsthe operational characteristics of Ballast Water Hydrocyclones, employingempirical and experimental data to validate the use of a Detached EddySimulation (DES) turbulence model with Computational Fluid Dynamicssimulations (CFD).