Author(s): Katharina Teuber, Maria Grüneberger, Daneish Despot, Dietmar Stephan, Matthias Barjenbruch, Reinhard Hinkelmann
Linked Author(s): Reinhard Hinkelmann
Keywords: Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), sewer systems, odor, corrosion
Abstract: This paper presents the research focusing on interfaces in sewer systems as it is carried out within the DFG Research Training Group Urban Water Interfaces. During its transportation, wastewater in sewer systems undergoes a number of physical, biological and chemical processes and transformations. Under certain conditions such as high detention times, the formation of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in sewer systems leads to odor in the sewer atmosphere, and after a biogenic oxidation to sulfuric acid (H2SO4) to corrosion at sewer walls. In 1998, the restoration costs for corroded sewers in Germany have been estimated to be in a range of billions of US $ (Kaempfer and Bernd, 1999). High concentrations of odorous substances in the atmosphere can even lead to death of sewer workers. Within the research training group, three dissertation projects focus on two driving aspects: The enhanced understanding of odor and corrosion mechanisms and the development of a CFD simulation model. In order to gain a deeper understanding, a research pilot plant owned by the Berliner Wasserbetriebe (BWB) is operated. The work of this group enables a deeper in-detail understanding of H2S formation in sewer systems and can therefore lead to an improvement of existing models as well as to developments that enable a detailed analysis of odor and corrosion problems in sewers
Year: 2017