Technological Institute of the Philippines

Manila Campus

CFD Analysis of Maynilad Water Treatment Plants for

Installation of 20kW Hydroelectric Turbine

Azur, Jansen Ivan B.

Cortejo , Jimmy Jr. B.
Delos Reyes , Jay-ar G.
Olila, Ahnica Nicole B.
Pajara, Rey Dominik

September 2017

Mechanical Engineering Department

Chapter 2: Review of Related Literature

2.1 Water Treatment Plants

Water Treatment Plants is any process that makes water more acceptable for a specific

end-use. The end use may be drinking, industrial water supply, irrigation, river flow

maintenance, water recreation or many other uses, including being safely returned to the

environment. Water treatment removes contaminants and undesirable components, or

reduces their concentration so that the water becomes fit for its desired end-use. For

many cities, drinking water and wastewater treatment plants are typically the largest

energy consumers, having a total of 30-40% of the cities' energy consumption. More than

4% of the nation's electricity goes towards moving and treating water and wastewater.

Cost of these energy is consumed in the flocculation basin for drinking water treatment

plants and in the aeration basin for wastewater treatment plants. High amount of energy is

needed to mix the large volume of water to allow sedimentations to flocculate

together. Maynilad Has three water treatment in the Philippines, The Three-River Master

Plan aims to achieve 100 percent sewer coverage by year 2018 through a combination of

combined sewer-drainage and separate sewer systems, covering all catchments that

discharge to the three river systems within the east concession namely Marikina River,

Pasig River and San Juan River. This involves the collaborative effort of government and

non-government units, private companies, and other organizations. Maynilad utilization

of hydroelectric electric turbine can be use in The Three River Master Plan.
2.2 Hydro Turbines

The available generated power by wind turbines and hydro turbines depend on the

velocity of the flow and the swept area by the turbine blades and may be calculated using

the power generation formula. Wind and water turbines are similar in nature, however,

operate under distinct conditions. The existing technology of water turbines are not as

developed and efficient as wind turbines. (Royal Academy of Engineering, n.d.)

A general problem that occurs in hydraulic equipment installed in rivers with

concentrations of sediments, hindering operations and maintenance, is sediment erosion

wherein impacting solids cause abrasion and erosion on the turbine reducing its

operational life and efficiency. According to Neopane (2010), this process can be

predicted and prevented by considering a number of factors, including the intensity of the

erosion, characteristics of the sediment, design and material of the turbine, and the

conditions it operates in.

Water turbines are usually made of stainless steels due to its strength (martensitic grade)

and/or its resistance to corrosion in water (austenitic grade), which is commonly the

preferred characteristic. However, in selecting the right material for the turbine,

especially its runner, all of its parts must be of the same material, otherwise may cause

uneven heat distribution, damaging some of the alloys, even if it were martensitic.

Another concern is the welding of components with an incompatible filler material due to

difference in weldability of austenitic and martensitic wherein the former is preferred

whilst the latter, due to its high tensile strength, requires dismantlement and full heat

treatment. (Macfarlane, 2013; Spicher, 2013)

2.3 Computational Fluid Dynamics

The major issues in water and wastewater industry are to meet quality requirements, to

guarantee treatment process efficiency, to contain investment and operating costs. This

implies the use of powerful predictive modeling and simulation tools which are able to

account for the multiple interaction between all the water quality and process design

parameters. Computational Fluid Dynamics modeling tools ha ve already been widely

used in other industries but their application in water industry is quite recent.

Successful design and reliable operation of new water treatment facilities and the

constant upgrading of existing plants has always been, and continues to be a major

concern for all world water professionals. The main objective is to ensure the adequate

treatment process and to guarantee its maximum efficiency. The design of water and

waste water treatment reactors is basically a chemical engineering problem. In chemical

engineering, due to the complexity of the problems to be solved, the classical approach is

mainly based on global balances. Moreover, the process engineering analysis is often

limited to mass or mole balance, eventually to energy or enthalpy balance (flow

sheeting); momentum balance are generally restricted to pressure drop estimation. This

global approach leads to simple concepts that are validated on an overall analysis of a

given equipment (input-output). The main advantage of this approach is its simplicity and

its usefulness. However, such relations are empirical and difficult to extrapolate. In

complement to this global approach, the more local fluid dynamics approach would be

helpful to catch spatial or temporal small scale phenomena. Due to the increasing power

of computers, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) becomes an efficient tool to analyze

the behavior of complex equipment. CFD is based on numerical solution of partial

differential equations (PDE) expressing local balances of mass, momentum and energy,

eventually coupled to transport equations of conservative or reacting species. (Do-Quang,

2014)

2.4 Hydroelectricity in Water Turbines

In a feasibility study in the United States (Capua, Dzwonkoski, Harris, 2014), the

utilization of a hydroelectric turbine system in an effluent pipe of a wastewater treatment

plant may still be premature, considering costs for installation, laws and regulations, and

payback period, however, it still possesses the potential if further developed. Deer Island

Wastewater Treatment Plant in Boston saves about $600,000 from generating 6,000,000

kWh annually through a hydroelectric turbine, while the Upper Blackstone Water

Pollution Abatement District (UWPAD) in Massachusetts, with a capacity of 32 million

gallons per day, is prospected to generate about 20 kW, providing 174,000 kWh in a year

For the past decades, the rushing gray-green waters of the Kumaguingking River has

gone untapped. The local people do not have any inclination that the same river could

generate electricity for a thousand homes and end the years of darkness that enveloped

their villages. esidents in these two villages have no access to modern technology. Only a

few people know that the tropical rain forest of Lanao mountain range maintains a great

water discharge of creeks and tributaries of the four lakes, namely, Lake Butig, Lake

Pula, Lake Mainit na Tubig, Lake Maitim. Fewer still are aware that such resource can

power a turbine and light villages and homes. But changing times and technologies have
a way of resolving things. Such is the case when the Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid

Renewable Energy (Amore) Program came to barangay Karim two years ago and

proposed the construction of a micro-hydro power plant for the two villages. It took

Winrock International, the project's implementing agency, a couple of years to validate

the water flow in the river. Through the financial assistance of the United States

Assistance for International Development (USAID) and the Philippines Department of

Energy, a hydrological study was conducted to determine the strength and reliability of

the Kumaguingking River. By November 2007, after the studies yielded positive results,

the construction began. With the funds amounting to Php7.4 million, the 35 kW micro-

hydroelectric turbine power plant was completed in 2008.

2.4.1 Graph on how much electric power can get at Hydroelectric Turbine
Power is the rate of producing energy. Power is measured in Watts (W) or kiloWatts

(kW). Energy is what is used to do work and is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh) or

megawatt-hours (MWh).

In simple terms, the maximum hydropower power output is entirely dependent on how
much head and flow is available at the site
P = m x g x Hnet x

Where:
P power, measured in Watts (W).
m mass flow rate in kg/s (numerically the same as the flow rate in litres/second because 1
litre of water weighs 1 kg)
g the gravitational constant, which is 9.81m/s2
Hnet the net head. This is the gross head physically measured at the site, less any head
losses.
the product of all of the component efficiencies, which are normally the turbine, drive
system and generator

2.4.2 Basic Operation of Hydroelectric Turbine

2.3 Patent Search

2.3.1 Small Hydropower Generating Apparatus

This patent search is proposed by Kim Sung Doo. It focused on installation of

small hydropower generator on water treatment plant while avoiding

contamination and damage to environment.

2.3.2 Turbine-Generator for Small Hydropower Plant using Treated Water at

Sewage Disposal Plant and Construction Systems Structure

The patent proposed by Oh Min Hwan is a turbine generator of a small hydraulic

power generating system. Its source is the water from sewage treatment plant and

construction system structure.

2.3.3 Apparatus Floating on Surface of the Water for Generating Electricity of

Hydraulic Power Using Pumping Out Water in Water Treatment Plant and

Filtration Plant

This patent is by Kim Jeong Tae. The focus of this patent is on a small floating

apparatus that will generate hydropower. It aims to use the water flowing in the

sewage disposal plant and filtration plant to generate power.

References

Capua, Dzwonkoski, and Harris (March 2014) Reclamation of Power in Wastewater

Treatment Facilities. Worcester Polytechnic Institute. p. 37.

Do-Quang, Z. et al. (April 2014) Environmental Engineering and Policy. Springer-

Verlag. p. 137

Neopane, H. (2010, March) Sediment Erosion in Hydro Turbines. Faculty of

Engineering, Science and Technology, Norwegian University of Science and

Technology. p. i, 3

RWE npower (n.d.) Wind Turbine Power Calculations. The Royal Academy of

Engineering. p. 3