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Oxygen Transfer Calculations for a Tractor-Powered

Paddlewheel Aerator

Article  in  Transactions of the American Fisheries Society · May 1982

DOI: 10.1577/1548-8659(1982)111<361:OTCFAT>2.0.CO;2

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Oxygen Transfer Calculations for a

Tractor-Powered Paddlewheel Aerator
a a
Martin S. Armstrong & Claude E. Boyd
a
Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures , Agricultural
Experiment Station , Alabama , 36849 , USA
Published online: 09 Jan 2011.

To cite this article: Martin S. Armstrong & Claude E. Boyd (1982) Oxygen Transfer Calculations for
a Tractor-Powered Paddlewheel Aerator, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 111:3,
361-366, DOI: 10.1577/1548-8659(1982)111<361:OTCFAT>2.0.CO;2

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 Traysactions
oftheAmerican
Fisheries
Society
111:361-366,1982
¸ CopyrightbytheAmericanFisheries
Society
1982

Oxygen Transfer Calculationsfor a Tractor-Powered

Paddlewheel Aerator

MARTIN S. ARMSTRONG AND CLAUDE E. BOYD

Department
ofFisheries
andAlliedAquacultures
Agricultural
ExperimentStation
AuburnUniversity,
Alabama36849

Abstract

Standardized
aerationtestswereconducted
for a tractor-powered
paddlewheel
aeratorof the
typeoftenusedfor emergency aeration
of fishponds.The greatest
oxygentransfercoefficient
(30.0hour-•) andoxygentransfer
rate(35.1kgof oxygen perhour)wereobtained at 108rpm
(revolutions
per minute)and 54 cmpaddledepth.All trialsat 108or 128rpm withpaddle
depthsof 36 cmor morehadoxygen transfercocfficicms
andratesgreater
than20hour-• and
Downloaded by [Auburn University Libraries] at 12:13 03 June 2015

20 kgof oxygen perhour,respectively.

Therewasgoodagreement between thesizeandshape
of spraypatternsand oxygentransfercocfficicms
and rates.

Emergency aeration of commercial channel Methods

catfishIctalurus
punctatus pondsis often neces- Paddlewheel Aerator
saryto preventfishkillswhendissolved oxygen
The paddlewheelaerator (Fig. 1) was man-
(DO) concentrations are low. Boydet al. (1980)
ufactured by the Clark LivingstonMachine
foundthatfor 36 channelcatfishpondson one
farm,emergency aerationwasusedan average Shop, Greensboro, Alabama. The paddle-
wheels are mounted on the axles of a truck dif-
of 11 nightsper pondbetweenMay 1 and Oc-
ferentialand rotatedby a driveshaftconnected
tober 1, 1978. Sucha high dependenceupon
emergencyaeration is commonin channel cat- to the powertakeoffof a tractor.Twelve pad-
dies,each36 cm long and 15 cm wide,are at-
fishfarmingbecause of the highfeedingrates tached to each wheel. For aeration tests, the
required for economicsuccess (Tucker et al.
paddlewheelswere rotated at 61, 78, 108, and
1979).Of nine differentemergency aeration
techniques,a tractor-poweredpaddlewheel 128rpm (revolutions perminute).Thesespeeds
aerator was most effective (Boyd and Tucker
were established by varying the tractorthrottle
1979).Paddlewheel aeratorspoweredby 25- to setting; rotation speeds were checkedduring
eachtestby countingthe revolutionsmade in
75-kwfarm tractorsare widelyusedby catfish
farmers.Theseaeratorsprovidea largeamount 30 seconds. For eachspeed,sixpaddledepths
(Fig. 2) weretested.The tractorusedin all tests
of oxygenation perunit;theyarealsorelatively
inexpensive(apart from the tractor), durable, wasa Ford,Model5000(50 kw at 1,900engine
rpm).
mobile,and easyto operate.The influenceof
differentoperatingconditions on the effective- Aeration Tests
nessof paddlewheelaeratorshasnot beendoc-
umented. Therefore, standardizedaeration tests Nonsteady-state aeration testswere conduct-
were conductedto establishoxygentransfer ed according to guidelines presentedby the
coefficientsand rates for a common, tractor- American Public Health Association et al. (1975)
powered,paddlewheel aeratoroperatedat dif- and Stukenberg et al. (1977).The testbasinwas
ferent speedsand paddledepths. a concrete tank (8.5 m wide, 15.2 m long, 1.2
m deep)thatheld 135m3whenfilledto a depth
of 1.04 m for aeration tests. The basin was filled
beforetestswithwaterfrom a nearbypond.Six
bilge pumps(1.13 m3/houreach)were placed
• This researchwassupported by fundsfrom the at differentdepthsand positions in the tank.
Officeof WaterResearch and Technology"Project
B-076-ALA,"UnitedStatesDepartmentof the Inte- Plastictubing(1.27 cm insidediameterand 10
rior, as authorizedby the Water Researchand De- m long)conveyedwaterfrom eachpump to a
velopment Actof 1978throughtheWaterResources single l-liter container into which a dissolved
ResearchInstituteof Auburn University. oxygenprobe was'immersed.
361
 362 ARMSTRONG AND BOYD
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FIGURE l.--Paddlewhed aerator.

Sodiumsulfite(15 rag/literfor eachrag/liter tween the DO concentration at saturation and

of DO) and cobaltchloride (0.075 rag/liter of the measuredDO concentrationwas plotted
cobalt) for deoxygenationwere slurried •ith againsttime of aeration(Fig. 3). The slopeof
water and splashedinto the basin. Complete the regressionline between 10% and 70% of
dissolutionand mixing were effected by the DO saturationis the oxygen transfer coeffi-
paddlewheelaerator. The bilge pumps were cient:
started and dissolvedoxygen concentrations
were recorded at 15-30-second intervals while KLa= 1oge(DOs
- DO•)- 1oge(DOs
- DO•).
the DO concentrations increased from near t2 - tl
to al least 90% of saturation.
The natural logarithm of the difference be-
2.5- 36cm108RPM

• 20 r=-0.999
hJ

Z
hJ

x
0
1.0
Y••
2.4
-0.2
Xß

_o 0.5

o 4 6 8 io
MINUTES

FIGURE3.---Results of an aerationtest.Theslopeof the

solidlineis theoxygentransfercoefficient.
Paddlewhed
FIGURE2 -•lllustrationofpaddledepths. Dashedlinesin- wassubmerged 36 cmand turned108 revolutions per
dlcatewaterlevelfor a particulardepth. minute.Y isoxygen deficit;X is minutes.
 DYNAMICS OF PADDLEWHEELAERATION 363

4O 4O
' 108RPM 128 RPM

3O 3O

o 2o 2O

._1
• Io IO
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3O 3O
62 RPM -78RPM

o
2O 20 •

IO I0 I-
o

I I I 0
20 40 60 0 20 40 dO
DEPTH (cm) DEPTH (cm)

FIGURE 4.---Oxygen
transfer
coefficients
(KLa)20
(dotsandsolidlines)andoxygen
transfer
rates(OT) (dashed
lines)for
different
paddlewheel
aerator
operating
conditions.
RPM = revolutions perminute.
Equationsandcorrelation
coeffi-
cients
for regression
linesarepresented
in Table1.

KLa = the oxygen transfer coefficient, stances that affect the surface tension and the
hour-1; concentrationof oxygenat saturation.The c•
DOs = DO concentration
at saturation,mg/ and • coefficients,
liter;
DO1 = DO concentration at 10% satura-
tion, mg/liter; TABLE1.--Regressionsof oxygentransfercoefficients
and
DOs = DO concentration at 70% satura- rates(Y) againstpaddledepthin centimeters(X) for a
tion, mg/liter; tractor-powered
paddlewheelaeratoroperatedat various
t• = time DO concentration reaches 10% rotationspeeds.
Data areplottedin Fig. 4.
saturation, hours; Paddle-
t= = time DO concentration reaches 70% wheel
speed
saturation, hours. (revolu- Oxygen transfer
tionsper coefficient, Oxygentransfer
The water temperatureinfluencesoxygensat- minute) (K•a)•o = Y rate, OT = Y
uration, and K•.a values were corrected to 20 C:
62 Y = 4.01 + 0.184X Y = 4.69 + 0.215X
(KLa)r= (K•a)=o(1.024
r- •0); r = 0.893 r = 0.893
78 Y = 0.88 + 0.419X Y = 1.02 + 0.491X
T = temperature at which the test was con- r = 0.978 r = 0.978
ducted. 108 Y = 1.75 + 0.528X Y = 2.05 + 0.618X
r = 0.996 r = 0.996
It wasimpossibleto usetap water in the aer-
128 Y = 2.20 + 0.518X Y = 2.56 + 0.605X
ationtests,and (KLa)2o
valuestypicallyare given r = 0.937 r = 0.937
for tap water. Natural waters contain sub-
 364 ARMSTRONG AND BOYD

PADDLEWHEEL RPM

62 78 I08 128

15
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4-5

54-

FIGURE5.•pray patterns
for paddlewheel
aeratoroperating
at different
paddledepths
andspeeds.
RPM = revolutions
per minute.

c•- (KLa)T
forpondwater and The oxygentransferrate is the rate at which
(KLa)zfor tap water an aeratorcantrans•r oxygento the water;this
rate wascalculatedwith the equation
/3- Solubility
ofDOinpond
water,
Solubility'of DO in tap water OT.,. = (Kta).,. x DOs x V x 10-•
are used to correct KLa values for aeration tests OT_•.= oxygen transfer rate at 20 C and 0
in tap water to pond conditions.The reverse rag/literof DO, kg of O.,/hour;
operation wasnecessar)in this stud); a and/3 V = volume of water, m :•.
coefficients
weredeterminedfor the pond water
Results and Discussion
(Eckenfelder et al. 1956) and the (Kt,a)•, values
for pond waterwerecorrectedto tap watercon- The c•and/3 coefficientsfor pond waterused
ditions. in the aerationtestswere 0.80 and 1.0, respec-
 DYNAMICS OF PADDLEWHEEL AERATION 365

5O 6

0 2 4 6 8 0 I 2 $ 4
DISSOLVED OXYGEN HOURS
(mg/liter) FIGURE
7.---Calculated
rateof oxygen
increase
duringop-
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FIGURE6.--Relationshipsbetween oxygenconcentrations erationof a paddlewheel

aeratorin a IO,000-m
s pond.
andoxygentransferratesat 28 C. Assumptions: pondcompletely
mixed;temperature 28 C;
hourlypondrespiration,
0.5 mg02 perliter;paddlewheel
speed,108 revolutions
per minute;paddledepth,53 cm.

tively,andwatertemperatures
wereusuallybe-
tween 12 and 16 C. Therefore,oxygentransfer operationis determinedby the highestrecom-
coefficients werecorrectedto thosefor tap water mendedpowertakeoffspeedfor the tractorand
(a= 1.0,/3= 1.0) at 20 C. Becausea and /3 the gear reductionat the axle of the paddle-
coefficientsare unavailablefor other pond wheel. The highest permissiblepaddlewheel
waters,the onesreported here shouldnot be speedat sustainedoperationfor the tractorand
usedfor generalpurposes.Researchto deter- paddlewheelcombinationused here was 120
mine a and/3 coefficientsfor a wide range of rpm. Data in Fig. 4 indicatelittle benefitin in-
pond waterswould improve the reliabilityof creasingthe rotation speedfrom 108 to 128
oxygentransfercalculationsfor fish ponds. rpm.
A linearrelationshipbetweenthe naturallog- The data presentedin Fig. 4 are only valid
arithm of the DO deficit and time of aeration for the paddlewheeldesignemployed.How-
(Fig. 3) wasobtainedin all aerationtrials.There ever,therewasgoodagreementbetweenthe size
wasa relativelyhigh degreeof precisionamong andshapeof spraypatterns(Fig.5) andoxygen
replicatetrials:four replicatesat 108 rpm and transfercoefficients and rates(Fig.4). This sug-
18 cm paddledepth had an average(KLa)2o of geststhat for practical purposesthe paddle
12.0 _+0.93 (SD) hour -I. There is no standard depth and rotationspeedfor optimaloxygen-
in usefor testingthe accuracyof aerationtests. ationmaybe estimatedfrom the spraypattern;
For any given speed of rotation, oxygen the greaterthe amountof spray,the more aer-
ation. It would be more reliable to determine
transfer coefficientsand rates generally in-
creasedwithgreaterpaddledepth(I'able 1; Fig. optimal operatingconditionswith aerationtests.
4). Increasingthe speedof rotation generally Paddlewheelaeratorsusuallyare madeaccord-
increasedaeration,but paddledepth wasusu- ing to varioussimilardesignsby fishfarmersor
ally more influentialon oxygentransfer rates machineshops.Hence,data from standardaer-
than speedof rotation. The greatestoxygen ation testsusuallywill be unavailable.
transfer coefficient(30.0 hour i) and oxygen Standardoxygentransfer rates (Fig. 4) sel-
transferrate (35.1 kg of oxygenper hour) were dom will be realizedunder pond conditionsbe-
obtainedfor 108rpm and 54-cmpaddledepth. cause standard test conditions (a = 1.0; /3 =
All trialsat 108or 128 rpm with paddledepths 1.0; 20 G; DO = 0 mg/liter) will not exist.The
of 36 cm or more had oxygentransfercoeffi- followingequationfrom Colt and Tchobanog-
cientsand ratesgreater than 20 hour • and 20 lous (1979) may be usedto calculateoxygen
kg of oxygenper hour, respectively. transfer rates for ponds:
The maximum rotation speedof a tractor-
powered paddlewheel aerator for prolonged o=oo7%
 366
OTo = kg O•/hour transferredunder stan-
dard conditions;
DOp = DO concentration
in the pondbeing
aerated.
The influence of DO concentrations
0 mg/liter on oxygen transfer by the paddle-
wheel aerator is illustratedin Fig. 6 for water
at 28 C.
The rate at which the paddlewheelaerator
might raiseDO concentrations in a pond when
operatedat 108 rpm and 53-cmpaddledepth
COLT,J., ANDG. TCHOBANOGLOUS.
was calculated(Fig. 7). The following pond
conditionswere used: pond volume = 10,000
ma; water temperature= 28 C; initial DO =
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0 mgfiiter;respirationby pondbiota= 0.5 rag/ ECKENFELDER, W. W., JR., L. W. RAYMOND, ANDD. m.
liter per hour. Complete mixing of the pond
was assumed, and DO concentrations were
computedat 30-minute intervalsuntil 6 mg/li- STUKENBERG,J. R., V. N. WAHBEH,AND R. E. MC-
ter were attained. The calculatedvaluesagree
well with pondobservations by Boydand Tuck-
er (1979), who found that the same paddle-
wheelaeratorusedin the presentstudyraised
averageDO concentrations from 1.2 to 5.1 mg/
liter in a 8,280-ma pond during 4 hourswhen
operatedat 120 rpm and 25-cmpaddledepth.
References
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View publication stats
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BOYD,C. E., J. A. STEEBY,
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Agencies 33:591-599.
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aerationsystems for aquaculture.
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