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Correction Factors for Calculating Oxygen-Transfer Rates of

Pond Aerators

Article  in  Transactions of the American Fisheries Society · January 1983

DOI: 10.1577/1548-8659(1983)112<120:CFFCOR>2.0.CO;2

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James Shelton Claude E. Boyd

University of Georgia Auburn University
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Correction Factors for Calculating

Oxygen-Transfer Rates of Pond
Aerators
a a
James L. Shelton Jr. & Claude E. Boyd
a
Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures , Auburn
University , Alabama , 36849 , USA
Published online: 09 Jan 2011.

To cite this article: James L. Shelton Jr. & Claude E. Boyd (1983) Correction Factors for
Calculating Oxygen-Transfer Rates of Pond Aerators, Transactions of the American Fisheries
Society, 112:1, 120-122, DOI: 10.1577/1548-8659(1983)112<120:CFFCOR>2.0.CO;2

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 Transactions
of theAmerican
Fisheriea
Society
112:120 122, 1983
¸ Copyrightby the AmericanFisheriesSociety1983
adaptedstandardtestresultsto fieldconditions
bytheequation
(ColtandTchobanoglous 1979):

Correction Factorsfor Calculating

Oxygen-TransferRatesof
OTA
=OTsI
fiDO•.•7DOA(1.O24C
;
Pond Aerators • O•l • oxygen-transferrate in wastewater,
kg Oakwatt' hour;
JAMES
L. SHELTON,
JR. ANDCLAUDE
E. BOYD
OT•.= oxygen-transferrate in standardtest,
Department
ofFisheries
andAlliedAquacultures kg Oa/kwatt'hour;
AuburnUniversity,
Alabama36849
DOs = oxygenconcentration
at saturationin
Abstract standardtest, rag/liter;
oxygen concentrationin wastewater
Correction factors fortheoxygen-transfer coeffi-DO•= during aeration,rag/liter;
cient (a) and correctionfactorsfor the concentration
a = K•,aof wastewater+ K•a of'tap water;
Downloaded by [Auburn University Libraries] at 12:17 03 June 2015

of oxygenat saturation (/3)weredetermined tbr waters

from 43 fish-culturesystems. Valuesfor a ranged /3 = DOsof wastewater+ DOs.of tap water;
t¾om0.66 to 1.07(mean= 0.94), and/3 factorsranged Ca = temperatureof wastewater,C.
from 0.92 to 1.00(mean= 0.98). The magnitudesof
a and /3 factorswere not correlatedwith turbidity, For wastewater, a (correction lhctor for the
specificconductance, chemicaloxygendemand,or
chlorophyll-aconcentration.
A tableof factorsfor es- oxygen-transfercoefficient)normally is be-
underpondconditions tween 0.80 and 0.95, and /3 (correctionfactor
timatingaeratorperformance
wasdeveloped. for the oxygenconcentrationat saturation)typ-
icallyranges1¾om 0.95 to 1.00(Eckenfelderet
Received March 29, 1982 al. 1956; Wheaton 1977). Use of this equation
AcceptedSeptember14, 1982 to calculateoxygen-transferrates for aerators
in fish-culturesystems is limitedby lackof typ-
Aeration is widelyusedin fishculture.Stan- ical a and/3 valuesfor watersof suchsystems.
dard testsof aerator performancehave been The objectives of this investigation were to de-
developedby the wastewater-treatment indus- termine a and /3 valuesfor watersfrom fish-
try. Equationsthat adapt standardperfor- culture systemsand to constructa table of
mance characteristics to nonstandard field con-
factors for rapid solution of the aerator-per-
ditionshavebeendevelopedfor wastewater, but formance equation.
their applicabilityto aquacuhuralfacilitieshas
not been evaluated.In this paper, we derive Methods

parametercorrections that canbe usedto pre- Water sampleswerecollectedbetweenApril

dict the effbctivenessof aeratorsin fish ponds and August 1981 from 43 pondsin Alabama.
under a varietyof conditions. Pondsreceivedeither periodicinorganicor or-
Standard tests of aerators are conducted with
ganicfertilizationor dailyfish-feedapplication.
basinsof cleantap water held at 20 C and hav- Somepondswerefilledfrom wellswhereasoth-
ing an initial dissolvedoxygen(DO) concentra- ers received runoff from pasturesor wood-
ti9n of 0 mg/liter.Resultsgivethe kilogramsof lands.Sampleswereanalyzedfor turbidity,spe-
oxygentransferredto the waterper kilowatt' cific conductance, chemical oxygen demand
hour. In practicalapplications,
an aeratordoes (GOD), and chlorophyll a (American Public
not transferoxygenat the rate determinedin Health Associationet al. 1980).
standard tests,for waters seldomhave the same Goncentrations of DO at saturation were de-
DO concentration at saturation or the same
terminedfor threereplicatesof eachpond water
oxygen-transfer coefficient(K•a) as tap water. samplealongwith threereplicatesof tap water.
Further, aeratorsrarely operatepreciselyat 20 One-liter sampleswere aeratedin the dark for
C and0 rag/literDO. Wastewater engineers have 24 hourswith an electricair pumpand diffuser
stone. The air-flow rate was the same for each

1ResearchsupportedbyHatchProjectAlabama 497 sample,anda magneticstirreroperatedcontin-

and by a grant from AerationIndustries,Chaska, uouslyduring aeration.The correctionfactor
Minnesota. for tbe oxygenconcentration
at saturation(/3)
120
 CORRECTIONS
FOROXYGENTRANSFERBY PONDAERATORS 121

wascalculatedasthe ratio of oxygensaturation teD, turbidity(4.7-490 nephelometricunits),

lbr pond water to that of the tap water.
Oxygen-transfercoefficients(K•.a)were de-
terminedby aerationtestsconductedsimulta-
neously for pond and tap water. Tests were
conductedin dim light to discourage photosyn-
thesisby phytoplankton.A 4-liter sampleof
water in a beakerwasmixed continuouslywith
a magneticstirrer.Sodiumsulfite(15 mg/liter
lbr each initial milligram per liter of DO) and
cobalt chloride (0.075 rag/liter of Co) were
addedto deoxygenate the samples. An electric
air pump forcedair througha diffuserstoneat
a constant rate. For all tests, the diffuser stones
Downloaded by [Auburn University Libraries] at 12:17 03 June 2015
and COD (13.5-1,562 rag/liter) coveredthe
range normallyencounteredin fish culture.
Specificconductance (range,20-335/zmho/cm)
did not reachthe highervaluessometimesen-
countered in fish culture.
The a andfi factorswerehighlyreproducible
for the samesample.Coefficients of variation
were between1 and 5% for replicatesamples.
Oxygensaturation
valuesfor tapwateragreed
well with the theoreticalsolubilityof oxygenin
water.
The fi factorsfor the 43 samplesof pond
waterrangedfrom 0.92 to 1.00;the meanand

wereplacedat the samepositions in the vessels standard deviation were 0.98 + 0.019. Values
and the magneticstirrerswere centeredin the fbr 84% of the pondswere between0.96 and
bottoms of the vessels and rotated at the same 1.00. The a factorsfor the 43 samplesranged
speed.The DO concentration wasrecordedat fi'om 0.66 to 1.07 with a mean of 0.94 and a
15-second intervals while it increased from near standarddeviationof +0.084. Mostof the pond
0% to at least 90% of saturation. Pond-water waters had a factors between 0.90 and 1.00. Al-
and tap-wateraerationtrialswereconductedinpha ['actors
greaterthan 1.0are not uncommon
triplicate. becausewatersmay containnaturalsurfactants
linebetween10% that enhanceoxygentransfer (Eckenfelderet
The slopeof the regression
wastakenasthe al. 1956). Most a factors for fish ponds were
and 70%of oxygensaturation
oxygen-transfercoefficient(Metcalfand Eddy somewhatlarger than thosefor wastewater
1979): (Eckenfelderet al. 1956; Eckenfelderand Ford
1968).
(KLa)r
= 1oge(DOs
- DO10)- loge(DOs
t70 -- /10
- DO?o). Simpleand multipleregressionanalysesbe-
tween a and /• 1'actors(Y variables)and chlo-
rophylla, specificconductance,
turbidity,and
(K•a)r = oxygen-transfer
coefficient,hour a; COD (X variables) did not reveal significant
DOs = DO concentrationat saturation,mg/ correlations(P > 0.1). Although wastewaters
liter;
and watersof fish pondsboth may have high
DO•o = DO concentration at 10%,saturation,
COD levels,their organicconstituentsmaydif-
mg/liter;
D07o = DO concentrationat 70% saturation,
fer greatly.The COD in fishpondsresultspri-
marily from plankton(Boyd 1973).Wastewa-
mg/liter; ters often containhigh densitiesof plankton,
tm= time DO concentration reached 10%
but theyalsooftenhavehighconcentrations of
of saturation, hours;
dissolvedorganicsubstances•synthetic organic
t70 = time DO concentrationreached 70%
substances in particular.The a factorin waste-
of saturation, hours;
water often is related to specificsyntheticor-
The (K•.a)vvalueswere correctedto 20 C: ganic substances(Eckenfelder et al. 1956).
Hence,it isnot surprisingthata factorsfor fish
(K•a)r = (K•a)2o(1.024)
c 20;
pondswere somewhatlarger than thosefor
C = temperatureof testwater, C. wastewater and that a factors for waters of fish
pondswere not relatedto COD.
The correctionthctor ['or the oxygen-transfer
Becauseof the lack of relationshipsamong
coefficient (a) was calculated as the ratio of
variables,it would be impossibleto predic. t a
(K•a)20tbr pond water to (K•?)• for tap water.
and fi factorsfrom data on the qualityof pond
water.Averagea and fi factorswouldnot be
Results and Discussion
useful for solving the aerator pertbrmance
Ponds represented a wide range in water equationfor fish-culture systems.Averageval-
quality.Chlorophylla (range,2.0-9,656 /zg/li- uescouldoverestimate oxygentransfer,result-
 122 NOTES--SHEI,TON AND BOYD

TABLE1. Factors for rapidsoluriahof theaeratorper- nmhiplied by oxygen-transfer rates for stan-
formance equation.
Multiplytheoxygen-tran•erratej9r dard conditions--the oxygen-transferrates
stan&rd conditions(manufacturers'oxygen-transferprovided by aerator manufacturers--topro-
rating)by theappropriate
.factorto get oxygen-tran.•er
rate./orpondcondition.•.
vide anticipatedoxygen-transfkr
ratesfor spe-
citic conditionsin ponds. For example,if an
Dis- aerator rated to supply 2 kg O2/kwatt'hour is
solved
operatedin a pond containing3 rag/literof DO
oxygen Water temperature(C) at 30 C, the ratingwouldbe multipliedby 0.44
(rag/
liter) 10 15 20 25 30 35 (Table 1), so the aeratorcouldbe expectedto
0 0.71 0.71 0.72 0.74 0.76 0.79 transfer0.44 x 2 kg O.2/kwatt'hour,
or 0.88 kg
1 0.64 0.64 0.64 0.65 0.66 0.67 O.2/kwatt' hour.
2 0.57 0.56 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.55
3 0.51 0.49 0.47 0.45 0.44 0.43 geferences
4 0.44 0.41 0.38 0.36 0.33 0.30
5 0.37 0.34 0.30 0.26 0.22 0.18 AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION,AMERICAN
Downloaded by [Auburn University Libraries] at 12:17 03 June 2015

6 0.31 0.26 0.21 0.17 0.12 0.06 WATER WORKS ASSOCIATION, AND WATER POL-
7 0.24 0.19 0.13 0.07 0.01 0.0 LUTION (JONTROL FEDERATION. 1980. Standard
8 0.17 0.11 0.04 0.0 methods for the examination of water and waste-
9 0.11 0.04 0.0
water, 15th edition. American Public Health As-
10 0.04 0.0
sociation,New York, New York, USA.
11 0.0
BOYD,C.E. 1973. The chemicaloxygendemandof
waters and biological materials from ponds.
Transactionsof the American FisheriesSociety
102:606-611.
(JOLT,J., ANDC-.TCHOBANOGLOUS. 1979. Designof
ingin application
of toolittleaeration;fishnfight aerationsystems for aquaculture.
Depamnentof
be stressedor killed. Hence, for practicalap- Civil Engineering,Universityof California,Da-
plication,one shouldusea and fi factorsthat vis, California, USA.
are smallerthan the averages.The use of the ECKENFELDER, W. W., AND D. L. FORD. 1968. New
lower 95% confidence limit for individual fac- conceptsin oxygentransfer and aeration. Pages
tors (average - [standard deviation x t0.05]) 215-236 in G. Gloyna and W. W. Eckenfelder,
editors. Advancesin water quality improve-
seemsreasonable. Not over 2.5% of a and fi
merits.Universityof Texas Press,Austin,Texas,
factorsfor watersof fishpondsshouldbe small- USA.
er than their lower confidence limit. The lower ECKENFELDER, W. W., L. W. RAYMOND, AND D. T.
95% confidence limits were 0.77 and 0.94 for LAURIA. 1956. Effectsof variousorganicsub-
a and fi factors,respectively. stanceson oxygenabsorptionefficiency.Sewage
and Industrial Wastes 28:1357-1364.
The lower 95% confidencelimits for a and fi
METCALFAND EDDY (INCORPORATED).1979. Waste-
factorspermittedsolutionof the aerator-per- waterengineering:treatlnent,disposal,reuse,2nd
formanceequationfbr oxygentransferunder edition. McGraw-Hill, New York, New York,
pond conditionsfor severaltemperaturesand USA.
dissolvedoxygen concentrations.Resultswere WHEATON,F. W. 1977. Aquaculturalengineering.
usedto computefhctors(Table 1) that may be JohnWileyandSons,NewYork,NewYork,USA.

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