Recirculating Airlift for Aeration of Shallow Water Bodies

Abstract

The article is devoted to solving the issue of ensuring the efficient operation of aeration equipment in the conditions of shallow water bodies with an average depth of only a few meters. The article offers a technical solution for reducing the size of airlift aerators and increasing their performance by creating a recirculation movement of water inside the unit. With the help of a laboratory model, it was established that the dynamics of oxygenation of water in the pool with the help of a recirculating airlift is subject to a logarithmic dependence on the size of the flow regulator. It was possible to increase the oxygen concentration in the pool by 2.6 times within three hours as part of the simulation. The rate of water oxygenation was much higher than for a conventional airlift of the same size. The offered cost-efficient aeration unit, which uses wind flow as an energy source, can be used for fish farms and other applications.