Mass Transfer of Hydrogen Sulfide at Turbulent Water Surface by Falling Drops or a Single Jet

Abstract

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a primary cause of odor and corrosion in sewer systems. In drop structures, falling wastewater impinges the surface of bottom water pool as a jet or numerous drops, triggering a high level of turbulence and thus enhancing the emission of H2S and the absorption of oxygen (O2) at the pool surface. In this study, laboratory experiments were conducted to study the mass transfer at the pool surface with falling water drops or a single jet of water. In the test range of falling flow rate of 49–223 mm/h and falling velocity of 3.1–5.2 m/s [kinetic energy flux (KEF)=0.11–0.80 J/(m2·s)], the mass transfer coefficient KL for the pool surface was found to be 2.6–14.8×10−5 m/s for H2S. In addition, KL was found to be 76% larger when the pool surface was impinged by water drops than by a single jet. KL was 27%−47% larger in the half of the water surface directly receiving the drops or jet than the other half. The increase of water depth in the pool promoted the mass transfer, especially for the scenario of falling jet. Equations were proposed to predict KL under drops or jet. Moreover, KL for H2S and for O2 was found almost the same, indicating O2 can be a safe surrogate gas for H2S. Finally, the research results were applied to estimate H2S emissions at the pool surface of a prototype drop structure with a falling height of up to 10 m, which showed that turbulent wastewater surface can enhance mass transfer over 100 times compared with a quiescent surface.