Biological phosphorus removal in anoxic-aerobic sequencing batch reactor with starch as sole carbon source.

In traditional biological phosphorus removal (BPR), phosphorus release in anaerobic stage is the prerequisite of phosphorus excessive uptake in aerobic conditions. Moreover, when low molecular weight of the organic substance such as volatile fatty acids (VFAs) is scarce in bulk liquid or anaerobic condition does not exist, phosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) have difficulty removing phosphorus. However, in this work, phosphorus removal in two anoxic-aerobic sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) was observed when starch was supplied as a sole carbon source. The relations of the BPR with idle period were investigated in the two identical SBRs; the idle times were set to 0.5 hr (R1) and 4 hr (R2), respectively. Results of the study showed that, in the two SBRs, phosphorus concentrations of 0.26-3.11 mg/L in effluent were obtained after aeration when phosphorus concentration in influent was about 8 mg/L. Moreover, lower accumulations/transformations of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and higher transformation of glycogen occurred in the SBRs, indicating that glycogen was the main energy source that was different from the traditional mechanism of BPR. Under the different idle time, the phosphorus removal was a little different. In R2, which had a longer idle period, phosphorus release was very obvious just as occurs in a anaerobic-aerobic regime, but there was a special phenomenon of chemical oxygen demand increase, while VFAs had no notable change. It is speculated that PAOs can assimilate organic compounds in the mixed liquor, which were generated from glycolysis by fermentative organisms, coupled with phosphorus release. In R1, which had a very short idle period, anaerobic condition did not exist; phosphorus removal rate reached 63%. It is implied that a new metabolic pathway can occur even without anaerobic phosphorus release when starch is supplied as the sole carbon source.

Phosphorus metabolism and population dynamics in a biological phosphate-removal system with simultaneous anaerobic phosphate stripping.

In this study, the metabolism of phosphorus and changes in population dynamics were investigated via simultaneous chemical stripping in sidestream in an acetate-fed sequencing batch reactor. The synthesized intracellular polyphosphate (poly-P) by polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs) gradually decreased when the biomass was subjected to 83 d of P stripping. Initially, the P removal efficiency of the system improved from 94.3% to 96.9%. Thereafter, a relatively high level of P in effluent was observed, during which time the stoichiometric ratios of Prelease/HAcuptake decreased, Glycogendegraded/HAcuptake and poly-ß-hydroxyvalerate/PHA increased. The results revealed that a metabolic shift from polyphosphate-accumulating metabolism to glycogen-accumulating metabolism. Correspondingly, PAOs declined to less than 1% of the population, glycogen-accumulating organisms proliferated to almost 20% instead. The results of PCR­DGGE also indicated that the microbial community structure considerably changed in response to the gradually decreasing poly-P content. These findings imply that intracellular poly-P level is important for the stable of P removal system. Furthermore, it suggests that it is not a stable and effective way for P recycling from anaerobic stage of the biological P removal system in sidestream.