Selection between alcohols and volatile fatty acids as external carbon sources for EBPR

Potential of free nitrous acid (FNA) for sludge treatment and resource recovery from waste activated sludge: A review

The escalating production of waste activated sludge (WAS) presents significant challenges to wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Free nitrous acid (FNA), known for its biocidal effect, has gained a growing focus on sludge dewatering, sludge reduction, and resource recovery from WAS due to its eco-friendly and cost-effective properties. Nevertheless, there have been no attempts made to systematically summarize or critically analyze the application of FNA in enhancing treatment and resource utilization of sludge. In this paper, we provided an overview of the current understanding regarding the application potential and influencing factors of FNA in sludge treatment, with a specific focus on enhancing sludge dewatering efficiency and reducing volume. To foster resource development from sludge, various techniques based on FNA have recently been proposed, which were comprehensively reviewed with the corresponding mechanisms meticulously discussed. The results showed that the chemical oxidation and interaction with microorganisms of FNA played the core role in improving resource utilization. Furthermore, current challenges and future prospects of the FNA-based applications were outlined. It is expected that this review can refine the theoretical framework of FNA-based processes, providing a theoretical foundation and technical guidance for the large-scale demonstration of FNA.

Stability and Biotransformation of 6:2 Fluorotelomer Sulfonic Acid, Sulfonamide Amine Oxide, and Sulfonamide Alkylbetaine in Aerobic Sludge

The 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonamide (6:2 FTSAm)-based compounds signify a prominent group of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) widely used in contemporary aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) formulations. Despite their widespread presence, the biotransformation behavior of these compounds in wastewater treatment plants remains uncertain. This study investigated the biotransformation of 6:2 FTSAm-based amine oxide (6:2 FTNO), alkylbetaine (6:2 FTAB), and 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonic acid (6:2 FTSA) in aerobic sludge over a 100-day incubation period. The biotransformation of 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonamide alkylamine (6:2 FTAA), a primary intermediate product of 6:2 FTNO, was indirectly assessed. Their stability was ranked based on the estimated half-lives (t1/2): 6:2 FTAB (no obvious products were detected) ≫ 6:2 FTSA (t1/2 ≈28.8 days) > 6:2 FTAA (t1/2 ≈11.5 days) > 6:2 FTNO (t1/2 ≈1.2 days). Seven transformation products of 6:2 FTSA and 15 products of 6:2 FTNO were identified through nontarget and suspect screening using high-resolution mass spectrometry. The transformation pathways of 6:2 FTNO and 6:2 FTSA in aerobic sludge were proposed. Interestingly, 6:2 FTSAm was hardly hydrolyzed to 6:2 FTSA and further biotransformed to perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs). Furthermore, the novel pathways for the generation of perfluoroheptanoic acid (PFHpA) from 6:2 FTSA were revealed.

Assessing the performance of polyphosphate accumulating organisms in a full-scale side-stream enhanced biological phosphorous removal

Phosphorous (P) removal in wastewater treatment is essential to prevent eutrophication in water bodies. Side-stream enhanced biological phosphorous removal (S2EBPR) is utilized to improve biological P removal by recirculating internal streams within a side-stream reactor to generate biodegradable carbon (C) for polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs). In this study, a full-scale S2EBPR system in a water resource recovery facility (WRRF) was evaluated for 5 months. Batch experiments revealed a strong positive correlation (r = 0.91) between temperature and C consumption rate (3.56-8.18 mg-COD/g-VSS/h) in the system, with temperature ranging from 14°C to 18°C. The anaerobic P-release to COD-uptake ratio decreased from 0.93 to 0.25 mg-P/mg-COD as the temperature increased, suggesting competition between PAOs and other C-consumers, such as heterotrophic microorganisms, to uptake bioavailable C. Microbial community analysis did not show a strong relationship between abundance and activity of PAO in the tested WRRF. An assessment of the economic feasibility was performed to compare the costs and benefits of a full scale WRRF with and without implementation of the S2EBPR technology. The results showed the higher capital costs required for S2EBPR were estimated to be compensated after 5 and 11 years of operation, respectively, compared to chemical precipitation and conventional EBPR. The results from this study can assist in the decision-making process for upgrading a conventional EBPR or chemical P removal process to S2EBPR. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Implementation of S2EBPR presents adaptable configurations, exhibiting advantages over conventional setups in addressing prevalent challenges associated with phosphorous removal. A full-scale S2EBPR WRRF was monitored over 5 months, and activity tests were used to measure the kinetic parameters. The seasonal changes impact the kinetic parameters of PAOs in the S2EBPR process, with elevated temperatures raising the carbon demand. PAOs abundance showed no strong correlation with their activity in the full-scale S2EBPR process in the tested WRRF. Feasibility assessment shows that the benefits from S2EBPR operation can offset upgrading costs from conventional BPR or chemical precipitation.

Nitrite accumulation in activated sludge through cyclic anaerobic exposure with acetate

Achieving nitrite accumulation still remains challenging for efficient short-cut biological nitrogen removal in municipal wastewater treatment. To tackle the problem of insufficient carbon in incoming wastewater for biological nutrient removal, a return activated sludge (RAS) fermentation method has been proposed and demonstrated to enable producing supplemental volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and enhance biological phosphorus removal via sludge cycling between mainstream and a sidestream anaerobic reactor. However, the impacts of long anaerobic exposure with acetate on nitrifying bacteria, known as the aerobic chemoautotrophic microorganisms, remains unexplored. In this study, the activated sludge underwent a cyclic anaerobic treatment with the addition of acetate (Ac), the effects on nitrification rate, abundance and microdiversity of nitrifying communities were comprehensively assessed. Firstly, batch activity tests proved the direct addition of high acetate (above 1000 mg/L) could cause inhibition on the nitrification rate, moreover, the inhibitory effect was stronger on nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) activity than that of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB). Then, a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was applied to test the nitrogen conversion performance for low-strength ammonium wastewater. Nitrite accumulation could be achieved via the cyclic anaerobic exposure with 1000-5000 mg Ac/L. The maximum effluent concentration of nitrite was 40.8 ± 3.5 mg N/L with nitrite accumulation ratio (NAR) of 67.6 ± 3.5%. The decrease in NOB activity (72.7%) was greater than AOB of 42.4%, promoting nitrite accumulation via nitritation process. Furthermore, the cyclic anaerobic exposure with acetate can largely reshape the nitrifying communities. As the dominant AOB and NOB, the abundance of Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira were both decreased with species-level microdiversity in the nitrifying communities. However, the heterotrophic microorganism, Thauera, were found to be highly enriched (from 0 to 17.3%), which may act as the potential nitrite producer as proved by the increased nitrate reduction gene abundance. This study can provide new insights into achieving mainstream nitrite accumulation by involving sidestream RAS fermentation towards efficient wastewater treatment management.

Optimizing SCND with carbon-rich hydrolysates from typical organic wastes: Material composition, augmentation performance, microbiome response, and life cycle impact

The rapid growth of production and consumption has led to severe environmental pollution, creating a major challenge to achieving the United Nations' sustainable development goals (SDGs). To address it, recycling of organic wastes into value-added products is a possible solution. In this work, four typical organic wastes including sewage sludge (SS), chicken manure (CM), food waste (FW), and corn straw (CS) were employed to produce hydrolysates augmenting shortcut nitrification-denitrification (SCND) for nitrogen depletion in wastewater. The hydrolysates were carbon-rich, with total COD (TCOD), soluble COD (SCOD), and volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentrations ranging from 32.5 to 102.7, 5.7 to 48.4, and 2.0-16.5 mg/L, respectively. The most effective nitrogen depletion was obtained in units supplemented with CM and FW hydrolysates, which had reduced average NH₃-N concentrations and near-zero TN removal failure rates under legal requirements. The microbial community analysis demonstrated that various functional bacteria from phylum to genus level were detected in all scenarios, which was corroborated by abundant genetic functions involved in nitrogen metabolism. Further, life cycle assessment revealed negative environmental impact on all categories, with an exception of eutrophication potential (EP) with negative values (∼-0.04 kg Phosphate eq.), allowing positive net environmental benefit (NEB). Operational cost analysis revealed that CM and FW are more effective but costlier than SS and CS. Together, these results indicate that, after hydrolysis, organic wastes can be efficient stimulant augmenting SCND performance for nitrogen depletion in wastewater, benefiting the overall environmental impact.

Glycerol conversion by aerobic granular sludge

Glycerol is abundantly present in wastewater from industries such as biodiesel production facilities. Glycerol is also a potential carbon source for microbes that are involved in wastewater nutrient removal processes. The conversion of glycerol in biological phosphorus removal of aerobic granular sludge processes has not been explored to date. The current study describes glycerol utilization by aerobic granular sludge and enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR). Robust granules with good phosphorus removal capabilities were formed in an aerobic granular sludge sequencing batch reactor fed with glycerol. The interaction between the fermentative conversion of glycerol and product uptake by polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAO) was studied using stoichiometric and microbial community analysis. Metagenomic, metaproteomic and microscopic analysis identified a community dominated by Actinobacteria (Tessaracoccus and Micropruina) and a typical PAO known as Ca. Accumulibacter. Glycerol uptake facilitator (glpF) and glycerol kinase (glpK), two proteins involved in the transport of glycerol into the cellular metabolism, were only observed in the genome of the Actinobacteria. The anaerobic conversion appeared to be a combination of a substrate fermentation and product uptake-type reaction. Initially, glycerol fermentation led mainly to the production of 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO) which was not taken up under anaerobic conditions. Despite the aerobic conversion of 1,3-PDO stable granulation was observed. Over time, 1,3-PDO production decreased and complete anaerobic COD uptake was observed. The results demonstrate that glycerol-containing wastewater can effectively be treated by the aerobic granular sludge process and that fermentative and polyphosphate accumulating organisms can form a food chain in glycerol-based EBPR processes.

A comprehensive review on current status and future perspectives of microbial volatile fatty acids production as platform chemicals

Volatile fatty acids (VFA), the secondary metabolite of microbial fermentation, are used in a wide range of industries for production of commercially valuable chemicals. In this review, the fermentative production of VFAs by both pure as well mixed microbial cultures is highlighted along with the strategies for enhancing the VFA production through innovations in existing approaches. Role of conventionally applied tools for the optimization of operational parameters such as pH, temperature, retention time, organic loading rate, and headspace pressure has been discussed. Furthermore, a comparative assessment of above strategies on VFA production has been done with alternate developments such as co-fermentation, substrate pre-treatment, and in situ removal from fermented broth. The review also highlights the applications of different bioreactor geometries in the optimum production of VFAs and how metagenomic tools could provide a detailed insight into the microbial communities and their functional attributes that could be subjected to metabolic engineering for the efficient production of VFAs.

Cultivation of granules containing anaerobic decolorization and aerobic degradation cultures for the complete mineralization of azo dyes in wastewater

Granules which could efficiently mineralize azo dyes were cultivated through immobilization of aerobic degradation strains in a core composed of anaerobic decolorization cultures. The core was obtained in a up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor incubated with anaerobic decolorization bacteria. Aerobic degradation strains were then grown on the surface of the anaerobic core in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR). Three of the granules' surface layers demonstrated the occurrence of immobilization. The granulation process was monitored with 16S rDNA high throughput sequencing. Anaerobic decolorization cultures belonging to the genera of unclassified, Levilinea, and Petrimonas and the aerobic degradation genera of Thauera, unclassified, Thermomonas, and Ottowia were successfully fixed in the granules. The obtained granules were capable of decolorizing azo dyes under anaerobic situation, and the generated aromatic amines were then completely mineralized in aerated environment. Comparative studies on the relationship between removed contaminates and typical components concentrations in low to high strength azo dye wastewater showed that the granules have great potentials in treating wastewater with different complexity. The removal efficiency of COD and TOC was not restricted by loading concentrations.

Sugar-alcohol industry: quality of its biotreated washing water for reuse in fertigation

All processes in agro-industries consume water and generate large volumes of nutrient-rich effluents. To recycle effluents from a sugar-alcohol industry in the Northeastern Brazil (Coruripe, Alagoas), the effect of a daily application of a microbial formulation (containing five indigenous bacteria and two fungi), at the entrance of the two first facultative ponds (D, E) of its treatment plant formed by seven ponds (A-G), was evaluated in the sugarcane harvests of 2014/2015 and 2015/2016. Fortnightly, the values of 11 physicochemical parameters were checked and statistically compared (one and two-way ANOVA) in untreated (sedimentation pond A) and post-treated effluent (last facultative pond G), during both harvests. The treated effluent presented statistically significant improvements (p > 0.05), even between harvests, with averages of removal of organic matter of ca. 79.21% and 90.62%, and increases of the dissolved oxygen (DO) of ca. 72% and 74%, as well as the average increase of pH was ca. 42% and 50%. This better quality residue generally satisfied the class III level of the Brazilian Resolution 357/2005 (National Council for the Environment (CONAMA)), for water reuse in sugarcane irrigation on the yellow clay latosol soil, since it still is a light source of organic matter, nitrites and phosphorus, reducing the need of fertilizers for maintaining the productivity with low risk of salinization. According to Pearson's bivariate correlation coefficient, while the DO and pH have positive correlation, they both have general inverse relation with the other physicochemical parameters evaluated and vice versa.

Promising carbon utilization for nitrogen recovery in low strength wastewater treatment: Ammonia nitrogen assimilation, protein production and microbial community structure

Acetic acid and sodium acetate are generally supplied to wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in China to improve total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) removal, and the addition of carbon source also facilitates to increase sludge growth rate and further provides material basis for the extraction of proteins and amino acids from activated sludge. To recycle ammonia nitrogen resources, a system that combined adsorption and anaerobic-anoxic-oxic (A/AAO) process for treating low strength wastewater was established. Experimental results showed that by the addition of carbon substrate from a mixture of anaerobically fermented adsorption sludge, the average removal efficiency of chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen, TN, and TP were 88%, 96.9%, 93.9%, and 92.1%, respectively, and the ratio of nitrogen assimilation to nitrogen dissimilation significantly increased by a factor of 2.5. Through energy analysis (based on adenosine triphosphate, ATP), sludge flocculation capacity and settling property, it was found that the AAO process sludge presented the logarithmic growth characteristics. The respective sludge protein and amino acids contents increased by over 11.4% and 40.3%, and the synthetic products of glutamic acid, alanine and aspartate increased through the assimilation of ammonia nitrogen, thereby indicating that replenishing the carbon substrate could markedly enhance protein and amino acids contents in AAO process sludge. Moreover, the diversity of the microbial community in adsorption process was relatively rich, the diversity in the adsorption process sludge was the highest, while the diversity of the AAO process sludge evidently decreased. The microbial community in each process was similarly based on 16S rDNA gene sequence analysis, microflora was prominent in the AAO process, with Dechloromonas, Flavobacterium, Zoogloea, Unclassified_Rhodocyclaceae and Thauera as the dominant species. Promising carbon utilization facilitates contaminants removal in low strength wastewater treatment and is conducive to protein production through ammonia nitrogen assimilation.

Effects of carbon source on the formation, stability, bioactivity and biodiversity of the aerobic granule sludge

Three aerobic granular sludge systems were operated as sequencing batch reactors (SBR) with acetate, ethanol and glucose as carbon source. The SBR cycle was 6 h, with an anaerobic phase followed by an aerobic phase. The acetate granules (>1.5 mm) had the greatest microbial diversity and better results in terms of removal efficiency for carbon and nutrients (TN ≈ 72% and TP ≈ 42%) and also in the resistance tests. However, partial disintegration was observed. On the other hand, when ethanol was the substrate, the granules were stable, good nitrogen removal was achieved (TN ≈ 53%), but phosphorus removal was not favored (TP ≈ 31%). Glucose presented the lowest efficiency values for nitrogen (TN ≈ 44%) and phosphorous removal (TP ≈ 21%), and the granules formed (<1 mm) had the lowest microbial diversity. Therefore, the carbon source had a high impact on the characteristics of the granules.

Glutamate as sole carbon source for enhanced biological phosphorus removal

Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal (EBPR) is based on the enrichment of sludge in polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAO). Candidatus Accumulibacter is the bacterial community member most commonly identified as PAO in EBPR systems when volatile fatty acids (VFA) are the carbon source. However, it is necessary to understand the role of non-Accumulibacter PAO in the case of wastewater with low VFA content. This work shows the first successful long-term operation of an EBPR system with glutamate as sole carbon and nitrogen source, resulting in the enrichment of sludge in the genus Thiothrix (37%), the family Comamonadaceae (15.6%) and Accumulibacter (7.7%). The enrichment was performed in an anaerobic/anoxic/oxic (A²/O) continuous pilot plant, obtaining stable biological N and P removal. This microbial community performed anaerobic P-release with only 18-29% of the observed PHA storage in Accumulibacter-enriched sludge and with slight glycogen storage instead of consumption, indicating the involvement of other carbon storage routes not related to PHA and glycogen. Thiothrix could be clearly involved in P-removal because it is able of accumulating Poly-P, probably without PHA synthesis, but with glutamate involvement. On the other hand, Comamonadaceae could participate in degradation of glutamate and denitrification, but its involvement in P-uptake cannot be reliably concluded.

Effect of Lactate on the Microbial Community and Process Performance of an EBPR System

Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis is in general presented as the dominant organism responsible for the biological removal of phosphorus in activated sludge wastewater treatment plants. Lab-scale enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) studies, usually use acetate as carbon source. However, the complexity of the carbon sources present in wastewater could allow other potential poly-phosphate accumulating organism (PAOs), such as putative fermentative PAOs (e.g., Tetrasphaera), to proliferate in coexistence or competition with Ca. Accumulibacter. This research assessed the effects of lactate on microbial selection and process performance of an EBPR lab-scale study. The addition of lactate resulted in the coexistence of Ca. Accumulibacter and Tetrasphaera in a single EBPR reactor. An increase in anaerobic glycogen consumption from 1.17 to 2.96 C-mol/L and anaerobic PHV formation from 0.44 to 0.87 PHV/PHA C-mol/C-mol corresponded to the increase in the influent lactate concentration. The dominant metabolism shifted from a polyphosphate-accumulating metabolism (PAM) to a glycogen accumulating metabolism (GAM) without EBPR activity. However, despite the GAM, traditional glycogen accumulating organisms (GAOs; Candidatus Competibacter phosphatis and Defluvicoccus) were not detected. Instead, the 16s RNA amplicon analysis showed that the genera Tetrasphaera was the dominant organism, while a quantification based on FISH-biovolume indicated that Ca. Accumulibacter remained the dominant organism, indicating certain discrepancies between these microbial analytical methods. Despite the discrepancies between these microbial analytical methods, neither Ca. Accumulibacter nor Tetrasphaera performed biological phosphorus removal by utilizing lactate as carbon source.

Development of denitrifying phosphate accumulating and anammox micro-organisms in anaerobic hybrid reactor for removal of nutrients from low strength domestic sewage

Low strength domestic sewage was treated in an Anaerobic Hybrid Reactor. The first phase was focused on the enhancement of denitrifying phosphate accumulating organisms (DPAOs) for the concurrent removal of nitrogen and phosphate. 16S rRNA gene confirmed the presence of Flavobacterium spp. and Pseudomonasalcaligenes spp. which are dominant DPAOs. The second phase was the anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) enrichment phase, and it exhibited much higher chemical oxygen demand (87%) and nitrogen removal (90%) as compared to the first phase. However, it had failed to remove the phosphate from the system. In case of anammox, the dominant specie detected was Candidatus Brocadia, along with minor counts of Candidatus Jettenia and Anammoxoglobus Propionicus. Apart from that, ammonia oxidizing bacteria (Nitrosomonas europaea, Nitrosomonas nitrosa) and methanogens (Methanosaeta, Methanobacterium) were also detected in the system. This study showed the feasibility of anammox species over DPAOs in treating domestic sewage.

Effects of different external carbon sources and electron acceptors on interactions between denitrification and phosphorus removal in biological nutrient removal processes

The effects of two different external carbon sources (acetate and ethanol) and electron acceptors (dissolved oxygen, nitrate, and nitrite) were investigated under aerobic and anoxic conditions with non-acclimated process biomass from a full-scale biological nutrient removal-activated sludge system. When acetate was added as an external carbon source, phosphate release was observed even in the presence of electron acceptors. The release rates were 1.7, 7.8, and 3.5 mg P/(g MLVSS·h) (MLVSS: mixed liquor volatile suspended solids), respectively, for dissolved oxygen, nitrate, and nitrite. In the case of ethanol, no phosphate release was observed in the presence of electron acceptors. Results of the experiments with nitrite showed that approximately 25 mg NO₂-N/L of nitrite inhibited anoxic phosphorus uptake regardless of the concentration of the tested external carbon sources. Furthermore, higher denitrification rates were obtained with acetate (1.4 and 0.8 mg N/(g MLVSS·h)) compared to ethanol (1.1 and 0.7 mg N/ (g MLVSS·h)) for both anoxic electron acceptors (nitrate and nitrite).

The metabolic activity of denitrifying microorganisms accumulating polyphosphate in response to addition of fusel oil

The effect of distillery waste product (fusel oil) as an alternative external organic carbon source (EOCS) was investigated in terms of the metabolic properties of denitrifying polyphosphate accumulating organisms (DPAOs). Samples of the non-acclimated biomass were collected from a local full-scale wastewater treatment plant employing A²/O type bioreactors. The acclimated biomass was obtained after cultivation (with fusel oil added) in a bench-scale reactor with a process configuration similar to the full-scale bioreactor. Changes in the functional properties of the biomass were investigated by measuring the phosphate release/uptake rates (PRRs and PURs), and nitrate utilization rates (NURs) with fusel oil in anaerobic-anoxic batch tests. Furthermore, a validated extended Activated Sludge Model no 2d (ASM2d) was used as a supporting tool to analyze the experimental results and estimate the contribution of DPAOs to the overall denitrification. In the non-acclimated biomass with fusel oil, the PRRs, PURs and NURs were low and close to the rates obtained in a reference test without adding EOCS. With the acclimated biomass, the PUR and NUR increased significantly, i.e., 3.5 and 2.7 times, respectively. In the non-acclimated biomass, approximately 60.0 ± 3.6% and 20.0 ± 2.2% of the total NUR was attributed to the utilization of endogenous carbon and examined EOCS, respectively. The remaining portion (20% of the total NUR) was attributed to PHA utilization (linked to PO₄-P uptake) by DPAOs. With the acclimated biomass, the contribution of the EOCS to the NUR increased to approximately 60%, while the contribution of the endogenous carbon source decreased accordingly. Very accurate predictions of PURs and NURs (R² = 0.97–1.00) were obtained with the extended ASM2d. Based on model simulations, it was estimated that the activity of DPAOs and denitrifying ordinary heterotrophic organisms corresponded to approximately 20% and 80% of the total NUR, respectively.

Modeling nitrous oxide production by a denitrifying-enhanced biologically phosphorus removing (EBPR) activated sludge in the presence of different carbon sources and electron acceptors

In this study, the IWA Activated Sludge Model No. 2d (ASM2d) was expanded to identify the most important mechanisms leading to the anoxic nitrous oxide (N₂O) production in the combined nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) removal activated sludge systems. The new model adopted a three-stage denitrification concept and was evaluated against the measured data from one/two-phase batch experiments carried out with activated sludge withdrawn from a local, large-scale biological nutrient removal wastewater treatment plant. The experiments were focused on investigating the effects of different external carbon sources (acetate, ethanol) and electron acceptors (nitrite, nitrate) on the mechanisms of N₂O production in enhanced biological P removal by polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) and external carbon-based denitrification by ordinary heterotrophic organisms (OHOs). The experimental results explicitly showed that N₂O production was predominantly governed by the presence of nitrite in the reactor regardless of the examined carbon source and the ratio COD/N in the reactor. The model was capable of accurately predicting (with R² > 0.9) the behavior of not only N₂O-N, but also NO₃-N, NO₂-N, soluble COD, and PO₄-P. The simulation results revealed that only OHOs were responsible for N₂O production, whereas the present denitrifying PAOs reduced only nitrate to nitrite.

Pre-digestion to enhance volatile fatty acids (VFAs) concentration as a carbon source for denitrification in treatment of liquid swine manure

Insufficient denitrification in biological treatment is often a result of the lack of a carbon source. In this study, use of the volatile fatty acids (VFAs) generated via pre-digestion as a carbon source to improve denitrification in sequencing batch reactor (SBR) treatment of liquid swine manure was investigated. The pre-digestion of swine manure was realized by storing the manure in a sealed container in room temperature and samples were taken periodically from the container to determine the VFA levels. The results showed that after 14 days of pre-digestion, the VFA level in the digested liquid was increased by 200%. A polynomial relationship for the VFA level in the digested manure with the digestion time was observed with a correlation coefficient being 0.9748. Two identical SBRs were built and operated on 8-h cycles in parallel, with one fed with pre-digested and the other raw swine manure. There were five phases included in each cycle, i.e., anaerobic (90 min), anoxic (150 min), anoxic/anaerobic (90 min), anoxic/aerobic (120 min), and settle/decant (30 min), and the feeding was split to 600 mL/200 mL and performed at the beginning of and 240 min into the cycle. The SBR fed on pre-digested swine manure achieved successful denitrification with only 0.35 mg/L nitrate left in the effluent, compared to 15.9 mg/L found in the effluent of the other SBR. Nitrite was not detected in the effluent from both SBRs. The results also indicated that there was no negative impact of feeding SBRs with the pre-digested liquid swine manure for treatment on the removal of other constituents such as total solids (TS), volatile solids (VS), suspended solids (SS), volatile suspended solids (VSS), and soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD). Therefore, anaerobic digestion as a pretreatment can be an effective way to condition liquid swine manure for SBR treatment to achieve sufficient nitrate removal.

Influence of relaxation modes on membrane fouling in submerged membrane bioreactor for domestic wastewater treatment

Relaxation and backwashing have become an integral part of membrane bioreactor (MBR) operations for fouling control. This study was carried out on real municipal wastewater to evaluate the influence of different operational strategies on membrane fouling at equivalent water yield. Four relaxation modes (MBR_10+0, MBR₁₀₊₁, MBR_10+1.5 and MBR₁₀₊₂) were tested to analyze membrane fouling behavior. For the optimization of relaxation modes, fouling rate in terms of trans-membrane pressure, hydraulic resistances and characteristics of fouling fractions were analyzed. It has been observed that cake layer resistance was minimum in MBR_10+1.5 but pore blockage resistance was increased in all relaxation modes. Moreover, high instantaneous flux contributed significantly to fouling rate at the initial stage of MBR operations. Relaxation modes were also efficient in removing irreversible fouling to some extent. Under all relaxation modes, COD removal efficiency ranged from 92 to 96.5%. Ammonium and TP removal were on the lower side due to the short solids and hydraulic retention time.

Effects of different ratios of glucose to acetate on phosphorus removal and microbial community of enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) system

In this study, the effects of different ratios of glucose to acetate on enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) were investigated with regard to the changes of intercellular polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and glycogen, as well as microbial community. The experiments were carried out in five sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) fed with glucose and/or acetate as carbon sources at the ratios of 0:100 %, 25:75 %, 50:50 %, 75:25 %, and 100:0 %. The experimental results showed that a highest phosphorus removal efficiency of 96.3 % was obtained with a mixture of glucose and acetate at the ratio of 50:50 %, which should be attributed to more glycogen and polyhydroxyvalerate (PHV) transformation in this reactor during the anaerobic condition. PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of sludge samples taken from different anaerobic/aerobic (A/O) SBRs revealed that microbial community structures were distinctively different with a low similarity between each other.

Short-term performance of enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) system exposed to erythromycin (ERY) and oxytetracycline (OTC)

The effects of Erythromycin (ERY) and oxytetracycline (OTC), including individual and combinative effect, on enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) system within a short-term (24h) were evaluated in this study. Results showed that the P-removal efficiency decreased to 34.6% and 0.0% under the effect of ERY (10mg/L) and OTC (10mg/L) for 24h. OTC concentration higher than 5mg/L was sufficient to cause serious adverse impact on the EBPR performance. While the performance of EBPR system will be impacted by ERY above 10mg/L. OTC, due to its special antibacterial action to the gram-negative bacteria which most PAOs belong to, has more serious negative effect on the EBPR performance than ERY does. Moreover, in the combined antibiotics test, neither synergistic nor antagonistic effect was detected between ERY and OTC. Finally, ERY (10mg/L) and OTC (10mg/L) could inhibit the microorganisms' activity, while couldn't induce serious microorganisms death within 24h.

Influence of carbon sources on nutrient removal in A2/O-MBRs: Availability assessment of internal carbon source

Both internal carbon source and some external carbon sources were used to improve the nutrient removal in Anaerobic-Anoxic-Oxic-Membrane Bioreactor (A²/O-MBRs), and their technical and cost analysis was investigated. The experimental results showed that the nutrient removals were improved by all the carbon source additions. The total nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiency were higher in the experiments with external carbon source additions than that with internal carbon source addition. It was found that pathways of nitrogen and phosphorus transform were different dependent on different carbon source additions by the mass balance analysis. With external carbon source addition, the simultaneous nitrification and denitrification occurred in aerobic zone, and the P-uptake in aerobic phase was evident. Therefore, with addition of C-MHP (internal carbon source produced from sludge pretreatment by microwave-H₂O₂ process), the denitrification and phosphorus-uptake in anoxic zone was notable. Cost analysis showed that the unit nitrogen removal costs were 57.13CNY/kg N of C-acetate addition and 54.48CNY/kgN of C-MHP addition, respectively. The results indicated that the C-MHP has a good technical and economic feasibility to substitute external carbon sources partially for nutrient removal.

Performance evaluation of a novel anaerobic-anoxic sludge blanket reactor for biological nutrient removal treating municipal wastewater

A novel anaerobic-anoxic sludge blanket reactor, AnoxAn, unifies the non-aerated zones of the biological nutrient removal treatment train in a single upflow reactor, aimed at achieving high compactness and efficiency. The environmental conditions are vertically divided up inside the reactor with the anaerobic zone at the bottom and the anoxic zone above. This contribution presents the performance evaluation of the novel reactor in the removal of organic matter and nutrients from municipal wastewater, coupled with an aerobic hybrid MBR. The overall system achieved total nitrogen and phosphorus removal with average efficiencies of 75% and 89%, respectively. Separate anoxic and anaerobic conditions were maintained in AnoxAn, allowing anaerobic phosphate release and nearly complete anoxic denitrification in the single reactor operating with an HRT of 4.2h. Biomass was retained in the reactor achieving TSS concentration up to 10gL(-1) and partial hydrolysis of influent particulate organic matter.

Modeling the Effect of External Carbon Source Addition under Different Electron Acceptor Conditions in Biological Nutrient Removal Activated Sludge Systems

The aim of this study was to expand the International Water Association Activated Sludge Model No. 2d (ASM2d) to predict the aerobic/anoxic behavior of polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) and "ordinary" heterotrophs in the presence of different external carbon sources and electron acceptors. The following new aspects were considered: (1) a new type of the readily biodegradable substrate, not available for the anaerobic activity of PAOs, (2) nitrite as an electron acceptor, and (3) acclimation of "ordinary" heterotrophs to the new external substrate via enzyme synthesis. The expanded model incorporated 30 new or modified process rate equations. The model was evaluated against data from several, especially designed laboratory experiments which focused on the combined effects of different types of external carbon sources (acetate, ethanol and fusel oil) and electron acceptors (dissolved oxygen, nitrate and nitrite) on the behavior of PAOs and "ordinary" heterotrophs. With the proposed expansions, it was possible to improve some deficiencies of the ASM2d in predicting the behavior of biological nutrient removal (BNR) systems with the addition of external carbon sources, including the effect of acclimation to the new carbon source.

Assessment of crude glycerol for Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal: Stability and role of long chain fatty acids

Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal (EBPR) of urban wastewaters is usually limited by the available carbon source required by Polyphosphate Accumulating Organisms (PAO). External carbon sources as volatile fatty acids (VFA) or other pure organic compounds have been tested at lab scale demonstrating its ability to enhance PAO activity, but the application of this strategy at full-scale WWTPs is not cost-effective. The utilization of industrial by-products with some of these organic compounds provides lower cost, but it has the possible drawback of having inhibitory or toxic compounds to PAO. This study is focused on the utilization of crude glycerol, the industrial by-product generated in the biodiesel production, as a possible carbon source to enhance EBPR in carbon-limited urban wastewaters. Crude glycerol has non-negligible content of other organic compounds as methanol, salts, VFA and long chain fatty acids (LCFA). VFA and methanol have been demonstrated to enhance PAO activity, but there is no previous study about the effect of LCFA on PAO. This work presents the operation of an EBPR SBR system using crude glycerol as sole carbon source, studying also its long-term stability. The effect of LCFA is evaluated at short and long-term operation, demonstrating for the first time EBPR activity with LCFA as sole carbon source and its long-term failure due to the increased hydrophobicity of the sludge.

Comparative analysis of microbial community between different cathode systems of microbial fuel cells for denitrification

Two types of cathodic biofilm in microbial fuel cells (MFC) were established for comparison on their performance and microbial communities. Complete autotrophic simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND) without organics addition was achieved in nitrifying-MFC (N-MFC) with a total nitrogen (TN) removal rate of 0.35 mg/(L·h), which was even higher than that in denitrifying-MFC (D-MFC) at same TN level. Integrated denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis based on both 16S rRNA and nirK genes showed that Alpha-, Gammaproteobacteria were the main denitrifier communities. Some potential autotrophic denitrifying bacteria which can use electrons and reducing power from cathodes, such as Shewanella oneidensis, Shewanella loihica, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Starkeya novella and Rhodopseudomonas palustris were identified and selectively enriched on cathode biofilms. Further, relative abundance of denitrifying bacteria characterized by nirK/16S ratios was much higher in biofilm than suspended sludge according to real-time polymerase chain reaction. The highest enrichment efficiency for denitrifiers was obtained in N-MFC cathode biofilms, which confirmed autotrophic denitrifying bacteria enrichment is the key factor for a D-MFC system.

Effect and behaviour of different substrates in relation to the formation of aerobic granular sludge

When aerobic granular sludge is applied for industrial wastewater treatment, different soluble substrates can be present. For stable granular sludge formation on volatile fatty acids (e.g. acetate), production of storage polymers under anaerobic feeding conditions has been shown to be important. This prevents direct aerobic growth on readily available chemical oxygen demand (COD), which is thought to result in unstable granule formation. Here, we investigate the impact of acetate, methanol, butanol, propanol, propionaldehyde, and valeraldehyde on granular sludge formation at 35 °C. Methanogenic archaea, growing on methanol, were present in the aerobic granular sludge system. Methanol was completely converted to methane and carbon dioxide by the methanogenic archaeum Methanomethylovorans uponensis during the 1-h anaerobic feeding period, despite the relative high dissolved oxygen concentration (3.5 mg O2 L(-1)) during the subsequent 2-h aeration period. Propionaldehyde and valeraldehyde were fully disproportionated anaerobically into their corresponding carboxylic acids and alcohols. The organic acids produced were converted to storage polymers, while the alcohols (produced and from influent) were absorbed onto the granular sludge matrix and converted aerobically. Our observations show that easy biodegradable substrates not converted anaerobically into storage polymers could lead to unstable granular sludge formation. However, when the easy biodegradable COD is absorbed in the granules and/or when the substrate is converted by relatively slow growing bacteria in the aerobic period, stable granulation can occur.

The effect of COD loading on the granule-based enhanced biological phosphorus removal system and the recoverability

In this study, the effect of varied COD loading (200, 400, 500, 600 and 800 mg L(-1)) on stability and recoverability of granule-based enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) system was investigated during continuously 53-d operation. Results showed that COD loading higher than 500 mg L(-1) could obviously deteriorate the granular EBPR system and result in sludge bulking with filamentous bacteria. High COD loading also changed the transformation patterns of poly-β-hydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and glycogen in metabolism process of polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs) and inhibited the EPS secretion, which completely destroyed the stability and integrality of granules. Results of FISH indicated that glycogen-accumulating organisms (GAOs) and other microorganisms had a competitive advantage over PAOs with higher COD loading. The community composition and EBPR performance were recovered irreversibly in long time operation when COD loading was higher than 500 mg L(-1).

Biohydrogen facilitated denitrification at biocathode in bioelectrochemical system (BES)

Reductive removal of nitrate in bioelectrochemical system (BES) at abiotic cathode, biocathode and biohydrogen facilitated biocathode were investigated. It was found that nitrate removal efficiency reached 95% and 59% at the biohydrogen facilitated biocathode and biocathode respectively, while which was only 13% at the abiotic cathode. Meanwhile, activity of nitrate reductase reached 0.701 g-N/Lh for the biohydrogen facilitated group, which was about 9.3 times of the biocathode group. Moreover, electrochemical performances as power density, ohmic resistance, and polarization resistance of the biohydrogen facilitated group reached 76.96 mW/m(3), 8.63 ohm and 383 ohm, respectively, which were better than two other groups. Finally, an obvious shift of bacterial community responsible for the enhanced nitrate reduction between the two biocathode groups was observed. Therefore, nitrate reduction in BES could be enhanced at the biocathode than that of the abiotic cathode, and then be further boosted with the combination of biohydrogen.

Denitrifying bacterial communities affect current production and nitrous oxide accumulation in a microbial fuel cell

The biocathodic reduction of nitrate in Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) is an alternative to remove nitrogen in low carbon to nitrogen wastewater and relies entirely on microbial activity. In this paper the community composition of denitrifiers in the cathode of a MFC is analysed in relation to added electron acceptors (nitrate and nitrite) and organic matter in the cathode. Nitrate reducers and nitrite reducers were highly affected by the operational conditions and displayed high diversity. The number of retrieved species-level Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) for narG, napA, nirS and nirK genes was 11, 10, 31 and 22, respectively. In contrast, nitrous oxide reducers remained virtually unchanged at all conditions. About 90% of the retrieved nosZ sequences grouped in a single OTU with a high similarity with Oligotropha carboxidovorans nosZ gene. nirS-containing denitrifiers were dominant at all conditions and accounted for a significant amount of the total bacterial density. Current production decreased from 15.0 A·m⁻³ NCC (Net Cathodic Compartment), when nitrate was used as an electron acceptor, to 14.1 A·m⁻³ NCC in the case of nitrite. Contrarily, nitrous oxide (N₂O) accumulation in the MFC was higher when nitrite was used as the main electron acceptor and accounted for 70% of gaseous nitrogen. Relative abundance of nitrite to nitrous oxide reducers, calculated as (qnirS+qnirK)/qnosZ, correlated positively with N₂O emissions. Collectively, data indicate that bacteria catalysing the initial denitrification steps in a MFC are highly influenced by main electron acceptors and have a major influence on current production and N₂O accumulation.

The effect of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) on nutrient removal in SBR with biomass adapted to dairy wastewater

This study aims to determine the effect of volatile fatty acids on nitrates and orthophosphate removal in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) with activated sludge biomass adapted to process dairy wastewater. The research also determine whether it is the type of fatty acid applied that is responsible for the effectiveness of denitrification and dephosphatation at varying nitrate:orthophosphate ratios, or whether these processes are additionally affected by the presence of microorganisms that have adapted to the specific carbon composition of the wastewater being treated. At the beginning of an operating cycle SBRs were dosed with VFAs to provide a source of carbon. A comparative analysis was performed of nitrate and orthophosphate removal at initial nitrate concentrations of 1.22, 7.3 and 15.2 mgN(NO3)L⁻¹. Doses of fatty acids were approximately 10.5 mg⁻¹COD·mgP(PO4). They consisted of acetic, propionic, butyric, isobutyric, valeric, isovaleric and caproic acids. Increases of nitrate concentration from 1.22 to 15.2 mg N(NO3)L⁻¹ were observed to reduce the quantity of removed orthophosphate depending on the fatty acid applied, from 7.2-9.2 mgP(PO4)L to 4.5 - 6.7 mgP(PO4)L. Every increase in the removed nitrates by 5.0 mgN(NO3)L⁻¹ was accompanied by a decrease in the removed orthophosphate of around 1 mgP(PO4)L⁻¹. The reactor containing acetic acid was found to remove the highest amount of orthophosphate irrespective of the nitrates concentration. Acids present in significant amount in dairy wastewaters (i.e. acetic, propionic and butyric) were more effective source of carbon in the denitrification process compared to low concentration acids.

Effect of fermented wastewaters from butter production on phosphates removal in a sequencing batch reactor

This study determined the potential for fermented wastewaters from butter production plant to act as a carbon source to facilitate phosphates removal. Synthetic dairy wastewaters were treated using SBR, with doses of fermented wastewaters. An increase in the fermented wastewater doses were found to improve the effluent quality in respect of phosphates and nitrates. The lowest concentrations of phosphate and nitrates, respectively 0.10 ± 0.04 mg PO(4)-PL(-1) and 1.03 ± 0.22 mg NO(3)-NL(-1), were noted in the effluent from the reactor fed with fermented wastewaters in a dose of 0.25 L d(-1) per 0.45 L d(-1) of wastewaters fed to the reactor. In the case of the two highest doses, an increase in effluent COD was stated. The higher effectiveness resulted from the fact that the introduction of fermented wastewaters caused an increase in the easily-available carbon compounds content and the predominance of acetic acid amongst VFAs available to dephosphatating and denitrifying bacteria.

Autotrophic nitrite removal in the cathode of microbial fuel cells

Nitrification to nitrite (nitritation process) followed by reduction to dinitrogen gas decreases the energy demand and the carbon requirements of the overall process of nitrogen removal. This work studies autotrophic nitrite removal in the cathode of microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Special attention was paid to determining whether nitrite is used as the electron acceptor by exoelectrogenic bacteria (biologic reaction) or by graphite electrodes (abiotic reaction). The results demonstrated that, after a nitrate pulse at the cathode, nitrite was initially accumulated; subsequently, nitrite was removed. Nitrite and nitrate can be used interchangeably as an electron acceptor by exoelectrogenic bacteria for nitrogen reduction from wastewater while producing bioelectricity. However, if oxygen is present in the cathode chamber, nitrite is oxidised via biological or electrochemical processes. The identification of a dominant bacterial member similar to Oligotropha carboxidovorans confirms that autotrophic denitrification is the main metabolism mechanism in the cathode of an MFC.

Using a carbon-based ASM3 EAWAG Bio-P for modelling the enhanced biological phosphorus removal in anaerobic/aerobic activated sludge systems

Modelling of activated sludge processes is a commonly used technique to design and optimize wastewater treatment processes. Since wastewater and activated sludge is characterized by chemical oxygen demand (COD) measurements, units of state variables describing organic matter are expressed as equivalent amounts of COD. However, current procedures for measuring it have several drawbacks, including the production of hazardous wastes, so the utility of other variables for characterizing the organic load in modelling, such as total organic carbon (TOC), warrant re-evaluation. Other advantages of TOC over COD are that it provides matrix-independent analytical results and it can be readily measured online. Proposals for TOC-based models were made in the 1990s, but they seem to have sunk into obscurity. To re-assess the value of TOC for this purpose, we have recalculated the EAWAG module for Bio-P removal coupled to the Activated Sludge Model No. 3 on a TOC basis, and tested it against data acquired in batch experiments with four single carbon sources (acetate, glucose, citrate and casein). The batch test-based calibrations showed a good match with experimental data, following modifications of the model to account for the anaerobic volumes and retention times applied in the tests.

The effect of primary sedimentation on full-scale WWTP nutrient removal performance

Traditionally, the performance of full-scale wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is measured based on influent and/or effluent and waste sludge flows and concentrations. Full-scale WWTP data typically have a high variance which often contains (large) measurement errors. A good process engineering evaluation of the WWTP performance is therefore difficult. This also makes it usually difficult to evaluate effect of process changes in a plant or compare plants to each other. In this paper we used a case study of a full-scale nutrient removing WWTP. The plant normally uses presettled wastewater, as a means to increase the nutrient removal the plant was operated for a period by-passing raw wastewater (27% of the influent flow). The effect of raw wastewater addition has been evaluated by different approaches: (i) influent characteristics, (ii) design retrofit, (iii) effluent quality, (iv) removal efficiencies, (v) activated sludge characteristics, (vi) microbial activity tests and FISH analysis and, (vii) performance assessment based on mass balance evaluation. This paper demonstrates that mass balance evaluation approach helps the WWTP engineers to distinguish and quantify between different strategies, where others could not. In the studied case, by-passing raw wastewater (27% of the influent flow) directly to the biological reactor did not improve the effluent quality and the nutrient removal efficiency of the WWTP. The increase of the influent C/N and C/P ratios was associated to particulate compounds with low COD/VSS ratio and a high non-biodegradable COD fraction.

Biological nutrient removal in an MBR treating municipal wastewater with special focus on biological phosphorus removal

The performance of an MBR pilot plant for biological nutrient removal was evaluated during 210days of operation. The set point values for the internal recycles were determined in advance with the use of an optimisation spreadsheet based on the ASM2d model to optimise the simultaneous removal of C, N and P. The biological nutrient removal (BNR) efficiencies were high from the start of operation with COD and N removal efficiencies of 92+/-6% and 89+/-7, respectively. During the course of the experiment P removal efficiencies increased and finally a P-removal efficiency of 92% was achieved. The activity of poly-phosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) and denitrifying poly-phosphate accumulating organisms (DPAOs) increased and the specific phosphate accumulation rates after 150days of operation amounted to 13.6mgPg(-1)VSSh(-1) and 5.6mgPg(-1)VSSh(-1), for PAOs and DPAOs, respectively.

Comparison between disintegrated and fermented sewage sludge for production of a carbon source suitable for biological nutrient removal

There is a need to investigate processes that enable sludge re-use while enhancing sewage treatment efficiency. Mechanically disintegrated thickened surplus activated sludge (SAS) and fermented primary sludge were compared for their capacity to produce a carbon source suitable for BNR by completing nutrient removal predictive tests. Mechanically disintegration of SAS using a deflaker enhanced volatile fatty acids (VFAs) content from 92 to 374 mg l(-1) (4.1-fold increase). In comparison, primary sludge fermentation increased the VFAs content from 3.5 g l(-1) to a final concentration of 8.7 g l(-1) (2.5-fold increase). The carbon source obtained from disintegration and fermentation treatments improved phosphate (PO(4)-P) release and denitrification by up to 0.04 mg NO(3)-Ng(-1)VSS min(-1) and 0.031 mg PO(4)-Pg(-1)VSS min(-1), respectively, in comparison to acetate (0.023 mg NO(3)-Ng(-1)VSS min(-1)and 0.010 mg PO(4)-Pg(-1)VSS min(-1)). Overall, both types of sludge were suitable for BNR but disintegrated SAS displayed lower carbon to nutrient ratios of 8 for SCOD:PO(4)-P and 9 for SCOD:NO(3)-N. On the other hand, SAS increased the concentration of PO(4)-P in the settled sewage by a further 0.97 g PO(4)-P kg(-1)SCOD indicating its potential negative impact towards nutrient recycling in the BNR process.

Effect of cycle changes on simultaneous biological nutrient removal in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR)

The destabilization of a microbial population is sometimes hard to solve when different biological reactions are coupled in the same reactor as in sequencing batch reactors (SBRs). This paper will try to guide through practical experiences the recovery of simultaneous nitrogen and phosphorus removal in an SBR after increasing the demand of wastewater treatment by taking advantage of its flexibility. The results demonstrate that the length of phases and the optimization of influent distribution are key factors in stabilizing the system for long-term periods with high nutrient removal (88%, 93% and 99% of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively). In order to recover a biological nutrient removal (BNR) system, different interactions such as simultaneous nitrification and denitrification and also phosphorus removal must be taken into account. As a general conclusion, it can be stated there is no such thing as a perfect SBR operation, and that much will depend on the state of the BNR system. Hence, the SBR operating strategy must be based on a dynamic cycle definition in line with process efficiency.

The effect of pH on anaerobic fermentation of primary sludge at room temperature

The effect of pH in the range of 3.0-11.0 on anaerobic fermentation of primary sludge (PS) was investigated at room temperature. The experimental results showed that the concentrations of soluble chemical oxygen demands (SCOD), soluble protein and carbohydrate and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) under alkaline conditions were significantly higher than those under other pHs. At fermentation time of 5 days, the average SCFAs concentration increased from 968 to 3511mg COD/L with the increase of pH from 3.0 to 10.0. However, further increasing pH to 11.0 resulted in the decrease of SCFAs. At pH 10.0, acetic, propionic and iso-valeric acids were the three main products, and the volatile suspended solids (VSS) reduction reached 38%. It was also observed that at any pH value investigated, there were obvious ammonia and phosphorus releases during fermentation. According to this study it is obvious that alkaline pH benefited the soluble organic carbon production from PS.