Biological dephosphatation by activated sludge under denitrifying conditions: pH influence and occurrence of denitrifying dephosphatation in a full-scale waste water treatment plant

Research Article| December 01 1997 Biological dephosphatation by activated sludge under denitrifying conditions: pH influence and occurrence of denitrifying dephosphatation in a full-scale waste water treatment plant T. Kuba; T. Kuba *Department of Civil Engineering Hydraulics (SUIKO), Kyushu University, Hakozaki 6-10-1, Fukuoka 812, Japan Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar M. C. M. van Loosdrecht; M. C. M. van Loosdrecht **Department of Biochemical Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 67, 2628 BC Delft, The Netherlands Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar J. J. Heijnen J. J. Heijnen **Department of Biochemical Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 67, 2628 BC Delft, The Netherlands Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Water Sci Technol (1997) 36 (12): 75–82. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.1997.0433 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Cite Icon Cite Permissions Search Site Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll JournalsThis Journal Search Advanced Search Citation T. Kuba, M. C. M. van Loosdrecht, J. J. Heijnen; Biological dephosphatation by activated sludge under denitrifying conditions: pH influence and occurrence of denitrifying dephosphatation in a full-scale waste water treatment plant. Water Sci Technol 1 December 1997; 36 (12): 75–82. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.1997.0433 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex The effect of pH on phosphorus release under anaerobic conditions was examined for denitrifying phosphorus removing bacteria (DPB) cultivated in an anaerobic-anoxic sequencing batch reactor. Also batch tests were conducted with activated sludge from a full-scale waste water treatment plant (WWTP) in order to investigate occurrence and contribution of DPB in phosphorus removal processes. In the experiments for the pH effect, enriched DPB sludge was maintained under anaerobic conditions with acetic acid (HAc) present at 5 different pH conditions (6.0∼8.0), and released phosphorus and consumed HAc concentrations were measured. When the biomass concentration was around 2.7 g-VSS/l, the observed P/C (released-P/consumed-HAc) ratios were 0.7, 1.1 and 1.2 g-P/g-C at pH=6, 7 and 8. At 4.2 g-VSS/l, the observed P/C ratios were 0.9, 1.3 and 1.2 g-P/g-C, respectively. The difference between the two experiments resulted from the endogenous phosphorus release. The same pH effect as observed for conventional anaerobic-aerobic SBR sludge, was obtained for the DPB sludge in the range of pH=6.0∼7.5. However due to precipitates formation at pH=8.0, the apparent P/C ratio was approximately 20% less than the ratio calculated from the biological released phosphorus concentration by DPB. From the results of the batch tests with activated sludge and observations on the full-scale WWTP, it was also shown that clearly denitrifying dephosphatation occurs and approximately 50% of the phosphorus removal occurs via denitrifying activities in the WWTP. Anaerobic anoxic process, biological phosphorus removal, denitrification, denitrifying dephosphatation, denitrifying phosphorus removing bacteria, nitrification, sequencing batch reactor, waste water treatment plant This content is only available as a PDF.