Determining the Volatile Fatty Acid Equivalent in Thermophilic Aerobically Digested Sludge Supernatant

Thermophilic aerobically digested (TAD) sludge supernatant has been found to be a potential carbon alternative for biological nutrient removal (BNR) enhancement in wastewater treatment plants. Carbonaceous substrates, other than the volatile fatty acids (VFAs) in TAD supernatant, were also found to be utilizable in BNR enhancement; however, these carbon compounds could not be detected by conventional chemical analyses (e.g., gas chromatography). A headspace carbon dioxide (CO2) monitoring method was tested in this study to estimate the overall available carbon source, or the VFAs accumulated in a microaerated TAD operation. This on-line method uses real activated sludge and TAD supernatant samples to determine the available carbon equivalent in real time. In comparison to the gas chromatography (GC) analyses of the TAD supernatant samples, the headspace CO2 monitoring method resulted in “overestimation” of VFA concentrations, in both the phosphorus release and denitrification reactions. Operating results suggested that the CO2 monitoring approach was capable of revealing the overall VFA equivalent that could be available for the main BNR reactions.