Effect of Carbon Source on Biological Nitrogen and Phosphorus Removal in an Anaerobic-Anoxic-Oxic Process
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 11
Abstract
The effects of acetate and propionate on biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal in a plug-flow process were evaluated in this study. The wastewater quality indexes and operation parameters were the same when different carbon sources were used. However, we observed no obvious effect of carbon source on nitrogen removal. Denitrifying phosphorus removal was found to play an important role in simultaneous nitrogen and phosphorus removal in anoxic reactors because almost the entire carbon source was used for polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthesis in anaerobic reactors, and there was no external carbon source left for heterotrophic denitrification. Propionate was found to be a more effective and energy-saving carbon source for biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal. In addition, the variations in the metabolic chemicals, such as phosphorus, PHA, glycogen, and oxygen, were lower when propionate was used than when acetate was used.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment (Grant No. UNSPECIFIEDQAK200802), the scientific research base and scientific innovation platform of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission and Beijing Municipality (Grant Nos. UNSPECIFIEDPXM2008_014204_050843 and UNSPECIFIEDPHR20090502), and the National Key Science and Technology Special Projects (Grant Nos. UNSPECIFIED2008ZX07314-008-01 and UNSPECIFIED2008ZX07317-007-105).
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 136 • Issue 11 • November 2010
Pages: 1248 - 1254
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Nov 3, 2009
Accepted: Apr 28, 2010
Published online: Apr 30, 2010
Published in print: Nov 2010
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