Determining the Volatile Fatty Acid Equivalent in Thermophilic Aerobically Digested Sludge Supernatant
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 130, Issue 4
Abstract
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 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 monitoring method resulted in “overestimation” of VFA concentrations, in both the phosphorus release and denitrification reactions. Operating results suggested that the monitoring approach was capable of revealing the overall VFA equivalent that could be available for the main BNR reactions.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 130 • Issue 4 • April 2004
Pages: 397 - 407
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 27, 2002
Accepted: Apr 9, 2003
Published online: Mar 15, 2004
Published in print: Apr 2004
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