Effect of Return Sludge Pre-concentration on Biological Phosphorus Removal in a Novel Oxidation Ditch

A pilot-scale,pre-anoxic-anaerobic oxidation ditch was used in this study to treat municipal wastewater with limited carbon source.A novel return activated sludge(RAS) pre-concentration tank was adopted for improv-ing the phosphorus removal efficiency and the effects of RAS pre-concentration ratio were studied.Under the opti-mal operational condition,the suspended total phosphorus(STP) and the total phosphorus(TP) removal efficiencies were around 58.9% and 63.9% respectively and the effluent-P was lower than 0.8 mg·L-1.The reason is that with the optimal RAS pre-concentration ratio,nitrate is completely removed with endogenous carbon source and the secondary phosphorus release is strictly restrained in the pre-anoxic tank.Therefore,the anaerobic phosphorus release and the carbon source uptake by phosphorus accumulation organisms(PAOs) in the sludge,which are ex-tremely important to the phosphorus removal process,can be fully satisfied.Furthermore,the oxidation-reduction potential is proved to be suitable for controlling the RAS pre-concentration ratio due to influent fluctuation and varied conditions.The novel modified system is also beneficial for PAO accumulation.

Enhanced biological nutrient removal in modified carbon source division anaerobic anoxic oxic process with return activated sludge pre-concentration

A pilot-scale modified carbon source division anaerobic anoxic oxic(AAO) process with pre-concentration of returned activated sludge(RAS) was proposed in this study for the enhanced biological nutrient removal(BNR) of municipal wastewater with limited carbon source. The influent carbon source was fed in step while a novel RAS pre-concentration tank was adopted to improve BNR efficiency, and the effects of an influent carbon source distribution ratio and a RAS pre-concentration ratio were investigated. The results show that the removal efficiency of TN is mainly influenced by the carbon source distribution ratio while the TP removal relies on the RAS pre-concentration ratio. The optimum carbon source distribution ratio and RAS pre-concentration ratio are 60% and 50%, respectively, with an inner recycling ratio of 100% under the optimum steady operation of pilot test, reaching an average effluent TN concentration of 9.8 mg·L-1with a removal efficiency of 63% and an average TP removal efficiency of 94%. The mechanism of nutrient removal is discussed and the kinetics is analyzed. The results reveal that the optimal carbon source distribution ratio provides sufficient denitrifying carbon source to each anoxic phase, reducing nitrate accumulation while the RAS pre-concentration ratio improves the condition of anaerobic zone to ensure the phosphorus release due to less nitrate in the returned sludge. Therefore, nitrifying bacteria, denitrifying bacteria and phosphorus accumulation organisms play an important role under the optimum condition, enhancing the performance of nutrient removal in this test.