Influence of pH on short-cut denitrifying phosphorus removal

Through a series of experiments using denitrifying phosphorus-accumulating sludge in sequencing batch reactors （SBRs）, the variations of the intracellular polymers during the anaerobic phosphorus release process at different pH values were compared, the probable reasons for different performances of phosphorus removal were examined, and system operations in a typical cycle were investigated. The results show that the phosphorus removal rate was positively correlated with pH values in a range of 6.5-8.5. When the pH value was 8.0, the anaerobic phosphorus release rate and anoxic phosphorus uptake rate of the activated sludge were 20.95 mg/（g, h） and 23.29 mg/（g, h）, respectively; the mass fraction of poly-13-hydroxybutyrate （PHB） increased to 62.87 mg/g under anaerobic conditions; the mass fraction of polyphosphate was 92.67 mg/g under anoxic conditions; and the effluent concentration of total phosphorus （TP） was 1.47 mg/L. With the increase of pH, the mass fraction of acetic acid and PHB also increased, and the absorption rate of acetic acid was equal to the disintegration rate of polyphosphate. When the pH value was above 8.0, biological phosphorus removal was achieved by chemical phosphorus precipitation, and the phosphorus removal rate decreased.

Identification and Metabolic Mechanism of Non-fermentative Short-cut Denitrifying Phosphorus-removing Bacteria

To investigate the characteristics and metabolic mechanism of short-cut denitrifying phospho- rus-removing bacteria （SDPB） that are capable of enhanced biological phosphorus removal （EBPR） using nitrite as an electron acceptor, an aerobic/anoxic sequencing batch reactor was operated under three phases. An SDPB-strain YC was screened after the sludge enrichment and was identified by morphological, physiological, biochemical properties and 16S rDNA gene sequence analysis. Denitrifying phosphorus-removing experiments were conducted to study anaerobic and anoxic metabolic mechanisms by analyzing the changes of chemical oxygen demand （COD）, phosphate, nitrite, poly-fl-hydroxybutyrate （PHB）, and glycogen. The results show that strain YC is a non-fermentative SDPB similar to Paracoccus denitrificans. As a kind of non-fermentative bacteria, the energy of strain YC was mainly generated from phosphorus release （96.2%） under anaerobic conditions with 0.32 mg P per mg synthesized PHB. Under anoxic conditions, strain YC accumulated 0.45 mg P per mg degraded PHB, which produced most of energy for phosphate accumulation （91.3%） and a little for glycogen synthesis （8.7%）. This metabolic mechanism of strain YC is different from that of traditional phosphorus-accumulating organisms （PAOs）. It is also found that PHB, a kind of intracellular polymer, plays a very important role in denitrifying and accumulating phosphorus by supplying sufficient energy for phosphorous accumulation and carbon sources for denitrification. Therefore, monitoring AP/APHB and ANO2 -N/APHB is more necessary than monitoring AP/ACOD, ANO2 -N/ACOD, or AP / ANO2 -N.

Denitrifying phosphorus removal in a step-feed CAST with alternating anoxic-oxic operational strategy

A bench-scale cyclic activated sludge technology （CAST） was operated to study the biological phosphorus removal performance and a series of batch tests was carried out to demonstrate the accumulation of denitrifying polyphosphate-accumulating organisms （DNPAOs） in CAST system. Under all operating conditions, step-feed CAST with enough carbon sources in influent had the highest nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiency as well as good sludge settling performance. The average removal rate of COD, NH4^＋-N, PO4^3--P and total nitrogen （TN） was 88.2%, 98.7%, 97.5% and 92.1%, respectively. The average sludge volume index （SVI） was 133 mL/g. The optimum anaerobic/aerobic/anoxic （AOA） conditions for the cultivation of DNPAOs could be achieved by alternating anoxic/oxic operational strategy, thus a significant denitrifying phosphorus removal occurred in step-feed CAST. The denitrification of NO^x--N completed quickly due to step-feed operation and enough carbon sources, which could enhance phosphorus release and further phosphorus uptake capability of the system. Batch tests also proved that polyphosphate-accumulating organisms （PAOs） in the step-feed process had strong denitrifying phosphorus removal capacity. Both nitrate and nitrite could be used as electron acceptors in denitrifying phosphorus removal. Low COD supply with step-feed operation strategy would favor DNPAOs accumulation.

Effect of carbon source and nitrate concentration on denitrifying phosphorus removal by DPB sludge

Effect of added carbon source and nitrate concentration on the denitrifying phosphorus removal by DPB sludge was systematically studied using batch experiments, at the same time the variation of ORP was investigated. Results showed that the denitrifying and phosphorus uptake rate in anoxic phase increased with the high initial anaerobic carbon source addition. However once the initial COD concentration reached a certain level, which was in excess to the PHB saturation of poly-P bacteria, residual COD carried over to anoxic phase inhibited the subsequent denitrifying phosphorus uptake. Simultaneously, phosphate uptake continued until all nitrate was removed, following a slow endogenous release of phosphate. High nitrate concentration in anoxic phase increased the initial denitrifying phosphorus rate. Once the nitrate was exhausted, phosphate uptake changed to release. Moreover, the time of this turning point occurred later with the higher nitrate addition. On the other hand, through on-line monitoring the variation of the ORP with different initial COD concentration, it was found ORP could be used as a control parameter for phosphorus release, but it is impossible to utilize ORP for controlling the denitrificaion and anoxic phosphorus uptake operations.

Removal of nitrogen and phosphorus in a combined A^2/O-BAF system with a short aerobic SRT

A bench-scale anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic process-biological aerated filter （A^2/O-BAF） combined system was carded out to treat wastewater with lower C/N and C/P ratios. The A^2/O process was operated in a short aerobic sludge retention time （SRT） for organic pollutants and phosphorus removal, and denitrification. The subsequent BAF process was mainly used for nitrification. The BAF effluent was partially returned to anoxic zone of the A^2/O process to provide electron acceptors for denitrification and anoxic P uptake. This unique system formed an environment for reproducing the denitdfying phosphate-accumulating organisms （DPAOs）. The ratio of DPAOs to phosphorus accumulating organisms （PAOs） could be maintained at 28% by optimizing the organic loads in the anaerobic zone and the nitrate loads into the anoxic zone in the A^2/O process. The aerobic phosphorus over-uptake and discharge of excess activated sludge was the main mechanism of phosphorus removal in the combined system. The aerobic SRT of the A^2/O process should meet the demands for the development of aerobic PAOs and the restraint on the nitrifiers growth, and the contact time in the aerobic zone of the A^2/O process should be longer than 30 min, which ensured efficient phosphorus removal in the combined system. The adequate BAF effluent return rates should be controlled with 1--4 mg/L nitrate nitrogen in the anoxic zone effluent of A^2/O process to achieve the optimal nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiencies.

Operation of three parallel AN/AO processes to enrich denitrifying phosphorus removing bacteria for low strength wastewater treatment

Three parallel anaerobic-anoxic/anaerobic-aerobic （AN/AO） processes were developed to enrich denitrifying phosphorus removal bacteria （DPB） for low strength wastewater treatment. The main body of the parallel AN/AO process consists of an AN （anaerobic-anoxic） process and an AO （anaerobic-aerobic） process. In the AO process, the common phosphorus accumulating organisms （PAOs） was dominate, while in the AN process, DPB was dominate, The volume of anaerobic zone（Vana）：anoxie zone（Vano） ： aerobic zone （Vaer） for the parallel AN/AO process is 1：1：1 in contrast with a Vana：Vaer and Vano：Vaer of 1：2 and 1：4 for a traditional biological nutrient removal process （BNR）. Process 3 excels in the 3 processes on the basis of COD, TN and TP removal. For 4 month operation, the effluent COD concentration of process 3 did not exceed 60 mg/L; the effluent TN concentration of process 3 was lower than 15 mg/L; and the effluent TP concentration of process 3 was lower than 1 mg/L.

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.

Salt effect on MUCT system performance of nitrogen and phosphorus removal

The effect of salinity on biological nitrogen and denitrifying phosphorus removal was investigated in a Modified University of Cape Town(MUCT)system.Removal rates of COD,NH_(4)^(+)-N,NO_(3)^(-)-N,NO_(2)^(-)-N,phosphorus and the sludge characteristics at salt concentrations(0.0,3.2,6.4,11.2 and 16.0 g L^(-1))were analyzed.With the salt concentration increasing,all the COD,NH_(4)^(+)-N,TN and TP removal rates exhibited a trend of decline,and exhibited an initial reduction and subsequent increase at every stage of salt concentration.NH_(4)^(+)-N,TN and TP removal rates were 92.7%,51.5%and 67.2%in 16 g L^(-1) salt concentration,respectively.And they were outperformed the literature reported and acceptable in practical applications.When the salinity of wastewater changed from 0.0 to 16.0 g L^(-1),the biomass yield coefficients increased from 0.0794 to 0.126 g VSS/g COD.Increased salinity had a detrimental effect on phosphorus-accumulating organisms(PAOs)and denitrifying PAOs(DPAOs)(especially DPAOs).Therefore,phosphorus removal gradually depended on PAO.The simultaneous nitrification and denitrification(SND)rate and nitrogen removal rate(including nitrification rate,denitrification rate,and total nitrogen removal rate)gradually decreased with the increased salinity.

Characteristics of anoxic phosphors removal in sequence batch reactor

The characteristics of anaerobic phosphorus release and anoxic phosphorus uptake were investigated in sequencing batch reactors using denitrifying phosphorus removing bacteria （DPB） sludge. The lab-scale experiments were accomplished under conditions of various nitrite concentrations （5.5, 9.5, and 15 mg/L） and mixed liquor suspended solids （MLSS） （1844, 3231, and 6730 mg/L）. The results obtained confirmed that nitrite, MLSS, and pH were key factors, which had a significant impact on anaerobic phosphorus release and anoxic phosphorus uptake in the biological phosphorous removal process. The nitrites were able to successfully act as electron acceptors for phosphorous uptake at a limited concentration between 5.5 and 9.5 mg/L. The denitrification and dephosphorous were inhibited when the nitrite concentration reached 15 mg/L. This observation indicated that the nitrite would not inhibit phosphorus uptake before it exceeded a threshold concentration. It was assumed that an increase of MLSS concentration from 1844 mg/L to 6730 mg/L led to the increase of denitrification and anoxic P-uptake rate. On the contrary, the average P-uptake/N denitrifying reduced from 2.10 to 1.57 mg PO4^3--P/mg NO3^--N. Therefore, it could be concluded that increasing MLSS of the DEPHANOX system might shorten the reaction time of phosphorus release and anoxic phosphorus uptake. However, excessive MLSS might reduce the specific denitrifying rate. Meanwhile, a rapid pH increase occurred at the beginning of the anoxic conditions as a result of denitrification and anoxic phosphate uptake. Anaerobic P release rate increased with an increase in pH. Moreover, when pH exceeded a relatively high value of 8.0, the dissolved P concentration decreased in the liquid phase, because of chemical precipitation. This observation suggested that pH should be strictly controlled below 8.0 to avoid chemical precipitation if the biological denitrifying phosphorus removal capability is to be studied accurately.

Optimization of denitrifying phosphorus removal in a predenitrification anaerobic/anoxic/post-aeration+nitrification sequence batch reactor(pre-A_(2)NSBR)system:Nitrate recycling,carbon/nitrogen ratio and carbon source type

Because the efficiency of biological nutrient removal is always limited by the deficient carbon source for the low carbon/nitrogen(C/N)ratio in real domestic sewage,the denitrifying phosphorus removal(DNPR)was developed as a simple and efficient method to remove nitrogen and phosphorous.In addition,this method has the advantage of saving aeration energy while reducing the sludge production.In this context,a pre-denitrification anaerobic/anoxic/post-aeration+nitrification sequence batch reactor(pre-A_(2)NSBR)system,which could also reduce high ammonia effluent concentration in the traditional two-sludge DNPR process,is proposed in this work.The pre-A_(2)NSBR process was mainly composed of a DNPR SBR and a nitrifying SBR,operating as alternating anaerobic/anoxic/post-aeration+nitrification sequence.Herein,the long-term performance of different nitrate recycling ratios(0-300%)and C/N ratios(2.5-8.8),carbon source type,and functional microbial community were studied.The results showed that the removal efficiency of total inorganic nitrogen(TIN,including NH4^(+)-N,NO_(2)^(-)-N,and NO_(3)^(-)-N)gradually increased with the nitrate recycling ratios,and the system reached the highest DNPR efficiency of 94.45% at the nitrate recycling ratio of 300%.The optimum C/N ratio was around 3.9-7.3 with a nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiency of 80.15%and 93.57%,respectively.The acetate was proved to be a high-quality carbon source for DNPR process.The results of fluorescence in situ hybridization(FISH)analysis indicated that nitrifiers and phosphorus accumulating organisms(PAOs)were accumulated with a proportion of 19.41%and 26.48%,respectively.

Simultaneous denitrification and denitrifying phosphorus removal in a full-scale anoxic–oxic process without internal recycle treating low strength wastewater

Performance of a full-scale anoxic-oxic activated sludge treatment plant（4.0×10-5 m-3/day for the first-stage project） was followed during a year.The plant performed well for the removal of carbon,nitrogen and phosphorus in the process of treating domestic wastewater within a temperature range of 10.8℃ to 30.5℃.Mass balance calculations indicated that COD utilization mainly occurred in the anoxic phase,accounting for 88.2% of total COD removal.Ammonia nitrogen removal occurred 13.71% in the anoxic zones and 78.77% in the aerobic zones.The contribution of anoxic zones to total nitrogen（TN） removal was 57.41%.Results indicated that nitrogen elimination in the oxic tanks was mainly contributed by simultaneous nitrification and denitrification（SND）.The reduction of phosphorus mainly took place in the oxic zones,51.45% of the total removal.Denitrifying phosphorus removal was achieved biologically by 11.29%.Practical experience proved that adaptability to gradually changing temperature of the microbial populations was important to maintain the plant overall stability.Sudden changes in temperature did not cause paralysis of the system just lower removal efficiency,which could be explained by functional redundancy of microorganisms that may compensate the adverse effects of temperature changes to a certain degree.Anoxic-oxic process without internal recycling has great potential to treat low strength wastewater（i.e.,TN 〈 35 mg/L） as well as reducing operation costs.

Anoxic Biological Phosphorus Uptake in A^2O Process

A lab-scale anaerobic-anoxic-oxic (A2O) process used to treat a synthetic brewage wastewater was investigated. The objectives of the study were to identify the existence of denitrifying phosphorus removing bacteria (DPB), evaluate the contribution of DPB to biological nutrient removal and enhance the denitrifying phosphorus removal in A2O bioreactors. Sludge analysis confirmed that the average anoxic P uptake accounted for approximately 70% the total amount of P uptake, and the ratio of anoxic P uptake rate to aerobic P uptake rate was 69%. In addition, nitrate concentration in the anoxic phase and different organic substrate introduced into the anaerobic phase had significant effect on the anoxic P uptake. Compared with conventional A2O processes, good removal efficiencies of COD, phosphorus, ammonia and total nitrogen (92.3%, 95.5%, 96% and 79.5%, respectively) could be achieved in the anoxic P uptake system, and aeration energy consumption was saved 25%. By controlling the nitrate recirculation flow in the anoxic zone, anoxic P uptake could be enhanced, which solved the competition for organic substrates among poly-P organisms and denitrifiers successfully under the COD limiting conditions. Therefore, in wastewater treatment plants the control system should be applied according to the practical situation to optimize the operation.

Denitrification and Dephosphatation by Anaerobic/Anoxic Sequencing Batch Reactor

Removal of denitrifying phosphorus was verified in a laboratory anaerobic/anoxic sequencing batch reactor (A/A SBR). The results obtained demonstrated that the anaerobic/anoxic strategy can enrich the growth of denitrifying phosphorus removing bacteria (DPB) and take up phosphate under anoxic condition by using nitrate as the electron acceptor. The phosphorus removal efficiency was higher than 90% and the effluent phosphate concentration was lower than 1 mg·L-1 after the A/A SBR was operated in a steady-state. When the chemical oxygen demand(COD) of influent was lower than 180mg· L-1, the more COD in the influent was, the higher efficiency of phosphorus removal could be attained under anoxic condition. However, simultaneous presence of carbon and nitrate would be detrimental to denitrifying phosphorus removal. Result of influence of sludge retention time (SRT) on denitrifying phosphorus removal suggested that the decrease of SRT caused a washout of DPB and consequently the enhanced biological phosphorus removal decreased with 8 days SRT. When the SRT was restored to 16 days, however, the efficiency of phosphorus removal was higher than 90%.

Short-term effects of excessive anaerobic reaction time on anaerobic metabolism of denitrifying polyphosphate- accumulating organisms linked to phosphorus removal and N20 production

The short-term effect of anaerobic reaction time （AnRT） （i.e., 90, 120 and 150 min） on the denitrifying phosphorus （P） removal performance and N20 production was examined using a denitrifying enhanced biologic phosphorus removal （EBPR） sludge acclimatized with mixed acetate （HAc） and propionate （Pro） （in the molar ratio 3 ： 1） as carbon sources. The results showed that when the AnRT was prolonged from 90 to 150 rain, the anaerobic polyhydroxyalkanoate （PHA） synthesis was decreased by 15.3%. Moreover, the ineffective PHA consumption occurred in anaerobic phases and contributed to an increased NO2-N accumulation and higher flee nitrous acid （FNA） concentrations （〉t0.001-0.0011 mg HNO2-N/L） in the subsequent anoxic phases, causing a severe inhibition on anoxic P-uptake and denitrification. Accordingly, the total nitrogen （TN） and total phosphorus （TP） removal efficiencies dropped by approximately 6.3% and 85.5%, respectively; and the ratio of anoxic NzO-N production to TN removal increased by approximately 3.8%. The fluorescence in situ hybridization （FISH） analysis revealed that the sludge was mainly dominated by Accumulibacter （62.0% （SEmean = 1.5%））. In conclu- sion, the short-term excessive anaerobic reaction time negatively impacted denitrifying P removal performance and stimulated more NzQ production, and its effect on P removal was more obvious than that on nitrogen removal.

Influence of carbon source and temperature on the denitrifying phosphorus removal process

To supply the valuable operating parameters for the popular usage of the new denitrifying phosphors removal process,it is essential to study the dominant biochemical reactions and the characteristics of denitrifying phosphorus removing bacteria(DPB).Thus,parallel batch experiments using DPB sludge were carried out to assess the effect of substrates(sewage,HAc,and endogenous carbon source)on denitrifying dephosphorus removal efficiency in this study.The results showed that the initial specific phosphorus release rate increased with the high concentration of the short-chain volatile fatty acids ratio in the influent,and sufficient phos-phorus was released by DPB.This improved the subsequent denitrification and phosphorus uptake efficiency.The specific endogenous denitrification mainly relies on the internal carbon source(PHB)stored by poly-P bacteria.Denitrifying phosphorus removing bacteria were very hungry when the internal PHB was consumed.Consequently,the specific endogenous denitrification rate was low and the phosphorus uptake did not happen.On the other hand,in the experiment,the denitrifying phosphorus removal performance under two temperature conditions(8-10°C and 25-26°C)was also investigated and analyzed.It was found that the lower temperature decreased the specific phosphorus release and uptake rate,but did not inhibit the denitrifying phosphorus removal completely.Therefore,the negative influence of the low temperature on the overall phosphorus removal was not significant.

Factors affecting biological denitrifying dephosphatation in anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic sequencing batch reactor

This study was conducted to verify and discuss the denitrifying dephosphatation under different levels of nitrate concentration and retention time of anoxic/aerobic process in a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR). The results of tests demonstrated that there were two kinds of phosphorus-accumulating organisms (PAOs) in the biological excess phosphorus removal (BEPR) system. One was non-DNPAOs that could only use oxygen as terminal electron acceptors, the other was denitrifying PAOs (DNPAOs) that could use both nitrate and oxygen as terminal electron acceptors. Phosphorus uptake efficiency could be attained under anoxic period ranging from 28.7%-96.7% in an anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic system. Experimental results showed that nitrate concentration and retention time of anoxic/aerobic process were the key factors affecting the course of denitrifying dephosphatation.

Advanced nitrogen and phosphorus removal in A^(2)O-BAF system treating low carbon-to-nitrogen ratio domestic wastewater

A laboratory-scale anaerobic-anoxic-aerobic process(A^(2)O)with a small aerobic zone and a bigger anoxic zone and biologic aerated filter(A^(2)O-BAF)system was operated to treat low carbon-to-nitrogen ratio domestic wastewater.The A^(2)O process was employed mainly for organic matter and phosphorus removal,and for denitrification.The BAF was only used for nitrification which coupled with a settling tank Compared with a conventional A^(2)O process,the suspended activated sludge in this A^(2)OBAF process contained small quantities of nitrifier,but nitrification overwhelmingly conducted in BAF.So the system successfully avoided the contradiction in sludge retention time(SRT)between nitrifying bacteria and phosphorus accumulating organisms(PAOs).Denitrifying phosphorus accumulating organisms(DPAOs)played an important role in removing up to 91%of phosphorus along with nitrogen,which indicated that the suspended activated sludge process presented a good denitrifying phosphorus removal performance.The average removal efficiency of chemical oxygen demand(COD),total nitrogen(TN),total phosphorus(TP),and NH_(4)^(+)-N were 85.56%,92.07%,81.24%and 98.7%respectively.The effluent quality consistently satisfied the national first level A effluent discharge standard of China.The average sludge volume index(SVI)was 85.4 mL·g^(-1)additionally,the volume ratio of anaerobic,anoxic and aerobic zone in A^(2)O process was also investigated,and the results demonstrated that the optimum value was 1:6:2.

Anoxic phosphorus removal in a pilot scale anaerobic-anoxic oxidation ditch process

The anaerobic-anoxic oxidation ditch(A^(2)/O OD)process is popularly used to eliminate nutrients from domestic wastewater.In order to identify the existence of denitrifying phosphorus removing bacteria(DPB),evaluate the contribution of DPB to biological nutrient removal,and enhance the denitrifying phosphorus removal in the A^(2)/O OD process,a pilot-scale A^(2)/O OD plant(375 L)was conducted.At the same time batch tests using sequence batch reactors(12 L and 4 L)were operated to reveal the significance of anoxic phosphorus removal.The results indicated that:The average removal efficiency of COD,NH^(+)_(4),PO^(3–)_(4),and TN were 88.2%,92.6%,87.8%,and 73.1%,respectively,when the steady state of the pilotscale A^(2)/O OD plant was reached during 31–73 d,demonstrating a good denitrifying phosphorus removal performance.Phosphorus uptake took place in the anoxic zone by poly-phosphorus accumulating organisms NO^(-)_(2) could be used as electron receptors in denitrifying phosphorus removal,and the phosphorus uptake rate with NO^(-)_(2) as the electron receptor was higher than that with NO^(–)_(3) when the initial concentration of either NO^(-)_(2) or NO^(–)_(3) was 40 mg/L.

Denitrification and phosphorus uptake by DPAOs using nitrite as an electron acceptor by step-feed strategies

Denitrifying phosphorus accumulating organ- isms （DPAOs） using nitrite as an electron acceptor can reduce more energy. However, nitrite has been reported to have an inhibition on denitrifying phosphorus removal. In this study, the step-feed strategy was proposed to achieve low nitrite concentration, which can avoid or relieve nitrite inhibition. The results showed that denitrification rate, phosphorus uptake rate and the ratio of the phosphorus uptaken to nitrite denitrified （anoxic P/N ratio） increased when the nitrite concentration was 15 rag. L-1 after step- feeding nitrite. The maximum denitrification rate and phosphorus uptake rate was 12.73 mg NO2-N.g MLSS- 1· h- 1 and 18.75 mg PO34--P- g MLSS- 1. h- 1, respec- tively. These rates were higher than that using nitrate （15 mg. L-l） as an electron acceptor. The maximum anoxic P/N ratio was 1.55 mg PO43- -Pmg NO2-N-1. When the nitrite concentration increased from 15 to 20 mg NO2 -N ~ L-I after addition of nitrite, the anoxic phosphorus uptake was inhibited by 64.85%, and the denitrification by DPAOs was inhibited by 61.25%. Denitrification rate by DPAOs decreased gradually when nitrite （about 20 mg · L-1） was added in the step-feed SBR. These results indicated that the step-feed strategy can be used to achieve denitrifying phosphorus removal using nitrite as an electron acceptor, and nitrite concentration should be maintained at low level （ 〈 15 mg. L-1 in this study）.

Combined effects of volume ratio and nitrate recycling ratio on nutrient removal,sludge characteristic and microbial evolution for DPR optimization

The optimization of volume ratio(V_(An)/V_(A)/V_(0))and nitrate recycling ratio(R)in a two-sludge denitrifying phosphorus removal(DPR)process of Anaerobic Anoxic Oxic-Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor(A^(2)/O-MBBR)was investigated.The results showed that prolonged anaerobic retention time(HRT An:1.25→3.75 hr)exerted favorable effect on chemical oxygen demand(COD)removal(57.26%→73.54%),poly-β-hydroxyalkanoates(PHA)synthesis(105.70→138.12 mg COD/L)and PO_(4)^(3-)release(22.3→38.9 mg/L).However,anoxic retention time(HRT A)and R exhibited positive correlation with PHA utilization(43.87%-81.34%)and denitrifying phosphorus removal(DPR)potential(NO_(3)-/PO^(3-)_(4):0.57-1.34 mg/mg),leading to dramatical TN removal variations from 68.86%to 81.28%.Under the V An/V A/V O ratio of 2:6:0,sludge loss deteriorated nutrient removals but the sludge bioactivity quickly recovered when the oxic zone was recovered.The sludge characteristic and microstructure gradually transformed under the dissolved oxygen(DO)control(1.0-1.5→1.5-2.0 mg/L),in terms of sludge volume index(SVI:194→57 m L/g VSS),median-particle-size(D 50:99.6→300.5μm),extracellular polymeric substances(EPS)(105.62→226.18 mg/g VSS)and proteins/polysaccharides(PN/PS)ratio(1.52→3.46).Fluorescence in situ hybridization(FISH)results showed that phosphorus accumulation organisms(PAOs)(mainly Cluster I of Accumulibacter,contribution ratio:91.79%-94.10%)dominated the superior DPR performance,while glycogen accumulating organisms(GAOs)(mainly Competibacter,contribution ratio:82.61%-86.89%)was responsible for deteriorative TN and PO_(4)^(3-)removals.The optimal HRT A and R assembled around 5-6.5 hr and 300%-400%based on the PHA utilization and DRP performance,and the oxic zones also contributed to PO_(4)^(3-)removal although it showed low dependence on DO concentration and oxic retention time(HRT_(0)).