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Biological phosphorus removal from municipal wastewater Dabrowski, Barbara Anne

Abstract

A laboratory scale study was undertaken to investigate the possibility of removing "enhanced" amounts of phosphorus from municipal wastewater using solely biological means. The system consisted of an anaerobic-aerobic treatment sequence. Several modifications were studied to observe their effect on the capability of the system to remove phosphorus. These included temperature changes and the addition of a sludge conditioning reactor to minimize nitrate input to the anaerobic reactor and thus eliminating the possible interference with the release of phosphorus in this reactor and the subsequent uptake in the aerobic reactor. Parameters such as COD, MLSS, DO, ORP, nitrates, nitrites, TKN, pH, alkalinity, and heavy metals were monitored throughout the study in addition to the determination of orthophosphates and total phosphates. The results show that nitrification activity, once established in the aerobic reactor, was extremely difficult to curtail due to the small scale effects. The denitrification of the return sludge in the sludge conditioning reactor did not in itself result in the manifestation of "enhanced" phosphorus removal by the system. It is hypothesized that excellent phosphorus removal (up to 98%) can be obtained using essentially an anaerobic-aerobic treatment scheme only when the system is operated at exceptionally long sludge ages (approximately 86 days in this study).

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