Research on polyhydroxyalkanoates and glycogen transformations: Key aspects to biologic nitrogen and phosphorus removal in low dissolved oxygen systems

Abstract

In this paper, a study was conducted on the effect of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and glycogen transformations on biologic nitrogen and phosphorus removal in low dissolved oxygen (DO) systems. Two laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactors (SBR1 and SBR2) were operating with anaerobic/aerobic (low DO, 0.15–0.45 mg·L^-1) configurations, which cultured a propionic to acetic acid ratio (molar carbon ratio) of 1.0 and 2.0, respectively. Fewer poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), total PHA, and glycogen transformations were observed with the increase of propionic/acetic acid, along with more poly-3-hydroxyvalerate (PHV) and poly-3-hydroxy-2-methyvalerate (PH2MV) shifts. The total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiency was 68% and 82% in SBR1 and SBR2, respectively. In the two SBRs, the soluble ortho-phosphate (SOP) removal efficiency was 94% and 99%, and the average sludge polyphosphate (poly-P) content (g·g-MLVSS^-1) was 8.3% and 10.2%, respectively. Thus, the propionic to acetic acid ratio of the influent greatly influenced the PHA form and quantity, glycogen transformation, and poly-P contained in activated sludge and further determined TN and SOP removal efficiency. Moreover, significant correlations between the SOP removal rate and the (PHV+ PH2MV)/PHA ratio were observed (R²>0.99). Accordingly, PHA and glycogen transformations should be taken into account as key components for optimizing anaerobic/aerobic (low DO) biologic nitrogen and phosphorus removal systems.

Keywords

low dissolved oxygen (DO) / biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal / polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) / glycogen

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Acknowledgements

This research work was supported by the Shanghai Shuguang Scholarship (No. 05SG26) and the Postdoctoral Foundation of China (No. 20090450524).

Acronyms

SBR, sequencing batch reactor	PHB, poly-3-hydroxybutyrate
DO, dissolved oxygen	PHV, poly-3-hydroxyvalerate
EBPR, enhanced biologic phosphorus removal	PHA, polyhydroxyalkanoates
GAOs, glycogen accumulating organisms	PH2MV, poly-3-hydroxy-2-methyvalerate
PAOs, phosphorus accumulating organisms	SRT, sludge retention time
HRT, hydraulic retention time	poly-P, polyphosphate
MLSS, mixed liquor suspended solids	FID, flame ionization detector
MLVSS, mixed liquor volatile suspended solids	SCFA, short-chain fatty acids
NADH, reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide	GC, Gas Chromatograph
SND, simultaneous nitrification and denitrification	SOP, soluble ortho-phosphate
\mathrm{N}{\mathrm{O}}_{\mathrm{2}}^{-}-\mathrm{N}, nitrite	TN, total nitrogen
\mathrm{N}{\mathrm{O}}_{\mathrm{3}}^{-}-\mathrm{N}, nitrate	\mathrm{N}{\mathrm{H}}_{\mathrm{4}}^{+}-\mathrm{N}, ammonium

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