Strict anoxic conditions significantly impact the metabolism of particulate and colloidal organic matter and bio-P compared to aerobic conditions

Abstract

Fully anoxic suspended growth treatment of domestic wastewater is rarely performed in practice at large scale. However, recent advances in membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) technology can enable the “hybrid” concept that couples nitrification in the MABR with anoxic suspended growth for biological nitrogen removal. Small scale sequencing batch reactors were constructed to compare high-rate anoxic metabolization of influent carbon and biological phosphorus removal side-by-side with a conventional aerated system in a low-strength domestic wastewater (COD/TN ratio of approximately 6). Little differences existed in the oxidation of soluble readily biodegradable organic material between the two systems, but hydrolysis of particulate and colloidal organic matter in the anoxic reactor over a range of solid retention times was 60 % of the aerobic reactor. Reduced hydrolysis limited the amount of carbon available to ferment to volatile fatty acid (VFA), adversely impacting anoxic biological phosphorus removal (bio-P) process rates, and ortho-P removal performance was diminished by more than half at equivalent SRTs. At optimal growth conditions, i.e., an SRT of approximately 8 days and with supplementary VFA, ortho-P removal from the influent averaged roughly 75 %. Experimentation with supplemented acetic acid showed reduced anoxic metabolic efficiency, quantified via a P/O ratio of 0.90 versus 1.7 for the aerobic system, although overall anoxic bio-P removal demonstrably increased with external carbon.