The activated sludge metabolic characteristics changing sole carbon source from readily biodegradable acetate to toxic phenol.

Abstract

A sequencing batch reactor was used to investigate the effect of carbon sources on the metabolism of activated sludge. Acetate and phenol, with the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 330-350 mg L(-1), was used as the carbon source in Periods I and II, respectively. Acetate decreased in the initial 120 min with the intracellular storage materials (XSTO), extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), and the soluble microbial products (SMP) accumulating to 131.0 mg L(-1), 347.5 mg L(-1), and 35.5 mg L(-1), respectively. Then, XSTO and EPS decreased to 124.5 mg L(-1) and 340.0 mg L(-1), respectively, in the following 120 min. When acetate was replaced by phenol, it could not be used at the beginning due to its toxicity. The XSTO decreased from 142 mg L(-1) to 54.6 mg L(-1) during the aeration period. The EPS had a significant increase, with the highest value of 618.1 mg L(-1), which then decreased to 245.6 mg L(-1) at 240 min. The phenol was gradually degraded with the acclimation and it can be fully degraded 18 d later. Meanwhile, the usage ratio of the internal carbon source decreased. The effluent SMP in Period II was 1.7 times that in Period I.