Evaluation of pH inhibition effect on activated sludge by the pseudo toxic concentration (C_PT) concept model

It is generally accepted that the inhibition effect of pH on activated sludge follows the non-competitive inhibition kinetics. But the non-competitive inhibition kinetic equation cannot be directly applied to pH inhibition, due to the difficulty in quantification of pH as a term of inhibitor concentration. So, many empirical equations were developed especially for acidic condition to describe pH inhibition effect. In this research, the pseudo toxic concentration (C_PT) concept model to quantify pH inhibition effect on activated sludge was proposed and compared with other existed models. Prediction of performance, presented by Prediction Accuracy and Prediction Accuracy Index, showed that the C_PT concept model can explain the reduction of the maximum specific growth rate (μ_max) more accurately than any other models do at a wide range of pH. The C_PT concept model was applicable not only to activated sludge but also to specific microorganism groups, such as nitrifier, less acidophilic species and nitrifying biofilm.