Biological phosphorus removal in anoxic-aerobic sequencing batch reactor with starch as sole carbon source

In traditional biological phosphorus removal (BPR), phosphorus release in anaerobic stage is the prerequisite of phosphorus excessive uptake in aerobic conditions. Moreover, when low molecular weight of the organic substance such as volatile fatty acids (VFAs) is scarce in bulk liquid or anaerobic condition does not exist, phosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) have difficulty removing phosphorus. However, in this work, phosphorus removal in two anoxic-aerobic sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) was observed when starch was supplied as a sole carbon source. The relations of the BPR with idle period were investigated in the two identical SBRs; the idle times were set to 0.5 hr (R1) and 4 hr (R2), respectively. Results of the study showed that, in the two SBRs, phosphorus concentrations of 0.26–3.11 mg/L in effluent were obtained after aeration when phosphorus concentration in influent was about 8 mg/L. Moreover, lower accumulations/transformations of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and higher transformation of glycogen occurred in the SBRs, indicating that glycogen was the main energy source that was different from the traditional mechanism of BPR. Under the different idle time, the phosphorus removal was a little different. In R2, which had a longer idle period, phosphorus release was very obvious just as occurs in a anaerobic–aerobic regime, but there was a special phenomenon of chemical oxygen demand increase, while VFAs had no notable change. It is speculated that PAOs can assimilate organic compounds in the mixed liquor, which were generated from glycolysis by fermentative organisms, coupled with phosphorus release. In R1, which had a very short idle period, anaerobic condition did not exist; phosphorus removal rate reached 63%. It is implied that a new metabolic pathway can occur even without anaerobic phosphorus release when starch is supplied as the sole carbon source.