INVESTIGATION OF BIOLOGICAL PHOSPHORUS REMOVAL IN A SEQUENCING BATCH REACTOR INVESTIGATION OF BIOLOGICAL PHOSPHORUS REMOVAL IN A SEQUENCING BATCH REACTOR By Brett Bovee, Peter Burns, Alex Mikszewski

PHOSPHORUS (PO 4 3- ) Often is the limiting nutrient for algal growth in freshwater bodies – causes eutrophication “Anoxic Zones” caused by algal blooms – fish kills Typically abundant in 2° municipal wastewater effluent ( mg/L)

ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION

PHOSPHORUS REMOVAL EPA Water Quality Criteria: Effluent concentration  10 μg/L Achieved by Chemical or Biological Removal

CHEMICAL REMOVAL High efficiency and Easy to Implement But…… Expensive Contaminates Sewage Sludge

BIOLOGICAL REMOVAL Presently in its infancy Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal (EBPR) Selects for Phosphate Accumulating Organisms (PAOs) Removes problem of sewage sludge contamination

EBPR Initial Anaerobic Stage PAOs grab organics / Release cellular PO 4 Aeration Uptake PO 4 for Energy Production & Storage

THE EXPERIMENT Objective: Create a Functional EBPR Batch Sequencing Reactor Two-Phase Experiment: Non-Treatment Operation  Phosphorus Treatment 15% Removal <70% Removal

PLANT SET-UP Cycling DO Control  BOD Removal High Aeration Rate  Plastic Covering Phosphorus Selection Stage  Select for PAOs (One Hour, Anaerobic)

EBPR RESULTS Achieved higher than expected removal  70%

EBPR RESULTS Greater Removal than Initial Non-Treatment Phase Avg. EBPR = mg/LAvg. Standard = mg/L

DISCUSSION & THOUGHTS Results show EBPR treatment works Maximum EBPR Efficiency  95% Encouraging results after 1 week of operation (HRT = 10 days)

EBPR IMPROVEMENTS Remove competition with G bacteria SRT  3 to 5 days Feed Temp < 10°C pH > 7.2 Influent  High COD : PO 4

FUTURE OF EBPR Establishing ID of PAO bacteria Influent and Ambient Conditions Favorable to PAO Must increase removal efficiency to avoid post-EBPR chemical treatment

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