A possible mechanism of intracellular pH control

Phosphate recovery from urban sewage by the biofilm sequencing batch reactor process: Key factors in biofilm formation and related mechanisms

The biofilm sequencing batch reactor (BSBR) technique has been deployed in the laboratory to enrich phosphorus from simulated wastewater, but it is still not clear what its performance will be when real world sewage is used. In this work, the effluent from the multi-stage anoxic-oxic (AO) activated sludge process at a sewage plant was used as the feed water for a BSBR pilot system, which had three reactors operating at different levels of dissolved oxygen (DO). The phosphorus adsorption and release, the biofilm growth, and the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) components and contents were examined. The microbial communities and the signaling molecules N-acyl-l-homoserine lactones (AHLs) were also analyzed. Gratifyingly, the BSBR process successfully processed the treated sewage, and the biofilm developed phosphorus accumulation capability within 40 days. After entering stable operation, the system concentrated phosphate from 2.59 ± 0.77 mg/L in the influent to as much as 81.64 mg/L in the recovery liquid. Sludge discharge had profound impacts on all aspects of BSBR, and it was carried out successfully when the phosphorus absorption capacity of the biofilm alone was comparable to that of the reactor containing the activated sludge. Shortly after the sludge discharge, the phosphate concentration of the recovery liquid surged from 50 to 140 mg/L, the biofilm thickness grew from 20.56 to 67.32 μm, and the diversity of the microbial population plunged. Sludge discharge stimulated Candidatus competibacter to produce a large amount of AHLs, which was key in culturing the biofilm. Among the AHLs, both C10-HSL and 3OC12-HSL were significantly positively correlated with EPS and the abundance of Candidatus competibacter. The current results demonstrated BSBR as a viable option to enrich phosphorus from real world sewage with low phosphorus content and fluctuating chemistry. The mechanistic explorations also provided theoretical guidance for cultivating phosphorus-accumulating biofilms.

The impact of pH on the anaerobic and aerobic metabolism of Tetrasphaera-enriched polyphosphate accumulating organisms

Members of the genus Tetrasphaera are putative polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) that have been found in greater abundance than Accumulibacter in many full-scale enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) wastewater treatment plants worldwide. Nevertheless, previous studies on the effect of environmental conditions, such as pH, on the performance of EBPR have focused mainly on the response of Accumulibacter to pH changes. This study examines the impact of pH on a Tetrasphaera PAO enriched culture, over a pH range from 6.0 to 8.0 under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions, to assess its impact on the stoichiometry and kinetics of Tetrasphaera metabolism. It was discovered that the rates of phosphorus (P) uptake and P release increased with an increase of pH within the tested range, while PHA production, glycogen consumption and substrate uptake rate were less sensitive to pH changes. The results suggest that Tetrasphaera PAOs display kinetic advantages at high pH levels, which is consistent with what has been observed previously for Accumulibacter PAOs. The results of this study show that pH has a substantial impact on the P release and uptake kinetics of PAOs, where the P release rate was >3 times higher and the P uptake rate was >2 times higher at pH 8.0 vs pH 6.0, respectively. Process operational strategies promoting both Tetrasphaera and Accumulibacter activity at high pH do not conflict with each other, but lead to a potentially synergistic impact that can benefit EBPR performance.

A review of biochemical diversity and metabolic modeling of EBPR process under specific environmental conditions and carbon source availability

Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) is one of the most promising technologies as an economical and environmentally sustainable technique for removal of phosphorus from wastewater (WW). However, with high capacity of EBPR, insufficient P-removal is a major yet common issue of many full-scale wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), due to misinterpreted environmental and microbial disturbance. By developing a rather extensive understanding on biochemical pathways and metabolic models governing the anaerobic and aerobic/anoxic processes; the optimal operational conditions, environmental changes and microbial population interaction are efficiently predicted. Therefore, this paper critically reviews the current knowledge on biochemical pathways and metabolic models of phosphorus accumulating organisms (PAOs) and glycogen accumulating organisms (GAOs) as the most abundant microbial populations in EBPR process with an insight on the effect of available carbon source types in WW on phosphorus removal performance. Moreover, this paper critically assesses the gaps and potential future research in metabolic modeling area. With all the developments on EBPR process in the past few decades, there is still lack of knowledge in this critical sector. This paper hopes to touch on this problem by gathering the existing knowledge and to provide farther insights on the future work onto chemical transformations and metabolic strategies in different conditions to benefit the quantitative model as well as WWTP designs.

Comparison of anaerobic phosphorus release from activated sludge with three carbon sources

Three carbon sources, namely sodium acetate, sewage and effluent, were used to simulate the process of phosphorus release in an actual sewage treatment plant, in order to explore the phosphorus release performance of the sludge, the relationship between phosphorus release and chemical oxygen demand (COD) in sewage, and the stability of phosphorus-rich sludge. The results showed that the type and concentration of carbon sources had significant effects on the rate of phosphorus release, reaction equilibrium time and phosphorus release amount. When sodium acetate was used as the carbon source, the phosphorus release rate reached 12.54 mg P (g VSS·h)^-1, and tended to be stable at 4.0 hours. The phosphorus release amount in the first 2.5 hours accounted for 36.88% of the total phosphorus in the sludge. When sewage was used as the carbon source, the phosphorus release rate did not reach equilibrium even at 5.0 hours, and the phosphorus release amount increased by 1.0 mg L^-1 for every 10.5 mg L^-1 increase sewage COD within a certain range. When effluent was used as the carbon source, the visual phosphorus release amount was only 0.83 mg L^-1 after standing for 24 hours and the actual phosphorus release amount was 17.98 mg L^-1. These conclusions can provide technical support for the optimization of phosphorus removal in sewage treatment plants.

Denitrifying sulfur conversion-associated EBPR: The effect of pH on anaerobic metabolism and performance

The performance of the denitrifying sulfur conversion-associated enhanced biological phosphorus removal (DS-EBPR) process tends to be unstable and requires further study and development. This in turn requires extensive study of the anaerobic metabolism in terms of its stoichiometry and kinetics. This study evaluates the corresponding responses of DS-EBPR to pH, as it significantly influences both stoichiometry and biochemical kinetics. The impacts of five representative pH values ranging between 6.5 and 8.5 on the anaerobic metabolism were investigated, followed by identification of the optimal pH for performance optimization. A mature DS-EBPR sludge was used in the study, enriched with approximately 30% sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and 33% sulfide-oxidizing bacteria (SOB). Through a series of batch tests, the optimal pH range was determined as 7.0-7.5. In this pH range, the anaerobic stoichiometry of phosphorus released/volatile fatty acid (VFA) uptake ratio, sulfate reduction, and internal polymer production (including poly-β-hydroxyalkanoates and polysulfide and/or elemental sulfur) all increased along with the anaerobic kinetics of the VFA uptake ratio. Consequently, phosphorus removal was maximized at this pH range (≥95% vs. 84-93% at other pH values), as was sulfur conversion (16 mg S/L vs. 10-13 mg S/L). This pH range therefore favors the activity and synergy of the key functional bacteria (i.e. SRB and SOB). Anaerobic maintenance tests showed these bacteria required 38-61% less energy for maintenance than that reported for GAOs regardless of pH changes, improving their ability to cope with anaerobic starvation. Adversely, both bacteria showed much lower VFA uptake rates than that of GAOs at all tested pH values (0.03-0.06 vs. 0.2-0.24 mol-C/C-mol biomass/h), possibly revealing the primary cause of frequent instability in the DS-EBPR process.

Increasing phosphorus recovery from dewatering centrate in microbial electrolysis cells

BACKGROUND

Microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) use bioelectrochemical reactions to remove organic contaminants at the bioanode and produce hydrogen gas at the cathode. High local pH conditions near the cathode can also be utilized to produce struvite from nutrient-rich wastewater. This beneficial aspect was investigated using lab-scale MECs fed with dewatering centrate collected at a local wastewater treatment plant. The main objective was to improve phosphorus recovery by examining various cathode configurations and electric current conditions.

RESULTS

The stainless steel mesh (SSM) cathode was relatively inefficient to achieve complete phosphorus recovery because struvite crystals were smaller (a few to tens of micrometers) than the open space between mesh wires (80 µm). As a result, the use of multiple pieces of SSM also showed a limited improvement in the phosphorus recovery up to only 68% with 5 SSM pieces. Readily available organic substrates were not sufficient in the dewatering centrate, resulting in relatively low electric current density (mostly below 0.2 A/m²). The slow electrode reaction did not provide sufficiently high pH conditions near the cathode for complete recovery of phosphorus as struvite. Based on these findings, additional experiments were conducted using stainless steel foil (SSF) as the cathode and acetate (12 mM) as an additional organic substrate for exoelectrogens at the bioanode. With the high electric current (>2 A/m²), a thick layer of struvite crystals was formed on the SSF cathode. The phosphorus recovery increased to 96% with the increasing MEC operation time from 1 to 7 days. With the high phosphorus recovery, estimated energy requirement was relatively low at 13.8 kWh (with acetate) and 0.30 kWh (without acetate) to produce 1 kg struvite from dewatering centrate.

CONCLUSIONS

For efficient phosphorus recovery from real wastewater, a foil-type cathode is recommended to avoid potential losses of small struvite crystals. Also, presence of readily available organic substrates is important to maintain high electric current and establish high local pH conditions near the cathode. Struvite precipitation was relatively slow, requiring 7 days for nearly complete removal (92%) and recovery (96%). Future studies need to focus on shortening the time requirement.

Effects of glucose on the performance of enhanced biological phosphorus removal activated sludge enriched with acetate

The effects of glucose on enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) activated sludge enriched with acetate was investigated using sequencing batch reactors. A glucose/acetate mixture was serially added to the test reactor in ratios of 25/75%, 50/50%, and 75/25% and the EBPR activity was compared to the control reactor fed with 100% acetate. P removal increased at a statistically significant level to a near-complete in the test reactor when the mixture increased to 50/50%. However, EBPR deteriorated when the glucose/acetate mixture increased to 75/25% in the test reactor and when the control reactor abruptly switched to 100% glucose. These results, in contrast to the EBPR conventional wisdom, suggest that the addition of glucose at moderate levels in wastewaters does not impede and may enhance EBPR, and that glucose waste products should be explored as an economical sustainable alternative when COD enhancement of EBPR is needed.

A weak-base fibrous anion exchanger effective for rapid phosphate removal from water

This work investigated that weak-base anion exchange fibers named FVA-c and FVA-f were selectively and rapidly taken up phosphate from water. The chemical structure of both FVA-c and FVA-f was the same; i.e., poly(vinylamine) chains grafted onto polyethylene coated polypropylene fibers. Batch study using FVA-c clarified that this preferred phosphate to chloride, nitrate and sulfate in neutral pH region and an equilibrium capacity of FVA-c for phosphate was from 2.45 to 6.87 mmol/g. Column study using FVA-f made it clear that breakthrough capacities of FVA-f were not strongly affected by flow rates from 150 to 2000 h(-1) as well as phosphate feed concentration from 0.072 to 1.6mM. Under these conditions, breakthrough capacities were from 0.84 to 1.43 mmol/g indicating high kinetic performances. Trace concentration of phosphate was also removed from feeds containing 0.021 and 0.035 mM of phosphate at high feed flow rate of 2500 h(-1), breakthrough capacities were 0.676 and 0.741 mmol/g, respectively. The column study also clarified that chloride and sulfate did not strongly interfere with phosphate uptake even in their presence of equimolar and fivefold molar levels. Adsorbed phosphate on FVA-f was quantitatively eluted with 1M HCl acid and regenerated into hydrochloride form simultaneously for next phosphate adsorption operation. Therefore, FVA-f is able to use long time even under rigorous chemical treatment of multiple regeneration/reuse cycles without any noticeable deterioration.

Research advances and challenges in the microbiology of enhanced biological phosphorus removal--a critical review

Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) is a well-established technology for removing phosphorus from wastewater. However, the process remains operationally unstable in many systems, primarily because there is a lack of understanding regarding the microbiology of EBPR. This paper presents a review of advances made in the study of EBPR microbiology and focuses on the identification, enrichment, classification, morphology, and metabolic capacity of polyphosphate- and glycogen-accumulating organisms. The paper also highlights knowledge gaps and research challenges in the field of EBPR microbiology. Based on the review, the following recommendations regarding the future direction of EBPR microbial research were developed: (1) shifting from a reductionist approach to a more holistic system-based approach, (2) using a combination of culture-dependent and culture-independent techniques in characterizing microbial composition, (3) integrating ecological principles into system design to enhance stability, and (4) reexamining current theoretical explanations of why and how EBPR occurs.

Effect of copper ion on the anaerobic and aerobic metabolism of phosphorus-accumulating organisms linked to intracellular storage compounds

The shock load effect of heavy metals (Cu (II)) on the behavior of poly-phosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs) was investigated with respect to the transformations of poly-P, intracellular polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and glycogen. The PAOs biomass was exposed to different concentrations of Cu (II) at various pH and biomass levels. The results showed that when the mixed liquor suspended solid (MLSS) concentration was 2500-4000 mg/L, the P removal was not adversely affected by spiking with 2 mg Cu(2+)/L; however, it deteriorated completely after a Cu (II) shock concentration of 4 mg/L. Nevertheless, the tolerance of PAOs biomass to Cu (II) shock could be enhanced by increasing the MLSS. Moreover, in the presence of 2 mg Cu(2+)/L, the P removal efficiency was highest at an initial pH of 6.2 and lowest at an initial pH of 6.9, indicating that the Cu inhibitory effect was reduced by increasing the pH to 7.6. The inhibition by Cu (II) was related to the transformation of intracellular storage compounds of PAOs. Specifically, poly-P degradation might be inhibited, which reduced the energy available for PHA production and eventually led to poor P removal.

Bacterial phosphate metabolism and its application to phosphorus recovery and industrial bioprocesses

Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) has become a well-established process and is currently applied in many full-scale wastewater treatment processes. Phosphorus recovered from EBPR waste sludge can be used as a raw material for the fertilizer industry, if a sound recycling strategy is developed and applied. In this review, we summarize our current knowledge on phosphate metabolism in bacteria, focusing on molecular mechanisms of bacterial polyphosphate (polyP) accumulation. A simple method for releasing polyP from EBPR waste sludge and recovering phosphorus in a reusable form for the fertilizer industry is presented. We also describe a recent development of bioprocesses for the expanded use of polyP in the production of value-added chemicals.

The long-term effect of initial pH control on the enrichment culture of phosphorus- and glycogen-accumulating organisms with a mixture of propionic and acetic acids as carbon sources

In most studies on phosphorus- and glycogen-accumulating organisms (PAO and GAO), pH was controlled constantly throughout the entire anaerobic and aerobic periods, and acetic acid was used as the carbon source. In this paper, the effect of long-term initial pH values on PAO and GAO was investigated with mixed propionic and acetic acids as carbon sources. It was observed that with pH increasing from 6.4 to 8.0, the anaerobic propionic acid uptake rate by PAO linearly increased but that by GAO proportionally decreased. At pH 6.70 and pH 7.51, PAO and GAO exhibited the same acetic and propionic acid uptake rates, respectively. The acetic acid uptake rate by PAO was greater than that by GAO at pH>6.70, and the propionic acid uptake rate by PAO was higher than that by GAO at pH>7.51, which indicated that PAO would take predominance over GAO at pH>7.51. Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate, poly-3-hydroxyvalerate and poly-3-hydroxy-2-methylvalerate shared 7%, 62% and 31%, respectively in the PAO system, and 11%, 44% and 45% respectively in the GAO system, and these fractions were observed independent of pH either in the PAO or in the GAO system. In the PAO system, with the increase of pH, the phosphorus removal efficiency was improved greatly, and a phosphorus removal efficiency of 100% was achieved at 8.0. Further investigation showed that the higher phosphorus removal efficiency at higher pH was mainly caused by a biological effect instead of chemical one.

Proton motive force generation from stored polymers for the uptake of acetate under anaerobic conditions

The bacteria facilitating enhanced biological phosphorus removal gain a selective advantage from intracellularly stored polymer-driven substrate uptake under anaerobic conditions during sequential anaerobic : aerobic cycling. Mechanisms for these unusual membrane transport processes were proposed and experimentally validated using selective inhibitors and highly-enriched cultures of a polyphosphate-accumulating organism, Accumulibacter, and a glycogen-accumulating organism, Competibacter. Acetate uptake by both Accumulibacter and Competibacter was driven by a proton motive force (PMF). Stored polymers were used to generate the PMF -Accumulibacter used phosphate efflux through the Pit transporter, while Competibacter generated a PMF by proton efflux through the ATPase and fumarate reductase in the reductive TCA cycle.

Effect of initial pH control on enhanced biological phosphorus removal from wastewater containing acetic and propionic acids

In the literature most of the studies on the effect of pH on enhanced biological phosphorous removal were conducted with the acetate wastewater, and the pH was controlled during the entire anaerobic and aerobic stages. This paper investigated the influence of anaerobic initial pH control, which will be more practical than the entire process pH control strategy, on enhanced biological phosphorus removal from wastewater containing acetic and propionic acids. Typical pH profile showed that both the initial alkaline and acidic pH tended to neutralize due to the consumption of short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) and intracellular pH regulation by polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs). It was observed that the glycogen degradation and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) accumulation decreased with increasing initial pH, which disagreed with previous reports. In the literature the metabolisms of both glycogen and PHA by PAOs in the acetate wastewater were independent of pH. An anaerobic mechanism model was proposed to explain the intra- and extra-cellular pH buffer nature of PAOs, and to address the reasons for increased polyphosphate degradation and decreased PHA synthesis and glycogen degradation at higher pH. The optimal initial pH for higher soluble ortho-phosphorus (SOP) removal efficiency should be controlled between 6.4 and 7.2. This pH control strategy will be easier to use in practice of wastewater treatment plant.

Effects of acetate and nitrite addition on fraction of denitrifying phosphate-accumulating organisms and nutrient removal efficiency in anaerobic/aerobic/anoxic process

The effects of acetate and nitrite on the performance of sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) employing an anaerobic/aerobic/anoxic (AOA) process were investigated. Three types of SBR operations were used: sodium acetate addition at the start of anoxic condition for heterotrophic denitrification (Type 1); sodium acetate addition at the start of aerobic condition for anoxic phosphate removal by denitrifying phosphate-accumulating organisms (DNPAOs) (Type 2: conventional AOA process); and nitrite addition at the start of aerobic condition for inhibition of phosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs) (Type 3). A track experiment shows that Type 2 led to the best performance of SBRs among the three types. An analysis by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) revealed that nitrite addition decreased the ratio of PAOs with a decrease in phosphorus removal efficiency. The fraction of DNPAOs in Type 2 was the highest at 13%, indicating that Type 2 is suitable for the simultaneous nitrogen and phosphorus removal in the AOA process.

Comparison between direct microscopy and flow cytometry for rRNA-based quantification of Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis in activated sludge

A comparison of the quantification of a specific microbial group in activated sludge by fluorescent in-situ hybridization, coupled with either direct microscopic counting or flow cytometry, was performed using an enhanced-biological-phosphorus-removal, sequencing-batch reactor. The population dynamics of Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis (Cand. A. phosphatis) was evaluated during two separate runs of the reactor. With the operational conditions used, Cand. A. phosphatis was enriched until a failure in the pH controller eliminated its ecological advantage. As a result, the comparison of quantification techniques included Cand. A. phosphatis concentrations as low as 11% and as high as 96% of the total cells in the samples. The analysis demonstrated that, regardless of the particular limitations of each technique, both provided similar results when the activated-sludge flocs were easily dispersed. However, when the activated-sludge samples contained flocs that were difficult to disperse, flow cytometry failed to provide quantitative results.

Phosphorus release in aerobic sludge digestion

The objectives of this study are to examine the phosphorus release in aerobic sludge digestion and to better understand its governing mechanisms. In this study, phosphorus release was examined using the secondary sludge from both conventional and biological nutrient removal processes. The experiments were carried out at room temperature (22 +/- 2 degrees C), with or without automatic control of pH (4.5 to 7.8), and under three aeration schemes: fully aerobic (dissolved oxygen [DO] at 3 to 4 mg/L), low DO (0.2 to 0.8 mg/L), and cyclic (with alternate on/off aeration). The released phosphorus concentrations were 20 to 80 mg/L for the conventional sludge and 60 to 130 mg/L for the biophosphorus sludge. Higher phosphorus release also occurred at low pH (<6.0). As for the effect of DO, fully aerobic digestion caused higher phosphorus release than the low-DO and cyclic operations. For better understanding, the solid phosphorus in sludge was conceptually categorized into three forms: inorganic phosphorus precipitates, organic cellular phosphorus, and polyphosphate (poly-P) in polyphosphate-accumulating organisms. Dissolution of inorganic phosphorus precipitates is controlled by physical and chemical conditions, with pH being the most important in this study. Lowering the pH to 4 to 6 clearly promoted the release of inorganic phosphorus. Polyphosphate hydrolysis, on the other hand, was found to be regulated biologically (sensitive to occurrence of anaerobic conditions) and was insignificant in the glutaraldehyde-fixed sludge. Phosphorus release from organic phosphorus should correlate with the volatile solid (VS) digestion, which lyses the cells and frees the phosphorus covalently bonded with the organic matters. The amounts of phosphorus released per unit VS digested (deltaP/deltaVS) were therefore calculated for experiments with long periods of constant pH (to minimize interferences from dissolution/precipitation of inorganic phosphorus). The results suggested that some poly-P was hydrolyzed and released accompanying the aerobic VS digestion, but at rates far lower than those under anaerobic conditions.

The microbiology of biological phosphorus removal in activated sludge systems

Activated sludge systems are designed and operated globally to remove phosphorus microbiologically, a process called enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR). Yet little is still known about the ecology of EBPR processes, the microbes involved, their functions there and the possible reasons why they often perform unreliably. The application of rRNA-based methods to analyze EBPR community structure has changed dramatically our understanding of the microbial populations responsible for EBPR, but many substantial gaps in our knowledge of the population dynamics of EBPR and its underlying mechanisms remain. This review critically examines what we once thought we knew about the microbial ecology of EBPR, what we think we now know, and what still needs to be elucidated before these processes can be operated and controlled more reliably than is currently possible. It looks at the history of EBPR, the currently available biochemical models, the structure of the microbial communities found in EBPR systems, possible identities of the bacteria responsible, and the evidence why these systems might operate suboptimally. The review stresses the need to extend what have been predominantly laboratory-based studies to full-scale operating plants. It aims to encourage microbiologists and process engineers to collaborate more closely and to bring an interdisciplinary approach to bear on this complex ecosystem.