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Wang D, Han I, McCullough K, Klaus S, Lee J, Srinivasan V, Li G, Wang ZL, Bott CB, McQuarrie J, Stinson BM, deBarbadillo C, Dombrowski P, Barnard J, Gu AZ. Side-Stream Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal (S2EBPR) enables effective phosphorus removal in a pilot-scale A-B stage shortcut nitrogen removal system for mainstream municipal wastewater treatment. WATER RESEARCH 2024; 251:121050. [PMID: 38241807 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.121050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2023] [Revised: 12/04/2023] [Accepted: 12/20/2023] [Indexed: 01/21/2024]
Abstract
While the adsorption/bio-oxidation (A/B) process has been widely studied for carbon capture and shortcut nitrogen (N) removal, its integration with enhanced biological phosphorus (P) removal (EBPR) has been considered challenging and thus unexplored. Here, full-scale pilot testing with an integrated system combining A-stage high-rate activated sludge with B-stage partial (de)nitrification/anammox and side-stream EBPR (HRAS-P(D)N/A-S2EBPR) was conducted treating real municipal wastewater. The results demonstrated that, despite the relatively low influent carbon load, the B-stage P(D)N-S2EBPR system could achieve effective P removal performance, with the carbon supplement and redirection of the A-stage sludge fermentate to the S2EBPR. The novel process configuration design enabled a system shift in carbon flux and distribution for efficient EBPR, and provided unique selective factors for ecological niche partitioning among different key functionally relevant microorganisms including polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) and glycogen-accumulating organisms (GAOs). The combined nitrite from B-stage to S2EBPR and aerobic-anoxic conditions in our HRAS-P(D)N/A-S2EBPR system promoted DPAOs for simultaneous internal carbon-driven denitrification via nitrite and P removal. 16S rRNA gene-based oligotyping analysis revealed high phylogenetic microdiversity within the Accumulibacter population and discovered coexistence of certain oligotypes of Accumulibacter and Competibacter correlated with efficient P removal. Single-cell Raman micro-spectroscopy-based phenotypic profiling showed high phenotypic microdiversity in the active PAO community and the involvement of unidentified PAOs and internal carbon-accumulating organisms that potentially played an important role in system performance. This is the first pilot study to demonstrate that the P(D)N-S2EBPR system could achieve shortcut N removal and influent carbon-independent EBPR simultaneously, and the results provided insights into the effects of incorporating S2EBPR into A/B process on metabolic activities, microbial ecology, and resulted system performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dongqi Wang
- Department of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710048, China; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
| | - Il Han
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, 220 Hollister Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, United States
| | - Kester McCullough
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, 220 Hollister Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, United States; Hampton Roads Sanitation District, 1434 Air Rail Avenue, Virginia Beach, VA, 23454, United States
| | - Stephanie Klaus
- Hampton Roads Sanitation District, 1434 Air Rail Avenue, Virginia Beach, VA, 23454, United States
| | - Jangho Lee
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, 220 Hollister Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, United States
| | - Varun Srinivasan
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, United States; Brown and Caldwell, One Tech Drive, Andover, MA 01810, United States
| | - Guangyu Li
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, United States; School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, 220 Hollister Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, United States
| | - Zijian Leo Wang
- Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Riley-Robb Hall, 106, 111 Wing Dr, Ithaca, NY, 14850, United States
| | - Charles B Bott
- Hampton Roads Sanitation District, 1434 Air Rail Avenue, Virginia Beach, VA, 23454, United States
| | - Jim McQuarrie
- Denver Metro Wastewater Reclamation District, 6450 York St, Denver, CO 80229, United States
| | | | - Christine deBarbadillo
- District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority, 5000 Overlook Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20032, USA
| | - Paul Dombrowski
- Woodard & Curran, Inc., 1699 King Street, Enfield, CT 06082, United States
| | - James Barnard
- Black & Veatch, 8400 Ward Parkway, Kansas City, MO, 64114, United States
| | - April Z Gu
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, United States; School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, 220 Hollister Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, United States.
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Li G, Tooker NB, Wang D, Srinivasan V, Barnard JL, Russell A, Stinson B, McQuarrie J, Schauer P, Menniti A, Varga E, Hauduc H, Takács I, Bott C, Dobrowski P, Onnis-Hayden A, Gu AZ. Modeling versatile and dynamic anaerobic metabolism for PAOs/GAOs competition using agent-based model and verification via single cell Raman Micro-spectroscopy. WATER RESEARCH 2023; 245:120540. [PMID: 37688851 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.120540] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2023] [Revised: 08/25/2023] [Accepted: 08/27/2023] [Indexed: 09/11/2023]
Abstract
Side-stream enhanced biological phosphorus removal process (S2EBPR) has been demonstrated to improve performance stability and offers a suite of advantages compared to conventional EBPR design. Design and optimization of S2EBPR require modification of the current EBPR models that were not able to fully reflect the metabolic functions of and competition between the polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs) and glycogen-accumulating organisms (GAOs) under extended anaerobic conditions as in the S2EBPR conditions. In this study, we proposed and validated an improved model (iEBPR) for simulating PAO and GAO competition that incorporated heterogeneity and versatility in PAO sequential polymer usage, staged maintenance-decay, and glycolysis-TCA pathway shifts. The iEBPR model was first calibrated against bulk batch testing experiment data and proved to perform better than the previous EBPR model for predicting the soluble orthoP, ammonia, biomass glycogen, and PHA temporal profiles in a starvation batch testing under prolonged anaerobic conditions. We further validated the model with another independent set of anaerobic testing data that included high-resolution single-cell and specific population level intracellular polymer measurements acquired with single-cell Raman micro-spectroscopy technique. The model accurately predicted the temporal changes in the intracellular polymers at cellular and population levels within PAOs and GAOs, and further confirmed the proposed mechanism of sequential polymer utilization, and polymer availability-dependent and staged maintenance-decay in PAOs. These results indicate that under extended anaerobic phases as in S2EBPR, the PAOs may gain competitive advantages over GAOs due to the possession of multiple intracellular polymers and the adaptive switching of the anaerobic metabolic pathways that consequently lead to the later and slower decay in PAOs than GAOs. The iEBPR model can be applied to facilitate and optimize the design and operations of S2EBPR for more reliable nutrient removal and recovery from wastewater.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guangyu Li
- Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States; School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States
| | - Nicholas B Tooker
- Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Dongqi Wang
- Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States; Department of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Varun Srinivasan
- Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States; Brown and Caldwell, One Tech Drive, Andover, MA, United States
| | | | - Andrew Russell
- South Cary Water Reclamation Facility, Apex, NC, United States
| | | | | | | | | | - Erika Varga
- LISBP, INSA Toulouse, Toulouse, France; Dynamita, Nyons, France
| | | | | | - Charles Bott
- Hampton Roads Sanitation District, Virginia Beach, VA, United States
| | | | - Annalisa Onnis-Hayden
- Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - April Z Gu
- Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States; School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States.
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Lv T, Wang D, Hui J, Cheng W, Ai H, Qin L, Huang M, Feng M, Wu Y. Effect of return activated sludge diversion ratio on phosphorus removal performance in side-stream enhanced biological phosphorus removal (S2EBPR) process. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2023; 235:116546. [PMID: 37406718 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2023] [Revised: 06/28/2023] [Accepted: 07/01/2023] [Indexed: 07/07/2023]
Abstract
In this study, a lab-scale continuous flow side-stream enhanced biological phosphorus (P) removal (S2EBPR) reactor was operated for 247 days treating synthetic wastewater with influent carbon to phosphorus (C/P) ratio of 25.0 g COD/g P and influent PO43--P of 7.4 ± 0.3 mg P/L. The effect of the return activated sludge (RAS) diversion ratio on S2EBPR reactor was investigated by comparing P removal performance, microbial activity, and community structure. The results showed that the RAS diversion ratio of 8.0%, by yielding a side-stream sludge retention time (SRTSS) of ∼60 h, resulted in the lowest effluent PO43--P concentration of 0.5 ± 0.3 mg P/L. The results of in situ process profiles and ex situ P release and uptake batch tests under different RAS diversion conditions showed that the more anaerobic P release was obtained in the side-stream reactor, the higher the P removal efficiency and EBPR activity were achieved. The stoichiometric ratios observed in EBPR activity tests indicated a polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) metabolism mainly dependent on the glycolysis pathway. The results of microbial ecology analysis revealed that the optimized SRTSS would give a competitive advantage to PAOs in the S2EBPR process. By obtaining statistically reliable results, this study would provide guidance for wastewater treatment plants to achieve optimal P removal performance in S2EBPR configuration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taotao Lv
- State Key Laboratory of Eco-Hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710048, China; Department of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, School of Water Resources and Hydro-Electric Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710048, China
| | - Dongqi Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Eco-Hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710048, China; Department of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, School of Water Resources and Hydro-Electric Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710048, China; Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710048, China.
| | - Jiayao Hui
- Department of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, School of Water Resources and Hydro-Electric Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710048, China
| | - Wen Cheng
- State Key Laboratory of Eco-Hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710048, China; Department of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, School of Water Resources and Hydro-Electric Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710048, China
| | - Hao Ai
- Shaanxi Provincial Geological Survey Experiment Center, Shaanxi Institute of Geological Survey, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710065, China
| | - Lu Qin
- Department of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, School of Water Resources and Hydro-Electric Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710048, China
| | - Mengbo Huang
- Department of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, School of Water Resources and Hydro-Electric Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710048, China
| | - Minquan Feng
- State Key Laboratory of Eco-Hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710048, China; Department of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, School of Water Resources and Hydro-Electric Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710048, China; Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710048, China.
| | - Yufan Wu
- Department of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, School of Water Resources and Hydro-Electric Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710048, China
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Izadi P, Andalib M. Anaerobic zone Functionality, Design and Configurations for a Sustainable EBPR process: A Critical Review. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 870:162018. [PMID: 36740070 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2022] [Revised: 01/15/2023] [Accepted: 01/31/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Stringent discharge phosphorus limits and rising urge to reach very low effluent total phosphorus concentrations have challenged the available technologies to further remove phosphorus. The significance of Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal (EBPR) process may have been overshadowed by the design and operation limitations. These scarcities mainly root back to the lack of knowledge and understanding of fundamental mechanisms, design standards, and operational guidance. Anaerobic biomass fraction design and operation as a primary driving force for biological phosphorus removal process is commonly outweighed by aerobic and total plant sludge retention operation and design criteria. This paper tends to critically review the different perspectives of mainstream and side-stream EBPR processes and to particularly target contrasting views on hydrolysis and fermentation rates as well as anaerobic condition implementation and magnitude. Subsequently, from distinct point of views, knowledge gaps are comprehensively discussed to eventually recognize the advances and drawbacks aimed to reach a sustainable EBPR process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Parnian Izadi
- Stantec Consulting Ltd, Stantec Institute for water Technology and Policy, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
| | - Mehran Andalib
- Stantec Consulting Ltd, Stantec Institute for water Technology and Policy, Boston, MA, United States.
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