The Competition between Polyphosphate-Accumulating Organisms and Glycogen-Accumulating Organisms: Temperature Effects and Modelling : UNESCO-IHE PhD Thesis

ISBN-13: 9780415558969 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 258 str.

Carlos Manuel Lopez Vazquez

Opis

The over-enrichment of surface water bodies with phosphorus compounds can lead to eutrophication resulting in reduced photosynthetic activity, oxygen depletion, production of toxic compounds and, ultimately, loss of plant and animal species. Due to relatively high removal efficiency, economy and environmentally-friendly operation, enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) in activated sludge wastewater treatment systems is a popular technology to control and prevent eutrophication in surface water bodies. EBPR can be implemented by promoting the enrichment of the system with polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAO). However, EBPR process may suffer of instability and unreliability experiencing process upsets, deterioration and even failure. Among other factors, the appearance of glycogen-accumulating organisms (GAO), which compete with PAO, has been hypothesized to be the main cause of deterioration of the EBPR process performance. In this research, the effects of key environmental and operating conditions influencing the PAO-GAO competition were addressed through undertaking different studies at both lab- and full-scale and by applying mathematical modelling. It contributes to get a better understanding about the factors affecting the PAO-GAO competition and, thus, the stability and reliability of the EBPR process in activated sludge systems. The findings obtained in this research may prove useful towards optimization of full-scale EBPR plants.

Spis treści

1 Introduction 2 Temperature effects on the anaerobic metabolism of GAO 3 Temperature effects on the aerobic metabolism of GAO 4 Long-term temperature influence on the metabolism of GAO 5 Factors affecting the occurrence of PAO and GAO at full-scale EBPR systems 6 A practical method for the quantification of PAO and GAO populations in full-scale systems 7 Modelling the PAO-GAO competition: the effects of carbon source, pH and temperature 8 General conclusions, evaluation and outlook Acknowledgements List of publications Curriculum vitae