On-line titrimetric monitoring of anaerobic-anoxic EBPR processes

Denitrifying phosphorus accumulating organisms (DPAO) are able to remove nitrogen and phosphorus simultaneously. The use of DPAO in EBPR systems results in a substantial saving on aeration cost and a lower sludge production when compared to anaerobic-aerobic EBPR systems. This process is usually studied in sequencing batch reactors (SBR) and monitored with off-line measurements. However, off-line monitoring implies low frequency data sampling and delay between sampling and obtainment of the results. For this reason, an online measurement such as titrimetry is strongly recommended to improve the daily management of the lab-scale SBR. This paper shows different applications of titrimetric measurements for on-line monitoring of DPAO lab-scale SBR cycles. The results demonstrate that titrimetry is a suitable tool for detecting the end of phosphorus release and carbon substrate depletion point in the anaerobic phase. Moreover, this paper proposes the indirect measurement of nitrate/nitrite uptake rate with titrimetric measurements, which allows the on-line estimation of its concentration during the anoxic phase. Therefore, titrimetry is an on-line measurement with a high potential to implement new control strategies in DPAO lab-scale SBR systems.