Innovative anaerobic/upflow sludge blanket filtration bioreactor for phosphorus removal from wastewater

Phosphorus is the key element to remove from aquatic environments to limit the growth of aquatic plants and algae and, thus, to control eutrophication. Because the upflow sludge blanket filtratio' (USBF) process, without addition of metal salts, entails low efficiency for phosphorus removal, we added an anaerobic reactor to the USBF bioreactor in order to promote the simultaneous removal of phosphorus and nitrogen from wastewater. The results revealed that the anaerobic/USBF bioreactor had a phosphorus removal efficiency up to 86%, with a sludge retention time (SRT) of 10 days, a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 24 hours and an optimum COD/N/P ratio of 100/5/1. This ratio also improved the compaction quality of the sludge blanket in the USBF clarifier. The average specific phosphate uptake rate in the aerobic zone and the average specific phosphate release rate in the anaerobic reactor were 0.014 mg PO4-P removed/(g VSS x min) and 0.0525 mg PO4-P released/(g VSS x min), respectively. Secondary phosphorus release in the USBF clarifier was heightened with increasing HRT. Hence, the optimum total HRT can be selected between 16 and 24 hours based on effluent quality. Effluent phosphorus of about 1 mg/L was provided for wastewater with the COD/N/P ratio of 100/5/1 at the sludge age of 10 days and total HRT of 16 hours. This study illustrated that the anaerobic/USBF bioreactor at the optimum operational conditions can be an effective process for phosphorus removal from municipal wastewater.