1990 Volume 16 Issue 2 Pages 376-383
Phosphorus release/uptake in microorganisms under anaerobic/aerobic conditions were studied by using a laboratory sequential batch reactor (SBR) system.
In particular, the behavior of phosphorus and organic carbon in microorganisms under anaerobic conditions was experimentally investigated in this work.
The rate of phosphorus release from microorganisms can be described as a firstorder reaction with respect to their phosphorus content. The rate constant of phosphorus release at the anaerobic stage was given by a function of biodegradable organic carbon substrate concentration in the form of a modified Monod-type equation.
Intracellular phosphorus released at anaerobic stages was found to be mainly soluble phosphorus that can be extracted by hydrochloric acid.
The initial amount of organic carbon substrate adsorbed onto microorganism flocs can be approximated by the Freundlich equation.
Biodegradable organic carbon substrate was almost completely taken up by microorganisms at the anaerobic stages and the rate of its uptake can be described as a first-order reaction. Finally, it was found that the difference in phosphorus accumulation in microorganisms was attributable to the ability of accumulation of organic carbon.
