On-line Monitoring for Phosphorus Removal Process and Bacterial Community in Sequencing Batch Reactor

For efficient energy consumption and control of effluent quality, the cycle duration for a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) needs to be adjusted by real-time control according to the characteristics and loading of wastewater. In this study, an on-line information system for phosphorus removal processes was established. Based on the analysis for four systems with different ecological community structures and two operation modes, anaerobic-aerobic process and anaerobic-anaerobic process, the characteristic patterns of oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) and pH were related to phosphorous dynamics in the anaerobic, anoxic and aerobic phases, for determination of the end of phosphorous removal. In the operation mode of anaerobic-aerobic process, the pH profile in the anaerobic phase was used to estimate the relative amount of phosphorous accumulating organisms (PAOs) and glycogen accumulating organisms (GAOs), which is beneficial to early detection of ecology community shifts. The on-line sensor values of pH and ORP may be used as the parameters to adjust the duration for phosphorous removal and community shifts to cope with influent variations and maintain appropriate operation conditions.