Effect of Substrate Condition on Phosphorus Removal Efficiency by Aerobic Phosphate Reduction

The effect of initial C/P and influent phosphate concentration on the performance of aerobic phosphate reduction was investigated under varied substrate conditions. The results show that the substrate condition has a significant effect on phosphorus removal efficiency. An initial C/P ratio that is too high or too low is not propitious to phosphate reduction. The phosphate removal rate is highest at 52.93% when the initial C/P is 100, which indicates that phosphate reduction bacteria are heterotrophic bacteria. Besides, increasing the influent phosphate concentration can improve the phosphate removal given enough carbon source. Moreover, a notable positive correlation exists between initial phosphate concentration and phosphate removal quantity and also between phosphate and COD removal quantities. The analysis of the process applicability shows that the phosphorus removal process by phosphate reduction is suitable for treating human and animal excreta wastewater, sludge digestate, mustard tuber wastewater and other high-phosphorus wastewater with enough carbon source.