Wat. Res. Vol. 31, No. 11, pp.

2719-2726, 1997
~ Pergamon © 1997ElsevierScienceLtd. All rights reserved
Printed in Great Britain
PII: S0043-1354(97)00125-5 0043-1354/97$17.00+ 0.00

ANOXIC BIOLOGICAL PHOSPHORUS REMOVAL IN A

FULL-SCALE UCT PROCESS

K. OSTGAARD @l*, M. CHRISTENSSON @2, E. LIE 2, K. JONSSON @3 and

T. WELANDER @2
~Department of Biotechnology, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology NTNU, N-7034
Trondheim, Norway; 2Department of Biotechnology, Chemical Center, Lund University, P.O. Box 124,
S-221 00 Lund, Sweden; and 3Department of Water and Environmental Engineering, Lund Institute of
Technology, P.O. Box 118, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden

(Received September 1996; accepted in revised form April 1997)

Akstract--Enhanced biological phosphorus removal is based on the selective enrichment of bacteria

accumulating inorganic polyphosphate, obtained at a cyclic regime of alternating anaerobic and aerobic
conditions. In the University of Cape Town (UCT) process for combined nitrogen and phosphorus
removal, polyphosphate-accumulating bacteria will also be exposed to nitrate in the anoxic zone, i.e. an
electron acceptor that may be utilized as well as the oxygen of the aerobic zone. During a l-year study
of the full-scaleUCT process run at Oresundsverket, Helsingborg, special attempts were made to quantify
the relative contribution of an anoxic phosphate uptake at full-scale conditions: the dominant chemical
oxygen demand (COD) uptake in the anaerobic zone could be identified as poly-/~-hydroxy-alkanoates
(PHA). PHA accumulation was at its largest during a test period with acetate added as an extra carbon
source. At least one-third of the COD consumed in the anoxic zone could be identifiedas PHA. The anoxic
sludge contained increased amounts of polyphosphate and reduced amounts of free orthophosphate
compared to the anaerobic zone, approaching the levels of aerobic sludge. The metal bound
orthophosphate remained largely unaffected, at a level of 25-30% of the total phosphorus content. After
correction for the sludge recycling of the system, the formation of inorganic polyphosphate in the anoxic
zone itself was estimated to be 30% of the total. When the metabolic activity was tested under controlled
conditions in batch, the anaerobic sludge of the plant showed a high denitrifying activity accompanied
by a phosphorus uptake and a simultaneous consumption of intracellular PHA corresponding to
2 g-COD/g-N, i.e. half the theoretical value needed for denitrification when biomass growth is included.
It is concluded that intracellular PHA played a major role as a carbon source for denitrification in this
full-scale UCT process, with a corresponding phosphate uptake also in the anoxic zone. The biological
nitrogen and phosphorus removal must, therefore, be regarded as interconnected. © 1997 ElsevierScience
Ltd

Key words--wastewater treatment, biologicalphosphate removal, denitrification, anoxic, activated sludge,

PHA, PHB, UCT

biological nitrogen removal in wastewater treatment

INTRODUCTION processes. Thus, the phosphate-accumulating bac-
teria may also be exposed to nitrate in the denitrifying
Enhanced biological phosphorus removal is based on
anoxic zone, as in the University of Cape Town
the selective enrichment of bacteria accumulating
(UCT) process commonly applied for combined
inorganic polyphosphate, obtained at a cyclic regime
nitrogen and phosphorus removal (Fig. 1). In
of alternating anaerobic and aerobic conditions.
elementary textbooks, illustrations may still be found
Intracellular poly-fl-hydroxy-alkanoates (PHA) are
showing the anoxic zone as a passive transport
generally believed to be the dominant form of
stretch, where the phosphate distribution of the
intracellular storage of substrate accumulated during
sludge remains unaffected (Gujer, 1992). However,
the anaerobic stage, to be consumed for growth and
from a microbiological point of view, nitrate is an
maintenance as well as polyphosphate regeneration
electron acceptor that could be utilized for phospho-
and glycogen formation in the aerobic phase (Mino
rous removal as well as the oxygen of the aerobic
et al., 1987; Smolders et al., 1994). Biological
zone.
phosphorus removal is usually integrated with
In the last few years, several laboratory studies
have clearly shown that biological phosphorus
*Author to whom all correspondence should be addressed uptake can indeed take place under anoxic denitrify-
[Fax: +47 73 591 283]. ing conditions (Kerrn-Jespersen and Henze, 1993;

2719
2720
810 m3/h
Mean
590 m3/h
Fig. 1. ~)resundsverket UCT process, showing standard operational recycling.
Kuba et al., 1996; gorm et al., 1996). An extensive
review has recently been presented by Barker and
Dold (1996), concluding that a significant fraction of
phosphorus-accumulating organisms can use nitrate
as an electron acceptor in the absence of oxygen for
oxidation of stored PHA and simultaneous uptake of
phosphorus. Quantifying the extent of this denitrifi-
cation in a particular system requires further
information on factors determining the fraction of
organisms capable of denitrification, as well as the
stoichiometry of the process. Kerrn-Jespersen and
Henze (1993) suggested that phosphorus-accumulat-
ing bacteria should be divided into two groups: one
truly aerobic and the other capable of utilizing both
nitrate and oxygen as electron acceptors. It has been
shown that the phosphorus-accumulating capacity of
the denitrifying phosphorus removing bacteria is
similar to that of the aerobic (Kuba et al., 1996).
Intracellular PHA accumulated by these bacteria in
the anaerobic stage may, thus, serve as a carbon
source for denitrification when nitrate is accessible.
According to biochemical models (Mino et al., 1987;
Smolders et al., 1994), other storage polymers such as
glycogen are also involved.
It is less clear to what extent such an anoxic
biological phosphorus uptake may be of significance
for the total function of a conventional UCT process.
The reconstructed Oresundsverket wastewater treat-
ment plant in Helsingborg, Sweden, consists of four
separate pre-treatment and activated sludge lines.
Since 1992, at least one of the activated sludge
systems has been operated as a UCT process (Fig. 1).
In order to identify operational factors of importance
for the performance of this enhanced biological
phosphorus removal line, a general investigation
program was carried out from June 1993 to July 1994
( J 6 n s s o n et al., 1996; Lie et al., 1997). In c o n n e c t i o n
with this program, special attempts were made to
quantify the possible anoxic contribution to the total
biological phosphate removal in this full-scale UCT
plant. These results are presented here. In addition to
chemical analysis of samples taken directly from the
different zones of the plant, the metabolic activity of
the sludge was also tested in batch incubations at
controlled laboratory conditions.
K. Ostgaard et al.
810 m3/h
Sludge removal
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Plant conditions and sampling
Technical information about Oresundsverket has been
presented in detail elsewhere (J6nsson et al., 1996; Lie et al.,
1997). Characteristic influent values may be summarized as
follows: total flow 54,000 m3/d, chemical oxygen demand
(COD) 420 mg/litre, biological oxygen demand (BODT)
130 mg/litre, total nitrogen 33 mg/litre and total phosphorus
5.7 mg/litre.
The actual UCT activated sludge line consists of an
anaerobic zone of 1020 m 3, an anoxic zone of 3100 m 3, three
aerobic zones of totally 3540 m 3 plus a deoxic 535-m 3 zone
(Fig. 1). The total period of extensive monitoring lasted
from June 1993 to July 1994, with standard operational
recycling as shown in Fig. 1. During the periods of 27
September to 5 December 1993 (week 39-48) and 20
January to 10 February 1994 (week 3-6), acetic acid was
also added to the anaerobic stage, corresponding to a
concentration of 15 mg/litre in the influent flow. Because of
operational factors such as the seasonal changes in influent
flow, three different operational periods have been chosen
and identified as indicated in Table 1.
An extensive analytical program was run during these
operational periods (J6nsson et al., 1996; Lie et al., 1997).
Daily samples o f the wastewater were taken 5-7 times a
week: after pre-clarification, in the end of the anaerobic,
anoxic and aerobic stages, and after the secondary clarifier.
They were then analysed as described below.
On five occasions (Lie et al., 1997), the sludge samples
were also fractionated as described below to identify the
chemical nature of the inorganic phosphorus present in the
sludge. This was done to quantify the intracellular
polyphosphate, the metal bound and free orthophosphate as
well as other phosphorus fractions in the sludge.
Batch experiments
Due to the oxygen contamination of the anoxic zone by
the sludge recycling system, it was also considered necessary
to test the denitrifying activity of the sludge under fully
controlled conditions. This was achieved in a 1-1itre
anaerobic batch reactor with pH and temperature control,
redox monitoring and magnetic stirring. The pH was kept
Table 1. Identification of operational periods and corresponding
average PHA estimates (with + standard error of the mean as
indicated)
Anaerobic zone: Anoxic zone:
Mean PHA formed, PHA consumed,
Operational influent relative to total relative to total
period flow COD uptake influent COD
(week no.) (m~/h) 1% (COD/COD)] [% (COD/COD)]
I (39-49) 571 76 + 5 6 +_ 2
I1 (50-06) 745 36 +__6 1+ 2
111 (07-08) 561 62 +. 13 11 +_ 3
 Anoxic phosphate uptake in a full-scale UCT 2721

constant at 7.0 by the automatic addition of 0.5 M HCI, or roughly 1 mg phosphorus removed for each 14 mg
NaOH if necessary. For practical convenience, the VFA-potential added. If enough VFA was present,
temperature was set to 30.0°C.
Sludge sampled from the end of the anaerobic zone the concentration of soluble phosphorus in the
during operational period I was concentrated a factor 2 by effluent was lower than 0.3mg/litre, even at
settling and removal of the upper clarified zone. temperatures below 10°C. See also Lie et al. (1997).
Resuspended sludge (900 ml) was then transferred to the
batch reactor, and nitrogen gas was applied to flush the P H A metabolism
headspace volume for at least 5 min before expanding the
gas reservoir volume consisting of a rubber balloon. The Figure 2 shows the PHA (PHB + PHV) content of
system was stabilized at pH 7.0 and 30.0°C for at least sludge sampled from the anaerobic, anoxic and
30 min to obtain a redox potential below -60 mV (calomel aerobic zones of the plant. PHA accumulation in the
reference electrode). At time zero, a stock solution of KNO3 anaerobic stage was clearly followed by a consump-
was injected to give a NO3-N concentration of 20-100 mg/
litre in the reactor. tion in the latter steps.
Samples of 60ml for chemical analysis were then In the anaerobic zone, PHA levels were highest
suctioned at regular intervals, centrifuged directly for 5 min during the first period of acetate addition (oper-
in a table-top centrifuge, and some supernatant was ational period I), gradually decreasing during the
immediately filtered through a 0.22-/tm membrane filter for winter and early spring of 1994 (Fig. 2), when the
the analysis of dissolved COD, nitrate, nitrite and
phosphate, as given below. After re-centrifugation, the influent flow was at its highest (Christensson et al.,
pellets were collected and stored frozen for later analysis of 1995). Mass-balance calculations were performed to
PHAs as described below. estimate the anaerobic COD uptake, based on daily
Analytical procedures recordings of the ingoing and outgoing dissolved
COD, total suspended solids (TSS) and volatile COD. Local anaerobic hydrolysis of particulate COD
suspended solids (VSS) were analysed according to standard was considered negligible. Similarly, COD-based
methods (APHA et al., 1985). Nitrate, nitrite and mass-balance calculations based on recorded PHAs
orthophosphate were determined in a flow injection analyser gave the anaerobic PHA uptake expressed as COD.
type Tecator Aquatec System 5400. Alternatively, the same
These results are summarized in Fig. 3, showing
variables as well as total phosphorus were determined by
DrLange Cuvette Test (DrLange, 1992) in accordance with weekly running mean values (based on 4--7 available
DIN 38405. daily recordings) of the fraction of the anaerobic
Phosphate distributions in sludge samples were deter- COD uptake that was identified as PHA. The average
mined after fractionation according to De Haas (1991) values of the three different operational periods are
procedure A, but with all extractions performed at 0°C as
described in detail elsewhere (Lie et al., 1997; Ostgaard shown in Table 1, with their corresponding standard
et al., 1997). Briefly, six different fractions were quantified error of the mean (s.e.m.). Clearly, PHA formation
and interpreted: free dissolved orthophosphate, associated dropped to a minimum during operational period II.
ortophosphate washed out with NaCI, metal-bound For the total recorded period, an average (+s.e.m.)
orthophosphate extracted with EDTA, intracellular or-
thophosphate and oligo-phosphorus extracted with TCA, of 62 + 4% of the C O D uptake in the anaerobic zone
intracellular polyphosphate extracted with NaOH followed could be identified as PHA. The COD not accounted
by activated charcoal (AC) treatment, and phospholipid and for represents the sum of losses due to oxygen
nucleic acid contamination removed by the AC re-extrac- contamination, particle adsorption, growth of fer-
tion. Total phosphorus and orthophosphate of all fractions mentative bacteria, as well as accumulation of
were analysed as given above.
PHAs were determined by analysis of poly-/~-hydroxy-bu- undetermined storage polymers. On many occations,
tyrate (PHB) and poly-fl-hydroxy-valerate(PHV) according PHA formation clearly exceeded the actual COD
to Comeau et al. (1988). Sludge samples were at first consumption identified as VFA, giving a mean value
centrifuged and lyophilized. Aliquots of 25rag were of 1.5 PHA-COD/VFA-COD (Lie et al., 1997). The
extracted with chloroform/methanol acidified with 3%
H2SO,, and the chloroform phase was washed by water chemical nature of the other organic substrates
re-extraction. The final extracts were analysed on a Varian consumed remains unknown.
3400 gas chromatograph with a DB5 column In the anoxic zone, COD was consumed by
(30 m x 0.249 mm), a flame ionization detector and helium denitrification during the recorded period as illus-
carrier gas, as described in detail by Lie et al. (1997). trated in Fig. 4, based on a theoretical value of 2.86 g
COD consumed per gram of N O r N reduced. The
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
mean value (+s.e.m.) corresponds to 6.7 + 0.3% of
The overall performance of the UCT biological total influent COD. However, the oxygen transfer to
phosphorus removal during the total period of the anoxic zone by the recycling flows illustrated in
investigation has been presented elsewhere (J6nsson Fig. 1 must also be taken into account. Based on
et al., 1996). Briefly, it was shown that the major recorded values (810m3/h recycled from the deox
phosphorus removal was biological and that chemical zone containing 1 mg/litre 02 and a sludge return of
reactions contributed 10% or less to the removal of 720 m3/h containing 5 mg/litre O2), a total of 4.4 kg
soluble phosphorus. COD, soluble COD as well as dissolved oxygen was estimated to enter the anoxic
BOD were correlated to the volatile fatty acid (VFA) zone per hour. Consumption of this recycled oxygen
potential (Lie et al., 1997), and these measurements would require an average ( + s.e.m.) of 3.3 + 0.1% of
were found useful as operational parameters. The total influent COD. In addition, some COD will also
VFA potential was found to be a key factor, with be transferred into new biomass: assuming a specific
 Anoxic phosphate uptake in a full-scale UCT 2723

zone, and most of the free orthophosphate was
already taken up. However, the anoxic sludge
composition will be strongly affected by the sludge
recycling of the plant (Fig. 1). On the actual day of
sampling, at the beginning of week 48, only 46% of
the total flow and 34% of the sludge entering the
anoxic zone actually came from the anaerobic stage
(based on influent 502 m3/h plus 810 m3/h recycled
gave 1310m~/h out of the anaerobic zone with
2.09g-VSS/litre, 810m3/h recycled from the deox
zone contained 2.94g-VSS/litre, and the sludge
return of 720 m3/h had 4.08 g-VSS/litre). Assuming
the return sludge to maintain the aerobic phosphorus
distribution, the consequences of a hypothetical
absence of any phosphate metabolism in the anoxic
zone may be estimated, as shown at the bottom of
Fig. 5. The anoxic sludge still clearly contained less
orthophosphate and more polyphosphate than
expected if phosphate metabolism had been absent.
Out of the 14% of total phosphorus accumulated as
polyphosphate, 4% could be ascribed to the
metabolic activity of the anoxic zone, that is 30% of
the total phosphate uptake. Due to oxygen contami-
nation through the return sludge and internal
recirculation, the relative contribution of the
denitrification process alone to this anoxic uptake
cannot be quantified with certainty. It was, therefore,
found necessary to test the activity under controlled
laboratory conditions.
Activities recorded in batch test system
Figure 6 illustrates the characteristic physiological
behaviour of sludge from the plant sampled during
period I when tested in the complete absence of
oxygen. A low dose of nitrate was added to give an
initial concentration of 20 mg-N/litre to a concen-
trated anaerobic sludge of 2.5 g-VSS/litre and free
orthophosphate at 20 mg-P/litre. Initially, a rapid
denitrification of 5--6mg-N/(g-VSS h) was ac-
companied by a phosphate uptake of 3.2 mg-P/
(g-VSS h) (Fig. 6A) as well as a significant consump-
tion of intracellular substrate in the form of PHB
and PHV (Fig. 6B). Nitrate formation could not
be detected.
After l h, all nitrate was consumed, and the
recorded metabolism was completely reverted from
anoxic to anaerobic (Fig. 6). The phosphate uptake
turned into a release, at a mean rate of 1.2 mg-P/
(g-VSS h) for the following 5 h. Simultaneously,
intracellular PHA started to increase again. The total
amount of PHB and PHV accumulated during the
following 5h corresponds to a consumption of
21 mg-COD/litre. The results of Fig. 6 corresponds
very well with the typical metabolic pattern found in
anoxic laboratory batch culture studies (Barker and
Dold, 1996).
To obtain more accurate denitrifying data, a
similar experiment was performed with a higher dose

p~od I poa~ u pedod m

100.

D
0
0

60-

3g140u41u42i43u44u48uMI47u4810160UslW62u 1 12 u3 I 4n6 u 6 7 u8 I

week no.
Fig. 3. Fraction of COD uptake identified as PHA in the anaerobic zone. Data have been numerically
filtered by calculating weekly running mean values, based on 4-7 available daily recordings per week
interval.
2724 K. Ostgaard et al.

20-
period I period, 1~4od III

16"

0
(.I
12"

.
j I
.

391401 411 421 431 44 t ,4~I 461 471 3 i 4 15 I 6 7

I
8
I

week no.
Fig. 4. Fraction of influent COD consumed by denitrification in the anoxic zone.

of nitrate, giving 100mg-N/litre initially to a
concentrated anaerobic sludge of 2.4 g-VSS/litre and
free orthophosphate at 18 mg-P/litre (Fig. 7).
Initial denitrification at a rate of 5.0mg-N
(g-VSS h) was relatively constant for 2 h, without
detectable nitrite formation. In the same period, an
initial phosphate uptake of 3.1 mg-P/(g-VSSh)
started to decline as the concentration of free
~Free EmNaCI EIEOTA nTCA ~'~INaOH.AC mAC
orthophosphate fell asymptotically towards zero, i.e.
below the detection limit after 4 h. This denitrifying
phosphate uptake (Fig, 7A) was accompanied by a
consumption of intracellular P H A corresponding to
0.37%/h of PHB and 0.10%/h of PHV (Fig. 7B),
totalling 8.1 mg-COD/(g-TSS h). Those initial rates
show good quantitative reproducibility when com-
pared to the data of Fig. 6.
After 2-3 h, the metabolic activity was reduced.
Denitrification was apparently stabilized at 2.4 mg-
N/(g-VSS h), i.e. half the initial value, PHB and PHV
consumption at a rate of one-third of the initial (Fig.
7). The pH was kept constant at 7.0. It cannot be
excluded that as the lack of free orthophosphate

-°xtl gradually developed into a rate-limiting factor for the

aerob.
Imox
0 012
Relative fractions
Fig. 5. Relative phosphorus distributions in sludge from the
anaerobic, anoxic and aerobic zones of the Oresundsverket
UCT process, with fractions as identified in the "'Methods"
section. The calculated consequences of pure recycling, in
the hypothetical absence of any phosphate metabolism in
the anoxic zone itself, is shown at the bottom labelled
"inactive anox".
phosphate uptake, the total PHA consumption was
affected as well, thereby reducing the PHA-dependent
denitrification rate.
Based on the data of Fig. 7, the denitrification
process consumed PHA corresponding to 2.02 g-
COD/g-N initially, 2.17 g-COD/g-N for the total
recorded period. This is well below the theoretical
minimum of 2.86 g-COD/g-N in the absence of
biomass growth. When biomass formation is
included, a consumption of 4-5 g-COD/g-N should
be expected. It is, therefore, concluded that the PHA
consumption represented roughly half the expected
COD consumed by denitrification, in accordance
with the independent estimates for the anoxic zone of
the full-scale plant presented above.
Initial dissolved COD was as low as 40 mg/litre,
actually below the detection limit of the assay used.
 Anoxic phosphate uptake in a full-scale UCT 2725

15 the full-scale total biological phosphorus removal

A was functioning at its best (J6nsson et al., 1996).
When comparing the results of the different periods
10.
(Table 1), it should be noted that nitrate levels in the
effluent of the anoxic zone were always low, generally
below the detection limit of 0.2 mg/litre (results not
included). The PHA-dependent denitrification
should, therefore, be considered as nitrate-limited
even during the low activity phase of operational
period I1.
It is, thus, evident that the quantitative results
obtained cannot be expected to be of general nature.
The relative enrichment of denitrifying phosphate-
accumulating bacteria will obviously depend on the
actual conditions of the plant. As pointed out above,
1 nitrogen limitation is one important factor. In cases
where excessive amounts of readily degradable
w
organic material are allowed to enter the anoxic zone,
denitrification is less likely to become dependent on
intracellular substrates. When an UCT process is run
at more balanced and carbon-limited conditions,
0.5 PHA accumulated by polyphosphate degradation in
the anaerobic zone may become increasingly import-
ant as a carbon source also for denitrification,
o ,,; ,i i i r favouring the selective enrichment of denitrifying
polyphosphate-accumulating bacteria as reported in
T i m e (h)
this case. Thus, denitrifying phosphate uptake is not
Fig, 6. Activities recorded in anaerobic batch culture
system, after initial injection of 20 mg-NO3-N/litre: (A) free
orthophosphate as PO+-P (11), nitrate as NO3-N (0) and
nitrite as NO:-N (A) in solution; (B) intracellular PHB (IS])
and PHV (©).

Sludge hydrolysis could hardly compensate for the

apparent lack of external carbon sources during this
+'°1 30
short time of incubation. It is, therefore, more likely n
that the unidentified COD consumption was of
intracellular nature. Additional support for this E s, o~
suggestion has been presented by Lie et al. (1997).
lO
The results of the laboratory experiments per-
formed in the absence of oxygen were fully in
accordance with the interpretation of the obser- o , _.- - _ - .L ~ I -" " -" 0
vations from the full-scale plant as presented above. B
It is, therefore, concluded that PHA did represent I
2.
roughly half the carbon source consumed by
denitrification in the anoxic zone, accompanied by a
corresponding orthophosphate uptake. 1.5 []
"6 ) o
General c o m m e n t s
The experiments presented in Figs 5-7 were
performed within October to December 1993, i.e. in 0.5
operational period I with acetate added to the
influent. This factor may be of relevance for some of
0 • • , • • •
the quantitative results obtained. One example is the 1 2 3 4 5 6
strikingly low amounts of PHV compared to PHB Time (h)
reported here. In other cases, PHV up to the same
levels as PHB has been observed (Sj61unda pilot Fig. 7. Activities recorded in anaerobic batch culture
system, after initial injection of 100 mg-NO~-N/litre: (A) free
plant, Maim6, results not included).
orthophosphate as PO+-P ( , ) , nitrate as NO3-N (O) and
However, probably more important is the fact that nitrite as NO2-N (A) in solution; (B) intracellular PHB ([])
operational period I also represents the period when and PHV (C)).
2726 K. Ostgaard et al.
only the basis for the development of sophisticated
systems for the future (Kuba et al., 1996); it is also
a factor that always must be taken into account when
analysing already existing plants.
CONCLUSIONS
1. Roughly 60% of the COD uptake in the
anaerobic zone could be identified as PHA. PHA
accumulation was at its largest during a test period
with acetate added as an extra carbon source. More
than one-third of the COD consumed in the anoxic
zone was identified as PHA.
2. The activated sludge of the system maintained
a phosphorus content of 6% of VSS. Chemical
fractionation and analysis of the phosphate distri-
bution in the sludge revealed increased amounts of
intracellular polyphosphate and reduced amounts of
free orthophosphate in the anoxic as compared to the
anaerobic zone. After correction for the sludge
recycling flows of the system, anoxic polyphosphate
accumulation was estimated to be 30% of the total.
3. When tested in batch, the anaerobic sludge of
the plant showed an initial denitrifying activity of
5 mg-N/(g-VSS h) accompanied by a phosphorus
uptake of 3 mg-P/(g-VSS h) and a simultaneous
consumption of intracellular PHA corresponding to
2 g-COD/g-N, i.e. half the theoretical value needed
for denitrification when biomass growth is included.
Intracellular PHA played a major role as a carbon
source for denitrification in this full-scale UCT
process, with a corresponding phosphate uptake also
in the anoxic zone. The biological nitrogen and
phosphorus removal must, therefore, be analysed as
interconnected. One major consequence is a re-
duction in the total demand of a carbon source.
Acknowledgements--The authors wish to thank Gigi*
Wendt-J6nsson for excellentanalytical laboratory work and
entertainment. The help obtained from Per Johansson and
the personnel at the Oresundsverket sewage treatment plant
is also gratefully acknowledged. This work was financially
supported by VA-forsk, the City of Helsingborg, and the
Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical
Development (NUTEK) through the Control of Waste-
water Treatment Plants--Methods and Processes (STAMP)
research programme.
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