Advancing Anoxic Phosphorus Uptake for Highly Efficient Simultaneous Nitrogen and Phosphorus Removal

The overall desired outcome of this project is to provide utilities with guidelines and best practices for implementing anoxic phosphorus (P) uptake and removal in their Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) processes and sustainably achieving both nitrogen (N) and P removal with optimized carbon utilization. This project will advance the knowledge of the roles of denitrifying polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (dPAOs) and denitrifying glycogen-accumulating organisms (dGAOs) in the anoxic zone for denitrification, potentially with short-cut nitrogen removal processes such as partial denitrification-annamox (PdNA) and/or with carbon enrichment through return activated sludge (RAS) or mixed liquor fermentation in Side-stream Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal (S2EBPR).

The outcomes will be (1) identification of key plant-specific or generic design and operational parameters that are linked to enrichment of dPAOs/dGAOs and other denitrifiers that contribute to simultaneous N and P removal, and mechanistic and process modeling that provide wider-range assessment and (2) optimization for the implementation of the enhanced anoxic P removal, thus achieving overall energy and carbon-reduction in BNR processes.