Full-Scale Anoxic-Aerobic SBR System for Simultaneous Nitrogen and Phosphorus Removal from Municipal Wastewater

A full-scale SBR system was built to investigate simultaneous nitrogen and phosphorus removal from municipal wastewater. The system was operated for 290 days and achieved stable organic and nutrient treatment effects. Removal efficiency of COD, TP, NH₄⁺-N and TN reached 90.1%, 89.3% 87.3% and 60.2% respectively. To optimize system operation, different reactor operation conditions were analyzed. The results showed that Operation g (anoxic-aerobic-anoxic-aerobic, 12h), was the best process for nitrogen and phosphorus removal and alternating anoxic-aerobic process (A-O) could enhance nitrogen removal efficiency but not for phosphorus. Typical cycle of Operation g showed a certain mount of nitrate did not affect phosphorus removal. The SBR system obtained denitrifying phosphorus uptake ability. The ratio of the anoxic phosphate uptake to the aerobic phosphate uptake capacity was increased from 43% to 67%.