Influence of HRT and carbon source on the enhancement of nutrient removal in an Anaerobic-Oxic-Anoxic (AOA) system

The eutrophication and increase in toxicity promoted by the continuous or abundant supply of nutrients in water bodies threaten the safety of drinking water and human health. In this regard, this study proposes the investigation of wastewater treatment focusing on the simultaneous removal of nitrogen and phosphorus in the anaerobic-oxic-anoxic (AOA) system. The AOA system was operated in three different stages to verify the influence of the external carbon source addition in the anoxic reactor and the reduction of hydraulic retention time (HRT) in the anaerobic and oxic reactors for nutrient removal optimization. Results showed that the best performance of the AOA system on nutrient removal was obtained in Stage 3, with the reduction of the HRT in the anaerobic and oxic reactors (HRT = 4 h) while maintaining HRT of 6.4 h in the anoxic reactor with no addition of the external carbon source. Under these conditions, the average removal efficiencies reached 98% for Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), 88% for Total Ammonia Nitrogen (TAN), 81% for Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN), and 70% for Total Phosphorus (TP). The results also demonstrate that the highest phosphorus removal efficiency was achieved in the anoxic reactor, thus indicating the occurrence of denitrifying phosphorous removal by Denitrifying Phosphate Accumulating Organisms (DNPAOs). This configuration was efficient regarding the simultaneous removal of nitrogen and phosphorus; besides, the advantages of this system include robust configuration and excellent performance on the nutrient removal.