Biochemical model of glucose induced enhanced biological phosphorus removal under anaerobic condition

Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) is playing an increasingly important role in controlling the eutrophication phenomenon in natural waters. It is believed that substrates other than acetate exert significant effects on the EBPR process. In this research, it was found that glucose could be used as the dominant substrate to induce and maintain a successful EBPR process. However, compared to the conventional EBPR process using acetate as the dominant substrate, it was found that less PO4-P was released into the medium and 3-hydroxyvalerate (3-HV) enriched poly-p-hydroxyalkanoate (PHA), rather than 3-hydroxybutyrate (3-HB) enriched PHA, was accumulated during the anaerobic condition, According to the experimental results, a new biochemical model is hypothesized for the anaerobic metabolism of glucose. It is reasoned that the predominance of 3-HV enriched PHA is employed to balance the internal redox during the anaerobic condition. The Entner-Doudoroff (ED) pathway is likely used for anaerobic glucose metabolism when the bacteria demonstrate good EBPR performance, because the ED pathway necessitates the use of polyphosphate for energy purposes. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.