Manipulating the Operational Parameters to Achieve Balance COD Diversion, COD Removal, and Phosphorus Removal in AAA as a Novel A-stage Variant

Nowadays, earth's resources have been depleting faster than they can be replenished. With water resources as no exception, the shift toward sustainable wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) has become a necessity rather than a choice. For this reason, there has been a restored interest in the two-stage A/B scheme. In this scheme, the A-stage process has a pivotal role to play in organics and nutrients diversion and achieving low energy expenditures in the B-stage. Despite its major advantages, SRT-based control has failed to maintain stable performance of the process due to the limited knowledge of the effect of other operational parameters. This study, for the first time, provides evidence that operational conditions (i.e., SRT, HRT, DO concentration) can be engineered to balance three objectives from the A-stage process including organics diversion, phosphorus removal, and facilitate nutrients removal in the B-stage.