Effect of Different Carbon Sources on Biological Phosphorus Removal and Polyhydroxyalkanoate Production

Different carbon sources were studied to investigate their effect on biological phosphorus removal namely, acetate, glucose, beef extract and municipal wastewater. It was found that for both phosphate release and uptake, acetate yielded the highest results while using beef extract as substrate yielded the lowest results. Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) could not be achieved by using glucose as substrate due to the high organic loading. In addition, polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) production from these carbon sources was studied. PHB production obtained from using acetate and glucose as substrate was 42% of dry cell weight (DCW) and 40% respectively. Lower PHB production was obtained from using municipal wastewater and beef extract as a carbon source resulting in approximately 15% and 13% of DCW respectively.