Granulation of activated sludge using butyrate and valerate as additional carbon source and granular phosphorus removal capacity during wastewater treatment

As an efficient and low-cost phosphorus (P) removal method from wastewater, enhanced biological phosphorus removal process always faces the insufficient carbon source issue. In this study, two identical sequencing batch reactors were used to cultivate aerobic granular sludge, in which butyrate (Rb) and valerate (Rv), two major volatile fatty acids that can be produced from anaerobic fermentation of waste biomass, were respectively applied as additional carbon source. Both reactors exhibited almost same excellent organics and total nitrogen removals during 120 days’ operation, about 95.2–95.7% and 67.9–68.0% respectively with noticeable difference in P removal. Compared to the granules in Rv (24.3 mg P/g-total solids), bigger and more stable ones with higher P removal capacity (11.5 mg P/g-volatile solids∙d) were finally achieved in Rb, containing higher P content (36.0 mg P/g-total solids) with more orthophosphate and polyphosphate accumulated. Microbial community analysis reflected more polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (Rhodocyclus-related bacteria and Actinobacteria) in the granules from Rb.