The impact of pH on the anaerobic and aerobic metabolism of Tetrasphaera-enriched polyphosphate accumulating organisms

P Y Nguyen; Ricardo Marques; Hongmin Wang; Maria A M Reis; Gilda Carvalho; Adrian Oehmen

doi:10.1016/j.wroa.2023.100177

The impact of pH on the anaerobic and aerobic metabolism of Tetrasphaera-enriched polyphosphate accumulating organisms

Water Res X. 2023 Mar 21:19:100177. doi: 10.1016/j.wroa.2023.100177. eCollection 2023 May 1.

Authors

P Y Nguyen¹, Ricardo Marques¹, Hongmin Wang², Maria A M Reis¹, Gilda Carvalho^{1

2

3}, Adrian Oehmen^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Department of Chemistry, Faculdade de Ciencias e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Caparica 2829-516, Portugal.
² School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.
³ Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology (formerly AWMC), The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.

Abstract

Members of the genus Tetrasphaera are putative polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) that have been found in greater abundance than Accumulibacter in many full-scale enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) wastewater treatment plants worldwide. Nevertheless, previous studies on the effect of environmental conditions, such as pH, on the performance of EBPR have focused mainly on the response of Accumulibacter to pH changes. This study examines the impact of pH on a Tetrasphaera PAO enriched culture, over a pH range from 6.0 to 8.0 under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions, to assess its impact on the stoichiometry and kinetics of Tetrasphaera metabolism. It was discovered that the rates of phosphorus (P) uptake and P release increased with an increase of pH within the tested range, while PHA production, glycogen consumption and substrate uptake rate were less sensitive to pH changes. The results suggest that Tetrasphaera PAOs display kinetic advantages at high pH levels, which is consistent with what has been observed previously for Accumulibacter PAOs. The results of this study show that pH has a substantial impact on the P release and uptake kinetics of PAOs, where the P release rate was >3 times higher and the P uptake rate was >2 times higher at pH 8.0 vs pH 6.0, respectively. Process operational strategies promoting both Tetrasphaera and Accumulibacter activity at high pH do not conflict with each other, but lead to a potentially synergistic impact that can benefit EBPR performance.

Keywords: Accumulibacter; Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal (EBPR); Polyphosphate Accumulating Organisms (PAOs); Tetrasphaera; amino acids; polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA).