Behaviors of Biomass and Kinetic Parameter for Nitrifying Species in A 2 O Process at Different Sludge Retention Time

The effect of sludge retention time (SRT) on biomass, kinetic parameters, and stoichiometric parameters of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) in anaerobic/anoxic/oxic (A 2 O) process were explored in this study. The results showed that the growth rate constants were 1.52, 1.22, and 0.85 day −1 , respectively, for AOB, those were 1.59, 1.19, and 0.87 day −1 , respectively, for NOB when SRT was 20, 10, and 5 days. The lysis rate constants of AOB and NOB were 0.14 and 0.09 day −1 , respectively. The yield coefficients were 0.23 and 0.22, respectively, for AOB and NOB. They did not change with SRT obviously. The biomass of AOB was 50.94, 26.35, and 14.68 mg L −1 , respectively, and the biomass of NOB was 116.77, 60.00, and 44.25 mg L −1 , respectively, at SRT of 20, 10, and 5 days. When SRT diminished from 20 to 5 days, the biomass of AOB and NOB diminished by 36.26 and 75.52 mg L −1 , respectively. The removal efficiency of NH 4 + –N diminished by 68.9 %. The removal efficiency of total nitrogen diminished by 42.9 %.