Phosphate Precipitation in Biofilms and Flocs

Abstract

The experiments have confirmed that denitrification in biofilms may lead to calcium phosphate precipitation inside the biofilms due to the increased pH created by the denitrification reaction. This has been shown in a laboratory fixed film reactor with well defined geometry and feed with well defined substrates. The phosphate precipitate was in one case found similar to a carbonate containing apatitic phase. It accumulated in the bio-film to 9.3% P based on dry solids. A mathematical model has been developed relating the phosphate to nitrate molar removal rates to the concentration of phosphate, calcium, bicarbonate, the solubility of the solid phosphate phase and the type of carbon source used for denitrification. The model was supported by the experiments. The experiments show that the biofilm precipitation may be of significant practical interest, but factors as filamentous growth on the biofilm surface or precipitation of an easy soluble amorphous calcium phosphate can also make the biofilm precipitation insignificant. The precipitation effect is expected to be feasible in floes, if a homogeneous biomatrix with a thickness of more than approx. 100 µm exist in the floc substructure.