Influence of Anaerobic Pre-conditioning on Phosphorus Removal in Swine Manure by Aeration

A feasibility study with three pre-conditioning times was carriedout to examine the effect of anaerobic pre-treatment on phosphorus removal by aeration. The results showed that solublephosphorus could be decreased from 120 mg L^-1 to about40 mg L^-1 within one-day aeration. However, soluble phosphorusconcentration was found not affected by pre-conditioning, butmore pH dependent. Anaerobic pre-treatment significantly increased the uptake of phosphorus by microbes indicated by theincrease in concentration of organic phosphorus fraction. The presence of a large proportion of inorganic insoluble phosphorusconsiderably eclipsed the biological removal of soluble phosphorus, which suggested that the solids/liquid separationbefore aeration could be important to improve the biologicaluptake of soluble phosphorus.