Takabatake H, Satoh H, Mino T, Matsuo T
Dept. of Civil Engineering, Tohoku University, 06 Aoba, Aramaki-Aza, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8579, Japan.
Water Sci Technol. 2002;45(12):119-26.
The main purposes of wastewater treatment systems are to remove organic pollutants, but it would be very attractive if there were a way to recover the organic pollutants as valuable organic materials. One of the possible ways to recover organic pollutants in wastewater is to convert them into polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), which are biodegradable plastics. In this study, 18 activated sludge samples in 4 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Tokyo, Japan, were evaluated for their potential to produce PHAs by aerobic batch experiments with excess supply of acetate as the sole carbon source. The activated sludge samples tested had the capability to accumulate PHA up to 18.8% of dry cell weight on average, with the range of 6.0% to 29.5%. The results showed that the maximum PHA content was dependent on the influent more than on the operational conditions of the activated sludge, and that conventional activated sludge produced PHA as much as anaerobic-aerobic activated sludge did. The PHA content achieved in this study is still low, and further improvement is needed to put into practice the recovery process of organic pollutants as biodegradable plastics by activated sludge.
废水处理系统的主要目的是去除有机污染物，但如果有一种方法能够将有机污染物作为有价值的有机材料回收，那将非常有吸引力。回收废水中有机污染物的一种可能方法是将它们转化为聚羟基脂肪酸酯（PHA），这是一种可生物降解的塑料。在本研究中，通过以过量乙酸盐作为唯一碳源的好氧分批实验，对日本东京4个污水处理厂（WWTP）中的18个活性污泥样品生产PHA的潜力进行了评估。所测试的活性污泥样品平均能够积累高达干重18.8%的PHA，范围为6.0%至29.5%。结果表明，PHA的最大含量更多地取决于进水，而非活性污泥的运行条件，并且传统活性污泥产生的PHA与厌氧-好氧活性污泥一样多。本研究中实现的PHA含量仍然较低，需要进一步改进，以便通过活性污泥将有机污染物作为可生物降解塑料的回收过程付诸实践。
