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US 6,737,263 B2Granted
Polyhydroxyalkanoate levels as an indicator of bioreactor health
AssigneeE. I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company
InventorsDominic A. Dragotta, Vasantha Nagarajan, Stuart M. Thomas
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Abstract
A method has been developed to monitor the health of an activated sludge environment in a wastewater process comprising monitoring the levels of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) produced and correlating those levels with various selected sample parameters. In general, levels of PHA in excess of about 15% to about 20% dry weight of the biomass is an indication that the biocatalytic efficiency of the wastewater treatment process is impaired.
Claims11
A method for controlling the biocatalytic efficiency of a wastewater treatment process comprising:
- a) providing an activated sludge environment comprising:
- (i) a carbon influx;
- (ii) cultures of autotrophic, heterotrophic and facultative microorganisms;
- (iii) a feed nutrient;
- and
- (iv) an end electron acceptor
- b) sampling wastewater from anaerobic, anoxic and/or aerobic stages of the treatment process;
- c) measuring the concentration of an internal storage molecule selected from the group consisting of polyhydroxyalkanoates and glycogen, which is present in the sample, to determine the status of a selected sample characteristic;
- and
- d) adjusting the feed nutrient in the activated sludge environment depending on the status of the selected sample wherein the biocatalytic efficiency of a wastewater treatment process is controlled.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.