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The influent COD of municipal wastewaters has been categorised into fractions: readily (soluble) and slowly (particulate) biodegradable, and soluble and particulate unbiodegradable. Procedures are presented for determining the division into these four categories, as are experimental methods for determining the maximum specific growth rate of the heterotrophs within the IAWPRC Task Group model structure. Some of the procedures are dependant on knowledge of the heterotroph yield and endogenous mass loss rate constants; comment is made on suggested values.

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Three biochemical models for biological excess phosphorus removal are critically analysed: the Comeau/Wentzel, Mino and modified Mino models. There is agreement between the models except in one respect, the generation of reducing equivalents (NADH2) required to convert acetate to poly-β-hydroxybutyrate under anaerobic conditions. In this regard a procedure is suggested to determine which of the models' premises are correct.

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This paper reviews developments in modelling the kinetics of activated sludge systems: Completely aerobic nitrification, anoxic/aerobic nitrification denitrification (ND), and anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic nitrification denitrification biological excess phosphorus removal (NDBEPR) systems. The paper highlights the progress in developing a general NDBEPR activated sludge kinetic model – development of polyP organism enhanced cultures, their kinetics, simplification of the kinetics for enhanced cultures under constant flow and load conditions, extension of the simplified model to mixed culture NDBEPR systems under constant flow and load conditions, integration of the polyP organism enhanced culture kinetics with the ND kinetics to give a general NDBEPR kinetic model for cyclic flow and load which incorporates the increased specific denitrification rates observed in NDBEPR systems compared to ND systems. Areas of research that require attention to complete the development of the general NDBEPR kinetic model are identified – denitrification by polyP organisms, calibration and verification of the model for cyclic flow and load, etc.

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A blend of ferrous chloride and ferric chloride (FeCl 2 -FeCl 3 ) was simultaneously dosed into an activated sludge system at pilot scale in order to test the effect on biological P removal. Additional removal due to chemical precipitation was measured as the difference in system P removal between parallel test and control systems. Both systems strongly exhibited biological excess P removal (BEPR). The extent of P release in the anaerobic reactors of the two systems was compared by mass balance, as one indicator of the relative "magnitude" of BEPR. Phosphorus fractionation of the mixed liquor also served as an indicator of the biological and chemical mechanisms. Evidence was found that the BEPR mechanism is partially inhibited by simultaneous FeCl 2 -FeCl 3 addition, even in the absence of effluent phosphate limitation. However, the degree of inhibition was relatively low, ranging from 3 to 25% (approximately) for Fe doses in the range ca. 10 to 20 mg/l as Fe, with an average system P removal of 14 to 18 mgP/l in the control. FeCl 2 -FeCl 3 dosing in this range was sufficient to produce additional P removal of the order of 1 to 8 mgP/l over periods of one to seven sludge ages per experimental period, depending on the experimental conditions. Sustained operation of the BEPR mechanism in the presence of FeCl 2 -FeCl 3 was possible over a continuous period of seven sludge ages, under conditions in which effluent phosphate was at least partially limiting. Under such conditions, the chemical and biological mechanisms appear to be "disadvantaged" to approximately the same extent, as evidenced by the apparent stoichiometry of Fe:P for the chemical precipitation and magnitude of the poly P containing fractions measured for the biological mechanism. This suggested that the biological mechanism is able to compete effectively with the chemical mechanism under conditions of low reactor phosphate concentrations (~1 mgP/l orthoP) for sustained periods. However, the presence of simultaneous chemical precipitant significantly reduces the extent to which the biological P removal potential is utilised under P-limiting conditions. This could explain the difficulty sometimes reported in the control of full-scale activated sludge systems with simultaneous precipitant addition where a very low effluent P concentration (<1 mgP/l) has to be achieved.