Lighted upflow anaerobic sludge blanket

The upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) method has been developed as an efficient anaerobic wastewater treatment process; however, the performance of this process in the removal nitrogenous compounds and phosphate is not h igh. Here, we present the water treatment performance of a lighted upflow a naerobic sludge blanket (LUASB) reactor and propose a novel LUASB concept. A population of phototrophic bacteria was induced from UASB granules under light conditions (100 mu E . m(-2). s(-1)). The ammonium and phosphate ion removal efficiencies of the LUASB reactor were higher than those of a UASB reactor. The difference in the results from runs under light and dark condi tions suggests that the efficiencies of ammonium and phosphate ion removal were improved by an increase in the phototrophic bacteria in the LUASB reac tor. The UASB granule can decompose a variety of organic substances; theref ore, the LUASB method could also be effective for producing phototrophic ba cterial biomass and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) from various wastewaters.