Phosphorous removal by an activated sludge plant

Most municipal plants employing the activated sludge treatment process, report phosphorus removals from sewage of 20 to 30%. There are a few exceptions, such as the Milwaukee, San Antonio, and Baltimore plants where phosphorus removals as high as 80% to 96% have been reported. The Milwaukee Jones Island plants have been consistently showing good total phosphorus removals (usually over 80%). The objective of the study was to demonstrate and optimize the effects of the activated sludge process parameters on a plant scale for the removal of total phosphorus from sewage.