| In the present study, the performance of three moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBRs) with an anaerobic/anoxic/oxic (A2O) sequence for simultaneous removal of organic matter and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous) from a synthetic wastewater with characteristics similar to those of a typical municipal wastewater was optimized and monitored. First, the effect of influent chemical oxygen demand (COD), hydraulic retention time (HRT), and nitrate recycle ratio (R) on four response variables of COD removal, total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorous (TP) removal efficiencies, and the effluent sludge volume index (SVI) was investigated through a central composite design (CCD) and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Then, the optimized values of independent factors were obtained by means of response surface methodology (RSM). The optimized values of influent COD, HRT, and R were 462 mg/L, 10 h, and 3.52 respectively. The predicted and observed values at optimized conditions were 92.8% and 93±1.3%, 84.3% and 84±1.3, 71.7% and 68±1.6% for COD, TN, and TP removals and 100 and 97±1.2 mL/g for SVI respectively. Next, the system operated for two months under optimum conditions (phase 1) (influent TN and TP were fixed at 40 and 10 mg/L respectively). After that, the influent COD, TN, and TP were increased to 550, 48, and 12 mg/L respectively to partly simulate the organics and nutrients variations of real wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The system was allowed for three weeks operation under these new conditions (phase 2). Finally, the influent COD, TN, and TP were increased again to 650, 56, and 14 mg/L respectively and the system was allowed for another three weeks operation (phase 3). The COD, TN, and TP removals were 91±1.3%, 82±1.1, and 71±0.8% in phase 2 and 90±0.8%, 80±1.2, and 70±1.0% in phase 3 respectively. These results imply the good stability of the optimized system and the ability of MBBRs in handling of considerable influent organics and nutrients variations. The ratio of attached volatile solids (AttVS) to mixed liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSS) was 1.90±0.10, 2.07±0.09, and 2.25±0.14 in phases 1, 2, and 3 respectively. These high ratios indicate that the microorganisms had favored the attached growth to the suspended growth within the whole operation time. |