Development of a revised metabolic model for the growth of phosphorus‐accumulating organisms

The performance of a metabolic model for biological phosphorus removal (BPR) and that of a model based on continuous‐flow data were compared. Analysis showed that the metabolic model does not correctly simulate the behavior of BPR systems. The reason was found to be the kinetic expressions forming the basis of the model. A new set of kinetic expressions was selected, and a revised metabolic model was tested. It was shown that the revised metabolic model is capable of describing reported data using a single set of stoichiometric and kinetic parameters (except for the maintenance coefficient). This finding suggests that the model may be broadly applicable to a wide range of applications. A model for the dependence of the ratio of phosphorus released per acetate taken up (P/Hac ratio) on the pH of the medium was also developed, and this relationship was found to be linear.