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Microplastics have aroused increasing concern as they pose threats to aquatic species as well as human beings. They do not only contribute to accumulation of plastics in the environment, but due to absorption they can also contribute to spreading of micropollutants in the environment. Studies indicated that wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) play an important role in releasing microplastics to the environment. Therefore, effective detection of the microplastics and understanding their occurrence and fate in WWTPs are of great importance towards microplastics

In the anaerobic phase of a biological phosphorus removal process, acetate is taken up and converted to PHB utilizing both energy generated in the degradation of polyphosphate to phosphate, which is released, and energy generated in the conversion of glycogen to poly-beta-hydroxy butyrate (PHB). The phosphate/acetate ratio cannot be considered a metabolic constant, because the energy requirement for the uptake of acetate is strongly influenced by the pH value. The observed phosphate/acetate ratio shows a variation of 0.25 to 0.75 P-mol/C-mol in a pH range of 5.5 to 8.5. It is shown that stored glycogen takes part in the metabolism to provide reduction equivalents and energy for the conversion of acetate to PHB. A structured metabolic model, based on glycogen as the source of the reduction equivalents in the anaerobic phase and the effect of the pH on the energy requirement of the uptake of acetate, is developed. The model explains the experimental results satisfactorily. (c) 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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