Formation and characterisation of fungal and bacterial granules under different feeding alkalinity and pH conditions

Characterization, modeling and application of aerobic granular sludge for wastewater treatment

Recently extensive studies have been carried out to cultivate aerobic granular sludge worldwide, including in China. Aerobic granules, compared with conventional activated sludge flocs, are well known for their regular, dense, and strong microbial structure, good settling ability, high biomass retention, and great ability to withstand shock loadings. Studies have shown that the aerobic granules could be applied for the treatment of low- or high-strength wastewaters, simultaneous removal of organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, and decomposition of toxic wastewaters. Thus, this new form of activate sludge, like anaerobic granular sludge, could be employed for the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewaters in near future. This chapter attempts to provide an up-to-date review on the definition, cultivation, characterization, modeling and application of aerobic granular sludge for biological wastewater treatment. This review outlines some important discoveries with regard to the factors affecting the formation of aerobic granular sludge, their physicochemical characteristics, as well as their microbial structure and diversity. It also summarizes the modeling of aerobic granule formation. Finally, this chapter highlights the applications of aerobic granulation technology in the biological wastewater treatment. It is concluded that the knowledge regarding aerobic granular sludge is far from complete. Although previous studies in this field have undoubtedly improved our understanding on aerobic granular sludge, it is clear that much remains to be learned about the process and that many unanswered questions still remain. One of the challenges appears to be the integration of the existing and growing scientific knowledge base with the observations and applications in practice, which this paper hopes to partially achieve.

Toxicity effect of phenol on aerobic granules

Aerobic granular sludge cultivated in a pilot-scale sequencing batch reactor, through mechanical separation using metal sieves, was categorized into five size categories of0.09 (flocs), 0.35, 0.82, 1.65 and 2.54 mm in mean diameter. Granule microbial activiy of each size category and the activity of the sludge flocs were determined after exposure to phenol (0-3000 mg L(-1)) at various exposure times of 4, 12, and 24 hours. The microbial activity reduction follows a linear relationship with the increase in phenol concentration for both granules and sludge flocs. The C50 value, i.e., the phenol concentration causing 50% inhibition of the microbial activity, decreased significantly with the exposure time, but it increased with granule size. The C50 increased by 18% from 1273 mg L(-1) for sludge flocs to 1497 mg L(-1) for granules of size 2.54 mm at an exposure time of 24 hours. The results indicated that the granular structure could protect the microbial cells from phenol toxicity. The application of aerobic granules in wastewater treatment could provide an improved ability to tolerate toxic chemical shock, particularly at longer exposure times.