Aerobic granular sludge: characterization, mechanism of granulation and application to wastewater treatment

Abstract

Aerobic granular sludge can be classified as a type of self-immobilized microbial consortium, consisting mainly of aerobic and facultative bacteria and is distinct from anaerobic granular methanogenic sludge. Aerobic granular technology has been proposed as a promising technology for wastewater treatment, but is not yet established as a large-scale application. Aerobic granules have been cultured mainly in sequenced batch reactors (SBR) under hydraulic selection pressure. The factors influencing aerobic granulation, granulation mechanisms, microbial communities and the potential applications for the treatment of various wastewaters have been studied comprehensively on the laboratory-scale. Aerobic granular sludge has shown a potential for nitrogen removal, but is less competitive for the high strength organic wastewater treatments. This technology has been developed from the laboratory-scale to pilot scale applications, but with limited and unpublished full-scale applications for municipal wastewater treatment. The future needs and limitations for aerobic granular technology are discussed.

Analysis of bacterial, fungal and archaeal populations from a municipal wastewater treatment plant developing an innovative aerobic granular sludge process

“…2, 3). Microbial diversity is closely related to wastewater characteristic and sludge structure (Gao et al 2011;Show et al 2011). In the AGS bacteria and archaea were observed to be higher in the granules, while fungal populations were higher in flocs.…”

Microbial community analysis for aerobic granular sludge reactor treating high-level 4-chloroaniline wastewater

“…Since Morgenroth et al (1997) found the aerobic sludge granulation in a sequence bioreactor, researchers have conducted numerous studies on the formation and characteristics of aerobic granule, affecting factors of sludge granulation, mass transfer and model simulation, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), and formation mechanism (Beun et al 2002;Liu et al 2006;Wan et al 2009;de Kreuk et al 2010;Ni and Yu 2010;Gao et al 2011, Uan et al 2013. However, the aerobic granular sludge system is still not stable, and the application of this technology is faced with big bottlenecks and challenges (Winkler et al 2011;Chen et al 2007;Adav et al 2008;Liu and Tay 2008).…”

Aerobic granular sludge – factors affecting the granulation process in the sequencing batch reactors

“…Tlenowy osad granulowany klasyfikowany jest jako konsorcjum samounieruchomionych mikroorganizmów, składające się głownie z tlenowych i fakultatywnych bakterii [6]. Na pierwszej sesji poświęconej granulowanemu osadowi tlenowemu, która odbyła się w Niemczech w 2005 roku, tlenowy osad granulowany zdefiniowano jako agregaty pochodzenia mikrobiologicznego, które nie koagulują w wyniku zmniejszenia siły hydrodynamicznej ścinania oraz sedymentujące znacznie szybciej niż kłaczki osadu czynnego [4].…”

“…[12]. Niektóre bakterie nitkowate, takie jak Microthrix parvicella mogą się rozwijać w szerokim zakresie stężeń tlenu rozpuszczonego [6].…”