Bulking sludge solved?!

At present there is still no final theory explaining the bulking of activated sludge. Previous investigations showed that the sludge settling properties become better and more stable when more plug flow conditions are implemented in wastewater treatment plants for biological nutrient removal. In this research the effect of the process configuration (4 wwtps with fully biological nutrient removal) on the sludge settling properties has been investigated. The results show that a separate anoxic reactor can not avoid the presence of LCFA for the growth of M. parvicella in the anaerobic reactor. A SVI < 120 ml/g could be achieved by: implementation of a separate anoxic reactor with plug flow conditions, introducing of a strictly anaerobic reactor (UCT-modification), implementation of an extra anoxic/aerobic reactor, maintaining a high oxygen concentration (> 1.5 mg/l) and creating a low ammonium concentration (< 1 mg/l) in the aerobic reactor.