Sludge bulking caused by loss of stability is a major problem in aerobic granular sludge systems. This study investigated the feasibility of preventing sludge bulking and enhancing the stability of aerobic granular sludge in a sequencing batch reactor by optimizing operation conditions. Five operation parameters have been studied with the aim to understand their impact on sludge bulking. Increasing dissolved oxygen (DO) by raising aeration rates contributed to granule stability due to the competition advantage of non-filamentous bacteria and permeation of oxygen at high DO concentration. The ratio of polysaccharides to proteins was observed to increase as the hydraulic shear force increased. When provided with high/low organic loading rate (OLR) alternately, large and fluffy granules disintegrated, while denser round-shape granules formed. An increase of biomass concentration followed a decrease at the beginning, and stability of granules was improved. This indicated that aerobic granular sludge had the resistance of OLR. Synthetic wastewater combined highly and slowly biodegradable substrates, creating a high gradient, which inhibited the growth of filamentous bacteria and prevented granular sludge bulking. A lower chemical oxygen demand/N favored the hydrophobicity of granular sludge, which promoted with granule stability because of the lower diffusion rate of ammonia. The influence of temperature indicated a relatively low temperature was more suitable.
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Research Article|
September 24 2014
Optimization of operation conditions for preventing sludge bulking and enhancing the stability of aerobic granular sludge in sequencing batch reactors
Jun Zhou;
Jun Zhou
1School of Civil Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
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Hongyu Wang;
Hongyu Wang
1School of Civil Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
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Kai Yang;
1School of Civil Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
E-mail: kaiyangchn@126.com
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Fang Ma;
Fang Ma
2State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China
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Bin Lv
Bin Lv
3School of Environment & Urban Construction, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430073, China
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Water Sci Technol (2014) 70 (9): 1519–1525.
Article history
Received:
June 16 2014
Accepted:
September 10 2014
Citation
Jun Zhou, Hongyu Wang, Kai Yang, Fang Ma, Bin Lv; Optimization of operation conditions for preventing sludge bulking and enhancing the stability of aerobic granular sludge in sequencing batch reactors. Water Sci Technol 1 November 2014; 70 (9): 1519–1525. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2014.406
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