Impact of the substrate composition on enhanced biological phosphorus removal during formation of aerobic granular sludge

Post-treatment of high-rate activated sludge effluent via zeolite adsorption and recovery of ammonium-nitrogen as alternative fertilising products

This study investigates the potential to connect nutrient flows between wastewater treatment and agriculture through a two-stage nitrogen (N) recovery system composed of high-rate activated sludge treatment in contact stabilisation mode (HRAS/CS) and column adsorption with zeolite. The HRAS/CS process removes organic matter and suspended solids in wastewater, leaving N behind in the effluent. The N was successfully recovered with the zeolite column under different scenarios, generating N and K-rich by-products. The regeneration effluent from the zeolite column with KCl contained 60-845 mg NH4+-N/L and 1.6-14.3 g K/L, having potential for use as fertigation water. The N-saturated zeolite contained 1.5-8.4 mg N/g and 14.3-19.3 mg K/g of the product fresh weight and low contaminant content, making it potentially eligible as various fertilising products. Adsorption can thus concentrate N from HRAS/CS effluent and produce by-products with potential agricultural value while meeting chemical oxygen demand and total nitrogen discharge standards.

Impact of low and high temperatures on aerobic granular sludge treatment of industrial wastewater

The goal of this study was to unravel the impact of high and low temperatures (T) on glycogen-accumulating microorganisms (GAOs) which were stimulated in an aerobic granular sludge plant fed with industrial wastewater, which is derived from the cleaning of trucks transporting chocolate and beer. Among GAOs, Candidatus Competibacter (Ca. Competibacter) was the most abundant. The long-term impact on (1) anaerobic dissolved organic carbon (DOC) uptake, (2) sludge morphology, and (3) microbial community composition was investigated. In addition, the short-term impact of T changes on the anaerobic uptake rate was evaluated. High T (above 38 °C) and low T (below 11 °C) had a negative impact on the relative read abundance of Ca. Competibacter and the anaerobic DOC uptake. Nevertheless, the carbon removal efficiency and the settleability of the biomass were not affected. Denitrifiers such as Thauera and Zoogloea were promoted over Ca. Competibacter under high T and low T, respectively, indicating their positive contribution to granulation maintenance.

Effects of microaeration and sludge recirculation on VFA and nitrogen removal, membrane fouling reduction and microbial community of the anaerobic baffled biofilm-membrane bioreactor in treating building wastewater

A novel anaerobic baffled biofilm-membrane bioreactor (AnBB-MBR) with microaeration of 0.62 LO2/LFeed was developed to improve VFA and nitrogen removal from building wastewater. Three different membrane bioreactor systems - R1: AnBB-MBR (without microaeration); R2: AnBB-MBR with microaeration; and R3: AnBB-MBR with integrated microaeration and sludge recirculation - were operated in parallel at the same hydraulic retention time of 20 h and sludge retention time of 100 d. The microaeration promoted greater microbial richness and diversity, which could significantly enhance the removal of acetic acid and dissolved methane in the R2 and R3 systems. Moreover, the partial nitrification and the ability of anammox (Candidatus Brocadia) to thrive in R2 enabled NH4+-N removal to be enhanced by up to 57.8 %. The worst membrane fouling was found in R1 due to high amount of protein as well as fine particles (0.5-5.0 μm) acting as foulants that contributed to pore blocking. While the integration of sludge recirculation with microaeration in R3 was able to improve the membrane permeate flux slightly as compared to R2. Therefore, the AnBB-MBR integrated with a microaeration system (R2) can be considered as promising technology for building wastewater treatment when considering VFA and nutrient removal and an energy-saving approach with low aeration intensity.

Full dynamic control of dairy wastewater treatment by aerobic granular sludge using electric conductivity and oxygen uptake rate

The objective of the current study was to determine the applicability of a sensor-based dynamic control strategy for the treatment of real variable dairy wastewater by aerobic granular sludge (AGS) performing enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR). Two parallel sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) were set up that used only an anaerobic feast/aerobic famine microbial selection strategy to successfully obtain sludge granulation. SBR-STA used a fixed cycle length, while the duration of the reaction steps in SBR-DYN was variable. The control strategy was based solely on (derived) signals from low-cost and common sensors. The profile of the electric conductivity during the anaerobic reaction step was related to the microbial release of phosphate (PO4-P) and the associated uptake of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) by polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs). Control of the aerobic reaction step was based on the oxygen uptake rate (OUR). This resulted in a dynamic reactor operation with significant efficiency gains, such as 32% shorter cycle times and 42% higher sludge loading rates without impairing the effluent quality. These results extend the existing potential of indirect control strategies to full biological nutrient removal processes, which may be of great assistance to the operators and designers of industrial installations.

Algal-bacterial aerobic granular sludge for real municipal wastewater treatment: Performance, microbial community change and feasibility of lipid recovery

Despite various research works on algal-bacterial aerobic granular sludge for wastewater treatment and resource recovery processes, limited information is available on its application in real wastewater treatment in terms of performance, microbial community variation and resource recovery. This study investigated the performance of algal-bacterial aerobic granular sludge on real low-strength wastewater treatment in addition to the characterization of microbial community and fatty acid compositions for biodiesel production. The results demonstrated 71% COD, 77% NH₄⁺-N and 31% phosphate removal efficiencies, respectively. In addition, all the water parameters successfully met the effluent standard A, imposed by the Department of Environment (DOE) Malaysia. Core microbiome analyses revealed important microbial groups (i.e., Haliangium ochraceum, Burkholderiales and Chitinophagaceae) in bacterial community. Meanwhile the photosynthetic microorganisms, such as Oxyphotobacteria and Trebouxiophyceae dominated the algal-bacterial aerobic granular sludge, suggesting their important roles in granulation and wastewater treatment. Up to 12.51 mg/gSS lipid content was recovered from the granules. In addition, fatty acids composition showed high percetages of C16:0 and C18:0, demonstrating high feasibility to be used for biodiesel production application indicated by the cetane number, iodine value and oxidation stability properties.

Is building up substrate during anaerobic feeding necessary for granulation?

For a successful granulation process in activated sludge systems, the stimulation of slow growing organisms such as glycogen accumulating microorganisms (GAOs) is a key factor. Here we show that the introduction of an anaerobic feast followed by an aerobic famine phase successfully transforms bulking sludge, caused by the abundance of genus Kouleothrix, to a hybrid floccular-granular sludge. Two sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) were operated for 228 days treating the same industrial wastewater derived from the cleaning of trucks transporting liquid food (the cargo consists of approximately 70% chocolate and 30% beer). By respectively applying a fast and slow feeding in two parallel SBRs, different degrees of substrate build-up were achieved in the two reactors during the feast phase. The F/M ratio over the feeding time was 1.41 ± 0.48 and 0.57 ± 0.16 kg COD·(kg VSS*d)^-1 for the fast-fed and the slow-fed SBR respectively. Our results demonstrate that substrate build-up during the anaerobic selection step is not necessary to obtain well-settling granular-like sludge.

Uncover the secret of the stability and interfacial Gibbs free energy of aerobic granular sludge

Interfacial Gibbs free energy (IGFE) as a thermodynamic indicator characterize the stability of the natural system. For aerobic granular sludge (AGS), how IGFE determines the stability of sludge remains to be determined. The Gibbs free energy change at the AGS-water interface (ΔG_sw^a) and AGS interfaces (ΔG_s^c) were selected as the main interfacial thermodynamic factors. Results indicated that the stable AGS was guaranteed with ΔG_s^c at the range of -31 to - 46 J m^-2. Pearson correlation coefficients between ΔG_sw^a/ ΔG_s^c and relative hydrophobicity, water content, SVI₃₀, integrity coefficient were -0.9, 0.8, 0.85, and 0.84, which illustrated that the IGFE could be a more comprehensive thermodynamic indicator. Microbial community and EPS analysis verified the importance of denitrifiers, Amide III, protein-like substances for AGS stability. This work offers a new insight into the development of AGS stability based on IGFE.

Promoted removal of phosphate by layered double hydroxides combined with bacteria: Application of novel carriers in biofilm reactor

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) were used as carriers for the microbial consortium in sequencing biofilm batch reactor (SBBR) without inoculation to promote the removal of phosphate. The adsorption capacity of [Zn-Al]-LDH was significantly better than that of [Mg-Al]-LDH. The pollutants removal performance and behavior of microorganisms in LDH-SBBRs were also investigated. LDH-SBBRs showed improved removal efficiencies of COD, phosphate and TP with a low C/N ratio. Microscopic images show that biofilm formed rapidly in LDH-SBBRs. SEM-EDS detected abundant carbon and phosphorus, implying that biomass and phosphorus accumulate on LDH carriers. The microbial compositions of the three SBBRs indicate that the LDHs carriers improved the biodiversity of biofilm in the bioreactors. Synergistic effects of adsorption and biodegradation between well-structured LDHs and microorganisms led to an improved phosphate removal performance of LDH-SBBR. The results also demonstrate that [Zn-Al]-LDH carrier is the best for improving SBBR phosphate removal.

Distribution characteristics of phosphorus-containing substances in a long running aerobic granular sludge-membrane bioreactor with no sludge discharge

This work aimed at revealing the distribution characteristics of phosphorus (P) containing substances in an aerobic granular sludge-membrane bioreactor (AGS-MBR). During the long running period (180 days) with no sludge discharge, AGS was successfully cultivated on day 20, and the system performed well in removing organic pollutants and total nitrogen (TN). However, the removal of total P (TP) showed a fluctuant tendency, and P was found to distribute in all the phases of the system. In the intracellular phase, it occupied the largest ratio all through the period. In AGS, inorganic P (IP) was measured to be about 74.4-77.8% of TP, with non-apatite IP (NAIP) composing 57.5-69.6%, while in organic P (OP), the ratio of monoester and diester phosphate was in the range of 19-26.9% and 12-13.5%, respectively. The presence of highly releasable and bioavailable P (NAIP + OP) in AGS implied that it might be a potential P resource for utilization.