This work focuses on combined scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX) applied to granular sludge used for biological treatment of high-strength wastewater effluents. Mineral precipitation is shown to occur in the core of microbial granules under different operating conditions. Three dairy wastewater effluents, from three different upflow anaerobic sludge blan...

Calcium is essential to the growth of several strains of microorganisms involved in anaerobic digestion. It has also been found to be effective in speeding up granulation of anaerobic sludges. But there are reports that the metal can exert a harmful effect on the performance of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor by causing the ‘cementing’ of some of the active sludge in the reactor,...

Large volumes of untreated palm oil mill effluent (POME) pose threat to aquatic environment due to the presence of very high organic content. The present investigation involved two pilot-scale anaerobic expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactors, continuously operated for 1 year to treat POME. Setting HRT at 9.8 d, the anaerobic EGSB reactors reduced COD from 71179 mg/L to 12341 mg/L and recy...

n this paper, a mathematical model has been derived to predict the granulation time of anaerobic sludge in UASB reactors. In the proposed model, some physical, chemical and biological parameters affecting the granulation phenomena have been considered. To validate the model, 12 pilot-scale experiments in 4 UASB reactors are carried out and the results are discussed here. The reactors are starte...

A story of microbial community assembly and nutrient removal under fluctuational environmental conditions during start-up operation full-scale aerobic granular sludge.

The expanded granular sludge bed bioreactor appears today as a cheap, robust and more popular technology because it operates using a fluidized bed, which allows increasing in organic load and in cell retention times, generating higher treatment efficiencies (up to 95 %) and renewable energy (i.e., biogas, biomethane, and biohydrogen). Nevertheless, the efficiency of this bioreactor mainly depen...

There is a major concern among scientists over the elevated levels of arsenic (As) in drinking water in Bangladesh and some parts of India. Investigating the release of As from water filter sludge in soil and its uptake by plants may provide information about the management of As contaminated filter sludge. In this macrocosm study, iron based sludge containing granular ferric hydroxide (GFH) wa...

In this work, the performance of a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) on aerobic granular sludge was studied for urban wastewater treatment. The system was inoculated with aerobic activated sludge collected from a wastewater treatment plant and, after 30 days of operation, the first granules observed had an average diameter of 0.1 mm. The biomass concentration reached a maximum value around 4 g VSS...

The possibility to introduce the exotic anammox sludge to seed the pilot-scale anammox granular reactor and its fast start-up for treating high nitrogen concentration wastewater were evaluated in this study. The reactor was started up successfully in two weeks; in addition, high nitrogen removal was achieved for a long period. Stoichiometry molar ratios of nitrite conversion and nitrate product...