CULTIVATION AND CHARACTERISTICS OF AEROBIC GRANULAR SLUDGE FOR SIMULTANEOUS ORGANICS AND NUTRIENTS REMOVAL PERFORMANCES AT HIGH TEMPERATURE

Authors

  • Mohd Hakim Ab Halim Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
  • Siti Izaidah Azmi Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
  • Nur Syahida Abdul Jamal Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
  • Aznah Nor Anuar Institute of Environment and Water Resource Management, WATER Research Alliance, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
  • Zaini Ujang Institute of Environment and Water Resource Management, WATER Research Alliance, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
  • Mustafa M. Bob Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Taibah, 30001 Universities Road, Al Madinah Al Monawarah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11113/mjce.v27.15965

Keywords:

Aerobic granular sludge, sequencing batch reactor, high temperature

Abstract

With inoculum sludge from a conventional activated sludge wastewater treatment plant, a sequencing batch reactor fed with synthetic wastewater was operated at 50 ± 1 °C to study the formation of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) for simultaneous organics and nutrients removal with a complete cycle time of 3 h. The AGS were successfully cultivated with excellent settling ability and demonstrated exceptional performance in the organics and nutrients removal with influent loading rate and COD/N ratio of 1.6 kg COD m−3 d −1 and 8.3, respectively. Stable, regular, dense and fast settling granule (average diameter, 2.0 mm and sludge volume index, 44.73 mL g−1 ) were developed in a single reactor. In addition, 85% COD removal efficiency was observed in the system at the maturation stage of the granulation, while its ammonia nitrogen and total phosphorus removal efficiencies were up to 88% and 70%, respectively. The study demonstrated the capabilities of AGS formation in a single, high and slender column typebioreactor at high temperature which is suitable to be applied for hot climate and low humidity condition (e.g. Saudi Arabia).

References

Abdullah, N., Ujang, Z. and Yahya, A. (2011). Aerobic granular sludge formation for high

strength agro-based wastewater treatment. Bioresource Technology, 102 (12), 6778–6781.

Adav, S. S., Lee, D. J., Show, K. Y. and Tay, J. H. (2008). Aerobic granular sludge: Recent

advances. Biotechnology Advances, 26, 411-423.

Al-Rehaili, A. M. (1997). Municipal wastewater treatment and reuse in Saudi Arabia. The

Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering, 22.

APHA, (2012). Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater. American

Public Health Association, Washington, DC.

Beun, J. J., Heijnen, J. J. and van Loosdrecht, M. C. M. (2001). N-Removal in a granular sludge

sequencing batch airlift reactor. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 75, 82–92.

Belmonte, M., Vázquez-Padín, J. R., Figueroa, M., Franco, A., Mosquera-Corral, A., Campos, J.

L. and Méndez, R. (2009). Characteristics of nitrifying granules developed in an air pulsing

SBR. Process Biochemistry, 44, 602–606.

de Bruin, L. M. M., de Kreuk, M. K., van der Roest, H. F. R., Uijterlinde, C. and van Loosdrecht,

M. C. M. (2004). Aerobic granular sludge technology: an alternative to activated sludge?

Water Science and Technology, 49, 1–7.

de Kreuk, M. K., Heijnen, J. J. and van Loosdrecht, M. C. M. (2005a). Simultaneous COD,

nitrogen, and phosphate removal by aerobic granular sludge. Biotechnology and

Bioengineering, 90, 761–769.

de Kreuk, M. K., Pronk, M. and van Loosdrecht, M. C. M. (2005b). Formation of aerobic

granules and conversion processes in an aerobic granular sludge reactor at moderate and low

temperatures. Water Research, 39, 4476–4484.

de Kreuk, M. K. and van Loosdrecht, M. C. M. (2004). Selection of slow growing organisms as a

means for improving aerobic granular sludge stability. Water Science and Technology, 49, 9–

Dulekgurgen, E., Artan, N., Orhon, D. and Wilderer, P.A. (2008). How does shear affect

aggregation in granular sludge sequencing batch reactors? Relations between shear,

hydrophobicity, and extracellular polymeric substances. Water Science and Technology, 58,

–276.

Kalbar, P. P., Karmakar, S. and Asolekar, S. R. (2012). Assessment of wastewater treatment

technologies: life cycle approach. Water and Environment Journal, 1747-6585.

Rosman, N. H., Nor Anuar, A., Othman, I., Harun, H., Sulong, M. Z., Elias, S. H., Mat Hassan,

M. A. H., Chelliapan, S. and Ujang Z. (2013). Cultivation of aerobic granular sludge for

rubber wastewater treatment. Bioresource Technology, 129, 620–623.

Sheng, G. P., Yu, H. Q. and Li, X. Y. (2010). Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) of

microbial aggregates in biological wastewater treatment systems: a review. Biotechnology

Advances. 28, 882–894.

Su, K. Z. and Yu, H. Q. (2005). Formation and characterization of aerobic granules in a

sequencing batch reactor treating soybean-processing wastewater. Environmental Science and

Technology, 39 (8), 2818–2827.

Morgenroth, E., Sherden, T., van Loosdrecht, M. C. M., Heijnen, J. J. and Wilderer, P. A. (1997).

Aerobic granular sludge in a sequencing batch reactor. Water Research, 31, 3191–3194.

Mosquera-Corral, A., de Kreuk, M. K., Heijnen, J. J. and van Loosdrecht, M. C. M. (2005).

Effects of oxygen concentration on N-removal in an aerobic granular sludge reactor. Water

Research, 39, 2676–2686.

Whang, L. M. and Park, J. K. (2006). Competition between polyphosphate- and glycogenaccumulating

organisms in enhanced-biologicalphosphorus-removal systems: effect of

temperature and sludge age. Water Environment Research, 78, 4–11.

Zhu, L., Lv, M. L., Dai, X., Yu, Y. W., Qi, H. Y. and Xu, X. Y. (2012). Role and significance of

extracellular polymeric substances on the property of aerobic granule. Bioresource

Technology, 107, 46–5

Downloads

Published

2018-07-15

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

CULTIVATION AND CHARACTERISTICS OF AEROBIC GRANULAR SLUDGE FOR SIMULTANEOUS ORGANICS AND NUTRIENTS REMOVAL PERFORMANCES AT HIGH TEMPERATURE. (2018). Malaysian Journal of Civil Engineering, 27. https://doi.org/10.11113/mjce.v27.15965