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Effects of hydraulic retention time on aerobic granulation and granule growth kinetics at steady state with a fast start-up strategy

  • Environmental biotechnology
  • Published:
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Abstract

A hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 4, 6, and 8 h was employed, respectively, in three reactors to study the effects of HRT on granulation with a newly developed fast granulation strategy, i.e., a strategy by combining strong hydraulic selection pressure with high organic loading rate (OLR). Granules with clear boundary appeared within 24 h after reactor start-up and all reactors reached a pseudo steady state after 6-day operation. A 4-h HRT resulted in a relatively higher increasing rate in terms of granule size during granule development period, i.e., 208 μm day−1, and the bigger granule size and the higher sludge volume index at the pseudo steady state. For HRT of 6 or 8 h, no obvious difference was observed. However, it was found that HRT influenced sludge retention time (SRT) and kinetics significantly. A HRT changing from 4 to 8 h led to an increased SRT from 3 to 21 days, a decreased observed specific biomass growth rate (μ obs) and an decreased observed biomass yield (Y obs) of stable granules from 0.37 to 0.062 days−1, and 0.177 to 0.055 g MLVSS g−1 COD, respectively. Both μ obs and Y obs had a linear relationship with the reciprocal of HRT. In addition, the great difference of microbial community between seed sludge, sludge retained in the reactors, and sludge washed out indicated a strong microbial selection for fast granulation within 24 h. However, during the granule development period from day 1 to 6, no more microbial selection was observed except an adjustment of microbial community. Little influence of HRT on microbial population in granular sludge indicated a minor role of HRT played for granulation with the fast start-up strategy adopted in this study. The results demonstrated that hydraulic selection pressure for granulation was mainly from short settling time, which led to strong microbial selection during the granulation period. Meanwhile, although HRT did not affect granulation with the fast start-up strategy, it played an important role on sludge retention time and excess sludge production. Therefore, HRT should be carefully optimized to balance benefits and shortfalls it brings to aerobic granular sludge system.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK

    Yong-Qiang Liu

  2. College of Architecture and Environment, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China

    Xing Zhang

  3. Institute of Marine Microbes and Ecospheres, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China

    Rui Zhang

  4. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, 61802, USA

    Wen-Tso Liu

  5. Schulich School of Engine, University of Calgary, Calgary, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Joo-Hwa Tay

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  1. Yong-Qiang Liu
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  2. Xing Zhang
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  4. Wen-Tso Liu
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  5. Joo-Hwa Tay
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Correspondence to Yong-Qiang Liu.

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Liu, YQ., Zhang, X., Zhang, R. et al. Effects of hydraulic retention time on aerobic granulation and granule growth kinetics at steady state with a fast start-up strategy. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 100, 469–477 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-015-6993-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-015-6993-3

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