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Polyaniline improves granulation and stability of aerobic granular sludge

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Abstract

The polyaniline (PANI) material was used to enhance the formation process of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) in this study. The effect of PANI on the granulation and stability of sludge was investigated as well as the bacterial community of the formed AGS. The results showed that the PANI with the positively charged surface has a positive effect on microbial aggregation. The PANI added during the start-up period increased the retention of biomass, accelerating the granulation process of AGS. In addition, the PANI increased the pores and channels in AGS, favoring the long-term stability of the granules. It was also found that the PANI stimulated the cells to secrete polysaccharides, which facilitates to maintain the stability of AGS. The pollutants removal performance of the obtained AGS was investigated as well. Finally, the effect of the added PANI on bacterial communities in AGS was also assessed by high-throughput sequencing techniques.

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PANI material significantly improves the formation and maintains the stability of aerobic granular sludge.

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Funding

This work is supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2021ZY77) and the Innovative Transdisciplinary Program “Ecological Environment of Urban and Rural Human Settlements” (GJJXK210105).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Key Lab for Source Control Technology of Water Pollution, College of Environmental Sciences & Engineering, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Lingfeng Ouyang, Wen Huang & Bin Qiu

  2. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, China

    Mina Huang

  3. Integrated Composites Laboratory (ICL), Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Tennessee, 1512 Middle Dr, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA

    Mina Huang

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  1. Lingfeng Ouyang
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  2. Wen Huang
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Correspondence to Bin Qiu.

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Ouyang, L., Huang, W., Huang, M. et al. Polyaniline improves granulation and stability of aerobic granular sludge. Adv Compos Hybrid Mater 5, 1126–1136 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-022-00450-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-022-00450-1

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