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Granular sludge growth under different reactor liquid surface tensions in lab-scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors treating wastewater from sugar-beet processing

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Abstract

The formation of anaerobic granular sludge on wastewater from sugar-beet processing was examined in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors. Two strategies were investigated: addition of high-energy substrate, i.e. sugars, and varying the reactor liquid surface tension. When there were insufficient amounts of sugars i.e. less than 7% of the chemical O2 demand of the influent, no granulation was observed; moreover lowering the reactor liquid surface tension below 48 mN/m was found to increase biomass wash-out. On the other hand, when there were sufficient sugars, granular sludge growth occurred; moreover operating the reactor at a low reactor liquid surface tension reduced biomass wash-out and increased granular yield.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Microbial Ecology, Faculty of Agricultural and Applied Biological Sciences, University of Gent, Coupure L 653, B-9000, Gent, Belgium

    J. Thaveesri, B. Liessens & W. Verstraete

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  1. J. Thaveesri
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  2. B. Liessens
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  3. W. Verstraete
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Thaveesri, J., Liessens, B. & Verstraete, W. Granular sludge growth under different reactor liquid surface tensions in lab-scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors treating wastewater from sugar-beet processing. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 43, 1122–1127 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00166936

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00166936

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