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Characteristics of aerobic granular sludge in a sequencing batch reactor with variable aeration

  • Environmental Biotechnology
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Abstract

Aerobic granules can be used for the treatment of industrial or municipal wastewater, but high aeration rate is required for the stable operation of the granular sludge system. Therefore, the aim of this research was to reduce aeration rate greatly to decrease the energy consumption for the technology of aerobic granules. Based on the characteristics of sequencing batch reactor with distinct feast and famine periods, aeration rate was reduced from 1.66 to 0.55 cm s−1 in the famine period after granules were formed. It was found that the settleability of aerobic granules in reactor R1 with reduced aeration was the same as that of aerobic granules in reactor R2 with constant aeration rate of 1.66 cm s−1. However, the outer morphology of aerobic granules gradually changed from round shape to long shape, and minor population showed certain shift after aeration rate was reduced in the famine period. Since good settleability is the most essential feature of aerobic granules, it can be said that reducing aeration rate in famine period did not influence the stable operation of aerobic granular sludge system. Furthermore, the experimental results indicated that aeration rate in feast period was much more important to the stable operation of aerobic granules than that in famine period.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by research funds from Nanyang Technological University to Professor Joo-Hwa Tay. Dr. Yong-Qiang Liu is supported by a Singapore Millennium Foundation (SMF) postdoctoral scholarship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Engineering Research Centre, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore

    Yong-Qiang Liu, Joo-Hwa Tay & Benjamin Yan-Pui Moy

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  1. Yong-Qiang Liu
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  2. Joo-Hwa Tay
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  3. Benjamin Yan-Pui Moy
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Correspondence to Yong-Qiang Liu.

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Liu, YQ., Tay, JH. & Moy, B.YP. Characteristics of aerobic granular sludge in a sequencing batch reactor with variable aeration. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 71, 761–766 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-005-0209-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-005-0209-1

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