Structure and formation of anoxic granular sludge —A string-bag hypothesis

doi:10.1007/s11783-014-0748-8

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2016, Vol. 10

Issue (2) : 311-318 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-014-0748-8

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Structure and formation of anoxic granular sludge —A string-bag hypothesis

Binbin WANG(

),Dangcong PENG,Xinyan ZHANG,Xiaochang WANG

School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an 710055, China

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Abstract

Anoxic granular sludge was developed in a laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactor which was fed with sodium acetate and sodium nitrate as electron donor and accepter. The sludge in the reactor was almost granulated after approximately 90 days of cultivation. In the present study, a detailed examination of surface morphology and internal structure of anoxic granular sludge was conducted using scanning electron microscope. It showed that the bacteria inside the granules had a uniform, coccus-like shape. By contrast, filamentous bacteria were predominant outside the granules. These bacteria were woven and had wrapped the coccus bacteria together to form granules. The small amounts of DO in the liquid bulk promoted the growth of filamentous bacteria on the surface of the granules. A string-bag hypothesis was proposed to elucidate the structure and formation of the anoxic granular sludge. It suggested that micro-aeration could be a method to promote granulation in practical anoxic treatment systems.

Keywords granulation sequencing batch reactor anoxic sludge scanning electron microscope filamentous bacteria

Corresponding Author(s): Binbin WANG

Online First Date: 25 July 2014 Issue Date: 01 February 2016

Cite this article:

Dangcong PENG,Xinyan ZHANG,Xiaochang WANG, et al. Structure and formation of anoxic granular sludge —A string-bag hypothesis[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2016, 10(2): 311-318.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-014-0748-8
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2016/V10/I2/311

Fig.1 The profiles of MLSS, SV30, SVI during the entire experiment

Fig.2 Evolution of granular sludge particle size distribution in the laboratory-scale SBR

Fig.3 Anoxic granular sludge in the reactor on 120 day: (a) digital image of granules; (b) close distance image of granules; (c) microscopic image of granule

Fig.4 Surface morphology of anoxic granular sludge: (a) Flocculent sludge collected from the reactor on day 6, bar= 100 mm; (b) Pseudo-granular sludge collected from the reactor on day 45, bar= 100 µm; (c) Mature granular sludge collected from the reactor on day 92, bar= 100 µm; (d, e, f) Granular sludge collected from the reactor on day 200, bar= 100 µm; (g, h) Filament “net” on the surface of the granules, bar= 5 µm

Fig.5 Internal structure of anoxic granular sludge: (a, b, c, e) Cross section of the granules collected from the reactor on day 200, bar in a, b, e= 100 µm, bar in c= 50 µm; (d, g) Inorganic crystal like material in the center of the granules, bar= 10 µm; (f) Coccus layer with compact bacterial aggregate inside the granules, bar= 1 µm; (h, i) Filamentous structure on the surface of the granules, bar= 5 µm

Fig.6 Scheme of anoxic granular formation process according to the hypothesis

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