Study on aerobic granular sludge formation in sequencing batch reactors for tapioca wastewater treatment

Abstract

Aerobic granular sludge has attracted extensive interest of researchers since the 90s due to the advantages of aerobic granules such as good settling ability, high biomass accumulation, being resistant to high loads and being less affected by toxic substances. Studies, however, which have mainly been carried out on synthetic wastewater, cannot fully evaluate the actual ability of aerobic granules. Study on aerobic granular sludge was performed in sequencing batch reactors, using seeding sludge taken  from anaerobic sludge  and  tapioca wastewater  as a substrates. After 11 weeks of operation, the granules reached the stable diameter of 2- 3 mm at 3.7 kgCOD/m³.day organic loading rate. At high organic loads, in range of 1.6 - 5 kgCOD/m³.day, granules could treat effectively COD, N, P with performance of  93 – 97%; 65 – 79% and 80 – 95%, respectively.