[Properties of anaerobic granules developed by bioflocculant].

ABSTRACT

Three identical UASB reactors (labeled R1, R2, R3) were applied to treat synthetic wastewater of COD concentration 5 500-6 500 mg x L(-1). Under the same process conditions, R1 was operated with addition of 7.5 g CaCl2 and 400 mL bioflocculant MBF21 weekly, R2 was operated with addition of 140 mg cationic PAM weekly, R3 was operated without any addition of flocculants served as control. The objectives of this study were to investigate the effect of bioflocculant MBF21 on development of anaerobic granules and compare it to cationic PAM. The results showed that after 67 days of operation, anaerobic granules developed in these three UASB reactors. The average diameters of granules in R1, R2 and R3 were 1.18, 1.21 and 0.76 mm, respectively, the granulation rates in R1, R2, R3 were 15.37, 15.82 and 9.10 microm x d(-1), respectively, the values of SMA (COD-CH4/VSS x t) of granules were 0.740, 0.657 and 0.558 g x (g x d)(-1), respectively, the VSS/SS of granules were 0.667, 0.629 and 0.607, respectively, the SVI of granules were 14.7, 13.1 and 20.4 mL x g(-1), respectively, the densities of granules were 1.061, 1.064 and 1.054 g x cm(-3), respectively, the integrity coefficients of granules were 92.1, 93.5 and 84.7, respectively. From the photos of SEM, granules developed in R1 and R2 were tighter than those in R3. In the formation of mature granules, all the three reactors showed similar laws, i.e. filamentous microorganisms were predominant on the surface of the seed sludge while bacillus and cocci bacteria were predominant on the surface of the mature granules. This study demonstrated that in the development of anaerobic granules, the effect of bioflocculant MBF21 on enhancement the physical properties of granules was similar to cationic PAM, but the effect of bioflocculant MBF21 on improvement of biochemical and physiological properties of granules was better than cationic PAM.