Strategies of anaerobic sludge granulation in an EGSB reactor.

Anaerobic sludge granulation was evaluated in an expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor based on the increases in the specific organic loading rate (SOLR). The effect of precursor substances (calcium chloride, sodium chloride, and tannin) on the development of granular sludge was also investigated in batch reactors. The reactors were fed with synthetic sewage and operated in mesophilic conditions. The EGSB was operated with a variable hydraulic retention time (HRT) and the batch reactors, with cycles of 8 h and 16 h. The increase of SOLR from 17.4 ±â€¯7.4 to 104.6 ±â€¯66.7 mgCOD gVSS-1 d-1 in the EGSB resulted in an increase on the average granules diameter from 344.3 to 1583.3 µm. These conditions also favored the reduction rates of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and volatile fatty acids (VFAs) concentration in the reactor. When the upflow velocity suffered an abrupt increase (from 0.06 L h-1 to 0.25 L h-1), the granules size began to decrease and lose their settleability characteristics. Considering this, it is proposed to start the biomass granulation process without effluent recirculation, and, after the granules reach the desired size and settleability capacity, the normal operation of EGSB reactor starts. The results showed that calcium chloride was more efficient for granulation. CaCl2 addition can be performed only during the reactor's start-up, improving granulation and reducing start-up time. Thus, these results have practical implications as granules maintenance is the key to the proper EGSB operation.

Evaluation of anionic surfactant removal in anaerobic reactor with Fe(III) supplementation.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the removal of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) associated with Fe(III) supplementation using an expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor. The reactor was inoculated with a granular sludge and fed with synthetic wastewater containing a specific LAS load rate (SLLR) of 1.5 mg gVS-1 d-1 (∼16.4 mgLAS L-1 influent) and supplied with 7276 µMol L-1 of Fe(III). The biomasses from the inoculum and at the end of the EGSB-Fe operation (127 days) were characterized using 16S rRNA Ion Tag sequencing. An increase of 20% in the removal efficiency was observed compared to reactors without Fe(III) supplementation that was reported in the literature, and the LAS removal was approximately 84%. The Fe(III) reduction was dissimilatory (the total iron concentration in the influent and effluent were similar) and reached approximately 64%. The higher Fe(III) reduction and LAS removal were corroborated by the enrichment of genera, such as Shewanella (only EGSB-Fe - 0.5%) and Geobacter (1% - inoculum; 18% - EGSB-Fe). Furthermore, the enrichment of genera that degrade LAS and/or aromatic compounds (3.8% - inoculum; 29.6% - EGSB-Fe of relative abundance) was observed for a total of 20 different genera.