Aerobic sludge granulation at high temperatures for domestic wastewater treatment

Mohd Hakim Ab Halim; Aznah Nor Anuar; Siti Izaidah Azmi; Nur Syahida Abdul Jamal; Norhaliza Abdul Wahab; Zaini Ujang; Amjad Shraim; Mustafa M Bob

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2015.03.024

Aerobic sludge granulation at high temperatures for domestic wastewater treatment

Bioresour Technol. 2015 Jun:185:445-9. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2015.03.024. Epub 2015 Mar 11.

Authors

Mohd Hakim Ab Halim¹, Aznah Nor Anuar², Siti Izaidah Azmi³, Nur Syahida Abdul Jamal³, Norhaliza Abdul Wahab⁴, Zaini Ujang⁵, Amjad Shraim⁶, Mustafa M Bob⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia; Institute of Environment and Water Resource Management, WATER Research Alliance, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. Electronic address: hakim_90@rocketmail.com.
² Institute of Environment and Water Resource Management, WATER Research Alliance, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia; Centre of Engineering Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. Electronic address: aznah@utm.my.
³ Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.
⁴ Department of Control and Mechatronic Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.
⁵ Institute of Environment and Water Resource Management, WATER Research Alliance, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.
⁶ Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Taibah, 30001 Universities Road, Al Madinah Al Monawarah, Saudi Arabia.

PMID: 25851807
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2015.03.024

Abstract

With inoculum sludge from a conventional activated sludge wastewater treatment plant, three sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) fed with synthetic wastewater were operated at different high temperatures (30, 40 and 50±1°C) to study the formation of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) for simultaneous organics and nutrients removal with a complete cycle time of 3h. The AGS were successfully cultivated with influent loading rate of 1.6CODg(Ld)(-1). The COD/N ratio of the influent wastewater was 8. The results revealed that granules developed at 50°C have the highest average diameter, (3.36mm) with 98.17%, 94.45% and 72.46% removal efficiency observed in the system for COD, ammonia and phosphate, respectively. This study also demonstrated the capabilities of AGS formation at high temperatures which is suitable to be applied for hot climate conditions.

Keywords: Aerobic granules; High temperature; SBR; Start-up; Wastewater treatment.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aerobiosis
Ammonia / chemistry
Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis
Bioreactors
Climate
Organic Chemicals / chemistry
Phosphates / chemistry
Saudi Arabia
Sewage / chemistry*
Temperature
Waste Disposal, Fluid*
Wastewater*
Water Pollutants / chemistry*
Water Purification / methods*

Substances

Organic Chemicals
Phosphates
Sewage
Waste Water
Water Pollutants
Ammonia