Formation of aerobic granular sludge during the treatment of petrochemical wastewater

Michel Caluwé; Thomas Dobbeleers; Jolien D'aes; Solange Miele; Veerle Akkermans; Dominique Daens; Luc Geuens; Filip Kiekens; Ronny Blust; Jan Dries

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2017.04.068

Formation of aerobic granular sludge during the treatment of petrochemical wastewater

Bioresour Technol. 2017 Aug:238:559-567. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.04.068. Epub 2017 Apr 21.

Authors

Michel Caluwé¹, Thomas Dobbeleers², Jolien D'aes³, Solange Miele⁴, Veerle Akkermans⁵, Dominique Daens⁶, Luc Geuens⁷, Filip Kiekens⁸, Ronny Blust⁹, Jan Dries¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Research Group BioGEM, Bio-Chemical Green Engineering & Materials, Faculty of Applied Engineering, University of Antwerp, Salesianenlaan 90, 2660 Antwerp, Belgium; SPHERE, Systemic Physiological and Ecotoxicological Research, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium. Electronic address: michel.caluwe@uantwerpen.be.
² Research Group BioGEM, Bio-Chemical Green Engineering & Materials, Faculty of Applied Engineering, University of Antwerp, Salesianenlaan 90, 2660 Antwerp, Belgium. Electronic address: thomas.dobbeleers@uantwerpen.be.
³ Research Group BioGEM, Bio-Chemical Green Engineering & Materials, Faculty of Applied Engineering, University of Antwerp, Salesianenlaan 90, 2660 Antwerp, Belgium. Electronic address: jolien.daes@uantwerpen.be.
⁴ National University of Quilmes, Basic and Applied Microbiology Institute, Genetic Engineering and Cellular and Molecular Biology, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: sol.miele@gmail.com.
⁵ Research Group BioGEM, Bio-Chemical Green Engineering & Materials, Faculty of Applied Engineering, University of Antwerp, Salesianenlaan 90, 2660 Antwerp, Belgium. Electronic address: veerle.akkermans@uantwerpen.be.
⁶ Research Group BioGEM, Bio-Chemical Green Engineering & Materials, Faculty of Applied Engineering, University of Antwerp, Salesianenlaan 90, 2660 Antwerp, Belgium. Electronic address: dominique.daens@uantwerpen.Be.
⁷ Research Group BioGEM, Bio-Chemical Green Engineering & Materials, Faculty of Applied Engineering, University of Antwerp, Salesianenlaan 90, 2660 Antwerp, Belgium. Electronic address: lgeuens@yahoo.com.
⁸ Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Science, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium. Electronic address: filip.kiekens@uantwerpen.be.
⁹ SPHERE, Systemic Physiological and Ecotoxicological Research, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium. Electronic address: ronny.blust@uantwerpen.be.
¹⁰ Research Group BioGEM, Bio-Chemical Green Engineering & Materials, Faculty of Applied Engineering, University of Antwerp, Salesianenlaan 90, 2660 Antwerp, Belgium. Electronic address: jan.dries2@uantwerpen.be.

PMID: 28477518
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.04.068

Abstract

In this study, petrochemical wastewater from the port of Antwerp was used for the development of aerobic granular sludge. Two different reactor setups were used, (1) a completely aerated sequencing batch reactor (SBR_ae) with a feast/famine regime and (2) a sequencing batch reactor operated with an anaerobic feast/aerobic famine strategy (SBR_an). The seed sludge showed poor settling characteristics with a sludge volume index (SVI) of 285mL.gMLSS^-1 and a median particle size by volume of 86.0µm±1.9µm. In both reactors, granulation was reached after 30days with a SVI of 71mL.gMLSS^-1 and median granule size of 264.7µm in SBR_an and a SVI of 56mL.gMLSS^-1 and median granule size of 307.4µm in SBR_ae. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal was similar in both reactors and above 95%. The anaerobic DOC uptake increased from 0.13% to 43.2% in 60days in SBR_an.

Keywords: GAO; Methanol; Monoethyleneglycol; PAO; PCR; Sequencing batch reactor.

MeSH terms

Aerobiosis
Bioreactors*
Oxygen / chemistry
Sewage*
Waste Disposal, Fluid
Wastewater*

Substances

Sewage
Waste Water
Oxygen