Low-Strength Wastewater Treatment with Combined Granular Anaerobic and Suspended Aerobic Cultures in Upflow Sludge Blanket Reactors
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 4
Abstract
Combined cultures were developed from anaerobic granular and suspended aerobic cultures in three upflow sludge blanket reactors aerated at air/min (R2), every other day (R3), and (R4). The use of combined cultures was found to be advantageous compared to the anaerobic granules for the treatment of low-strength wastewaters. During municipal wastewater treatment at influent biochemical oxygen demand concentration of (hydraulic retention time: ), combined cultures in R2, R3, and R4 exhibited average removal efficiencies of 52, 75, and 76%, respectively. The use of these cultures might be proposed as an alternative for municipal wastewater treatment due to their advantages such as achievement of required discharge standards, prevention of biomass loss/settleability problems unlike activated sludge systems and possible methanogenic activity, as well as high settling characteristics comparable to those of anaerobic granules.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers would like to thank Dr. Daniel H. Zitomer of Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wis., for his valuable contributions to this work.
References
American Public Health Association (APHA). (1998). Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 3rd Ed., APHA, AWWA, and WEF, Washington, D.C.
Anderson, G. K., and Yang, G. (1992). “Determination of bicarbonate and total volatile acid concentration in anaerobic digesters using a simple titration.” Water Environ. Res., 64(1), 53–64.
Beunink, J., and Rehm, H. J. (1988). “Synchronous anaerobic and aerobic degradation of DDT by an immobilized culture system.” Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 29(1), 72–80.
Beunink, J., and Rehm, H. J. (1990). “Coupled reductive and oxidative degradation of 4-chloro-2-nitrophenol by a co-immobilized mixed culture system.” Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 34(1), 108–115.
Boopathy, R., Manning, J., and Kulpa, C. F. (1998). “A laboratory study of the bioremediation of, 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene-contaminated soil using aerobic/anoxic soil slurry reactor.” Water Environ. Res., 70(1), 80–86.
Bossier, P., and Verstraete, W. (1996). “Triggers for microbial aggregation in activated sludge?” Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 45(1–2), 1–6.
Demirer, G. N., and Speece, R. E. (1998). “Toxicity of acrylic acid to acetate-enriched methanosarcina cultures.” J. Environ. Eng., 124(4), 345–352.
Erguder, T. H., and Demirer, G. N. (2005). “Investigation of granulation of a mixture of suspended anaerobic and aerobic cultures under alternating anaerobic/microaerobic/aerobic conditions.” Proc. Biochem., 40(12), 3732–3741.
Etterer, T., and Wilderer, P. A. (2001). “Generation and properties of aerobic granular sludge.” Water Sci. Technol., 43(3), 19–26.
Europian Union (EU). (1991). Council directive 91/271/EEC concerning urban wastewater treatment, Brussels, Belgium.
Federal Register. (1984). 40(No. 7-1-03; Sept. 20), Part 133 133.102.
Ferguson, L. N. (1999). “Anaerobic codigestion of aircraft deicing fluid and microaerobic studies.” MS thesis, Marquette Univ., Milwaukee.
Gardin, H., Lebeault, J. M., and Pauss, A. (2001). “Degradation of, 2,4,6-tricholorophenol (2,4,6-TCP) by co-immobilization of anaerobic and aerobic microbial communities in an upflow reactor under air-limited conditions.” Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 56(3–4), 524–530.
Gerritse, J., and Gottschal, J. C. (1992). “Mineralization of the herbicide, 2,3,6-trichlorobenzoic acid by a co-culture of anaerobic and aerobic bacteria.” FEMS Microbiol. Ecol., 101(2), 89–98.
Gerritse, J., Schut, F., and Gottschal, J. C. (1990). “Mixed chemostat cultures of obligately aerobic and fermentative or methanogenic bacteria grown under oxygen-limited conditions.” FEMS Microbiol. Lett., 66(1–3), 87–93.
Hach water analysis handbook. (1989). Hach Company, Loveland, Colo.
Hu, L., Wang, J., and Weng, X. (2005). “The formation and characteristics of aerobic granules in sequencing batch reactor (SBR) by seeding anaerobic granules.” Proc. Biochem., 40(1), 5–11.
Hutchins, S. R., Moolenar, S. W., and Rhodes, D. E. (1992). “Column studies on BTEX biodegradation under microaerophilic and denitrifying conditions.” J. Hazard. Mater., 32(2–3), 195–214.
Kurosawa, H., and Tanaka, H. (1990). “Advances in immobilized cell culture: Development of co-immobilised mixed culture system of aerobic and anaerobic microorganism.” Proc. Biochem., 25(6), 189–196.
Lens, P. N., Depoorter, M. P. D., Cronenberg, C. C., and Verstraete, W. H. (1995). “Sulfate reducing and methane producing bacteria in aerobic wastewater treatment systems.” Water Res., 29(3), 871–880.
Lettinga, G., and Hulshoff Pol, L. W. (1991). “UASB-process design for various types of wastewaters.” Water Sci. Technol., 24(8), 87–107.
Liu, Y., and Tay, J. H. (2004). “State of art of biogranulation technology for wastewater treatment.” Biotechnol. Adv., 22(7), 533–563.
Liu, Y., Yang, S. F., Liu, Q. S., and Tay, J. H. (2003). “The role of cell hydrophobicity in the formation of aerobic granules.” Curr. Microbiol., 46(4), 270–274.
Mergaert, K., Vanderhaegen, B., and Verstraete, W. (1992). “Applicability and trends of anaerobic pre-treatment of municipal wastewater.” Water Res., 26(8), 1025–1033.
Meyerhoff, J., John, G., Bellgardt, K.-H., and Schuert, K. (1997). “Characterization and modelling of coimmobilized aerobic/anaerobic mixed cultures.” Chem. Eng. Sci., 52(14), 2313–2329.
Ndon, U. J., and Dague, R. R. (1994). “Low temperature treatment of dilute wastewaters using the anaerobic sequencing batch reactor.” Proc., 49th Purdue Industrial Waste Conf., Lewis, Boca Raton, Fla., 563–580.
Noyola, A., and Moreno, G. (1994). “Granule production from raw waste activated sludge.” Water Sci. Technol., 30(12), 339–346.
Rittmann, B. E., and McCarty, P. L. (2001). Environmental biotechnology: Principles and applications, McGraw-Hill, Singapore.
Schmidt, J. E., and Ahring, B. K. (1996). “Granular sludge formation in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors.” Biotechnol. Bioeng., 49(3), 229–246.
Shen, C. F., and Guiot, S. R. (1996). “Long-term impact of dissolved on the activity of anaerobic granules.” Biotechnol. Bioeng., 49(6), 611–620.
Speece, R. E. (1996). Anaerobic biotechnology for industrial wastewater, Archae Press, Nashville, Tenn.
Tay, J. H., Liu, Q. S., and Liu, Y. (2001). “Microscopic observation of aerobic granulation in sequential aerobic sludge blanket reactor.” J. Appl. Microbiol., 91(1), 168–175.
Tay, J. H., Pan, S., He, Y., and Tay, S. T. L. (2004). “Effect of organic loading rate on aerobic granulation. I: Reactor performance.” J. Environ. Eng., 130(10), 1094–1101.
Tchobanoglous, G., and Burton, F. L. (1991). Wastewater engineering: Treatment, disposal and reuse, 3rd Ed., Metcalf and Eddy, Inc., Singapore.
Water pollution control regulations (Su Kirliliği Kontrolü Yönetmeliği). (1998). Official Gazette, No. 19919, Sept. 4, 1988, Türkiye, 13–73.
Yerushalmi, L., Lascourreges, J., and Guiot, S. R. (2002). “Kinetics of benzene biotransformation under microaerophilic and oxygen-limited conditions.” Biotechnol. Bioeng., 79(3), 347–355.
Yerushalmi, L., Lascourreges, J. F., Rhofir, C., and Guito, S. R. (2001). “Detection of intermediate metabolites of benzene biodegradation under microaerophilic conditions.” Biodegradation, 12(6), 379–391.
Yerushalmi, L., Manuel, M. F., and Guiot, S. R. (1999). “Biodegradation of gasoline and BTEX in a microaerophilic biobarrier.” Biodegradation, 10(5), 341–352.
Zitomer, D. H. (1998). “Stoichiometry of combined aerobic and anaerobic methanogenic COD transformation.” Water Res., 32(3), 669–676.
Zitomer, D. H., and Shrout, J. D. (1998). “Feasibility and benefits of methanogenesis under oxygen-limited conditions.” Waste Manage., 18(2), 107–116.
Zitomer, D. H., and Shrout, J. D. (2000). “High-sulfate and high-chemical oxygen demand wastewater treatment using aerated methanogenic fluidized beds.” Water Environ. Res., 72(1), 90–97.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 4 • April 2008
Pages: 295 - 303
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Jan 17, 2007
Accepted: Sep 24, 2007
Published online: Apr 1, 2008
Published in print: Apr 2008
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.