Powdered keramsite as unconventional method of AGS technology support in GSBR reactor with minimum-optimum OLR

Abstract

Abstract. Aerobic Granular Sludge (AGS) technology becomes a very competitive method to activated sludge system. Its main advantages include: high energy efficiency and low investment costs. Despite this fact, intensive research on biogranulation optimization are still carried out, both at laboratory and technical scale. In order to intensify the AGS technology, new methods of biogranulation and ways of improving the stability of aerobic granules are sought. So far, several studies have been conducted in this area, with using among others: chemical coagulants, dosage fragments of granules and powdered materials. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of powdered keramsite on the feasibility of rapid aerobic granulation in a GSBR reactor with a minimum-optimum organic loading rate (OLR). The research presents an effective way of cultivating stable aerobic granules in a Granular Sequencing Batch Reactor (GSBR) under specific technological parameters.

The Impact of Different Powdered Mineral Materials on Selected Properties of Aerobic Granular Sludge

“…Recently, research has been conducted to intensify the process of aerobic biogranulation and enhance the efficiency of AGS technology. One of the new research directions in this area is the application of powdered material with a particle size of less than 300 µm at the start-up stage of a granular sequencing batch reactor [20]. The literature review shows that organic and mineral powdered substances have been used for this purpose.…”

“…A number of materials from the first group were used, including powdered activated carbon (PAC) [21,22], dry sewage sludge micropowder [23], granular activated carbon (GAC) [24][25][26][27], and biochar [28]. The mineral materials used to date were zeolite [29], bivalve shell carrier [30,31], yellow earth [32], ceramsite [8,20] and basalt [17]. According the literature [20,23,27,31,32], adding such materials to a reactor results in an improvement of the sedimentation properties of the obtained aerobic granules, as well as allowing the acceleration of microorganism aggregation and the formation of mature granules in a short time.…”

“…The mineral materials used to date were zeolite [29], bivalve shell carrier [30,31], yellow earth [32], ceramsite [8,20] and basalt [17]. According the literature [20,23,27,31,32], adding such materials to a reactor results in an improvement of the sedimentation properties of the obtained aerobic granules, as well as allowing the acceleration of microorganism aggregation and the formation of mature granules in a short time. The detailed characteristics of the materials used to date in AGS technology and comparison of the granule properties in the systems with and without powdered substance were presented in the article Czarnota et al [20].…”

“…According the literature [20,23,27,31,32], adding such materials to a reactor results in an improvement of the sedimentation properties of the obtained aerobic granules, as well as allowing the acceleration of microorganism aggregation and the formation of mature granules in a short time. The detailed characteristics of the materials used to date in AGS technology and comparison of the granule properties in the systems with and without powdered substance were presented in the article Czarnota et al [20]. The studies carried out to date have shown that especially organic powdered materials were an excellent biomass microcarrier, which determines the acceleration of the biogranulation process [21,23,25,27].…”

“…The studies carried out to date have shown that especially organic powdered materials were an excellent biomass microcarrier, which determines the acceleration of the biogranulation process [21,23,25,27]. In turn, both groups of powdered materials represent a ballast of sludge flocs, especially in the few initial cycles after start-up of a reactor, which prevents the excessive washing-up of biomass from the reactor and, as a result, allows obtaining aerobic granules [20,23,24,29,31]. Thanh et al [30] stated that powdered materials, applied in AGS technology, should: be heavy enough, have a spherical shape, sediment quickly, be steadily suspended with biomass, and have a large specific surface area.…”