Abstract
The formation of granules grown on glucose in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor was investigated. Total granular sludge concentration retained in the UASB reactor was 34.5 g MLSS/ l (30.0 g MLVSS/ l) during 240 d operation on glucose minimum medium with the supplementation of 1.07 g NaHCO 3 per 1 g glucose. This realized a high-rate methanogenic fermentation of glucose of 17.6 g COD/ l-reactor-d at 3.4 d −1 of space velocity. The granules formed were relatively small, ranging mainly from 0.4 to 0.5 mm, had a relatively low cell density of 0.0542–0.0560 g MLVSS/ml, and had low specific gravity (0.97–1.19) due to very low ash content (11–13%). Electron microscopic analysis showed that Methanothrix spp. appeared dominant over the granules. The specific metabolic activities of bacterial trophic groups were the highest for H 2 followed by glucose, acetate, and propionate.
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