Abstract
The investigation of rapid and stable granule formation seeded with the refinery sludge with two different substrates (phenol and sodium acetate) was carried out in two different sequencing batch reactors (SBRs); R1 and R2. R1 and R2 were operated with phenol; a recalcitrant contaminant, and sodium acetate as a substrate, respectively. Faster granule formation was observed in R1. Mature granules were formed in R1 after 40 days of reactor operation, whereas, in R2, granules took a longer time to develop (50 days). Better granular characteristics were observed in R1 with larger granule size (1123.60 ± 113.55 μm), higher biomass concentration (volatile suspended solids of 3.65 ± 0.09 g L−1), higher extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) (77.26 ± 1.13 mg gVSS−1), higher granule settling velocity and lower sludge volume index (38.02 ± 1.58 m h−1 and 36.42 ± 1.85 mL gTSS−1, respectively). 94% chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal was noticed in R1 as compared to 91% in R2. Nearly complete removal of phenol was obtained in R1. Ammonia nitrogen was almost completely transformed in both of the SBRs. Therefore, this study provides an experimental explanation for faster and better granulation for the treatment of recalcitrant compounds by selecting such an inoculum to which the recalcitrant substrate is previously exposed.
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