Development of flocs and granules labelling method with fluorescence microbeads to understand aerobic granule formation for activated sludge wastewater treatment

Verawaty, Marieska (2010) Development of flocs and granules labelling method with fluorescence microbeads to understand aerobic granule formation for activated sludge wastewater treatment. In: ISME, August 22-27, 2010, Seattle, USA, The 13th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME13).

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Abstract

Aerobic granular sludge is an emerging technology for wastewater treatment. Aerobic granules form larger biofilm aggregates than conventional sludge floccular biofilms, settle much faster than flocs, and can maintain higher biomass levels. Thus, there are potential operational and cost saving advantages using aerobic granules. However, long start-up periods are required for the development of aerobic granules from a floccular-based system, and loss of biomass and can occur. In a recent study using an innovative seeding strategy, addition of crushed granules to a floccular sludge significantly reduced the start up period (Pijuan, submitted). However, currently there is poor understanding of how granules form and such conceptual information is important for improving start-up strategies. This study aims to determine mechanisms of granule formation and understand the accelerated process. A novel methodology was used to follow the granule formation. Granular and floccular biofilms were labelled with differently coloured fluorescent microbeads (4 µm diam); these were then added to a laboratory scale wastewater treatment reactor. Confocal laser scanning microscopy, incorporating image analysis using the daime program, was used to monitor the granule formation period. Labelled biofilms were successfully detected in samples from the activated sludge reactor over the 80-day period. In the early stage (first 20 days) there was evidence that flocs were attaching to the surface of the granules, and further analysis indicated this attachment was permanent. The results imply that the granules act as nuclei for floccular particle attachment, which accelerates the granule formation. This provides important supporting evidence for this innovative strategy and for the full-scale application of this technology. Additionally, our novel use of fluorescent microbeads to monitor biofilms for an extended period in a reactor, provides foundation methodology for studies of biofilm dynamics.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Poster)
Subjects:	#3 Repository of Lecturer Academic Credit Systems (TPAK) > Corresponding Author
Divisions:	08-Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science > 46201-Biology (S1)
Depositing User:	Dr. Marieska Verawaty
Date Deposited:	13 Apr 2023 06:41
Last Modified:	13 Apr 2023 06:41
URI:	http://repository.unsri.ac.id/id/eprint/96251

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