[Start-up and operation characteristics of aerobic granular short-cut nitrification process]

In a lab-scale aerated upflow sludge bed (AUSB) reactor inoculated with the mixture of anaerobic granular sludge and aerobic sludge, using synthetic ammonia-rich wastewater as influent, aerobic short-cut nitrification granules were cultivated. After that, the short-cut nitrification reactor could be operated stably with very high efficiency under mesophilic condition (30 approximately 35 degrees C), and the influent loading rate (NH4(+) -N) could reach 2.5 approximately 3.0 kg/(m3 x d). The ammonia removal efficiency and the short-cut nitrification ratio (NO2(-)/NOx(-)) were above 90% respectively. Some organic COD (about 100 mg/L) existed in the influent had no obvious effects on the operation of the short-cut nitrification process. The short-cut nitrification reactor could also be operated stably with very high efficiency under ambient temperature (about 20 degrees C).