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Extraction of Structural Extracellular Polymeric Substances from Aerobic Granular Sludge
Published on: September 26, 2016
Performance and microbial community structure of a polar Arctic Circle aerobic granular sludge system operating at
Alejandro Gonzalez-Martinez1, Barbara Muñoz-Palazon2, Paula Maza-Márquez2
1Department of Built Environment, School of Engineering, Aalto University, P.O. Box 15200, Aalto, FI-00076 Espoo, Finland.
Abstract:
The aim of this work was to study the performance and microbial community structure of a polar Arctic Circle aerobic granular sludge (AGS) system operating at low temperature. Thus, an AGS bioreactor was operated at 7, 5 and 3 °C of temperature using a cold-adapted sludge from Lapland. At 5 °C, it yielded acceptable conversion rates, in terms of nitrogen, phosphorous, and organic matter. However, under 3 °C a negligible nitrogen and phosphorous removal performance was observed. Below 5 °C, scanning electron microscopy studies showed a wispy, non-dense and irregular granular structure with a strong outgrowth of filamentous. Moreover, Illumina next-generation sequencing showed a heterogeneous microbial population where SM1K20 (Archaea), Trichosporon domesticum (Fungus), and Zooglea, Arcobacter and Acinetobacter (Bacteria) were the dominant phylotypes. Our study suggests that AGS technologies inoculated with North Pole sludge could be operated, in cold regions for a period longer than 3 months (winter season) under 5 °C of water temperature.
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