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Updated: Jul 23, 2026

Development of Sulfidogenic Sludge from Marine Sediments and Trichloroethylene Reduction in an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor
Published on: October 15, 2015
Features of aerobic granular sludge formation treating fluctuating industrial saline wastewater at pilot scale
P Carrera1, T Casero-Díaz2, C M Castro-Barros2
1CRETUS Institute, Department of Chemical Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, E-15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Abstract:
A pilot-scale sequencing batch reactor, with a working volume of 3 m3, was installed in a fish cannery to develop aerobic granular sludge treating the produced effluents. Depending on the nitrogen (N) and organic matter (COD) concentration, the effluents were named in this study as medium-low-strength (Stage I) and high-strength (Stage II) wastewater. The composition of the wastewater was found to be a crucial factor to select granule-forming organisms. With medium-low-strength wastewater as feeding, the first granules were observed after 30 days, but the extremely high COD/N ratios of the wastewater provoked the overgrowth of filamentous bacteria after 4 months of operation (Stage I). When treating high-strength wastewater, stable aggregates with good settleability appeared, but well-shaped granules were not observed since the granulation process was not completed. The system was able to remove both COD (70-95%) and N (30-90%) treating both types of effluents. Biomass growth was the main N removal pathway. The reactor was found to be robust against factory production stops and, thus, a suitable alternative to treat wastewater from industries with discontinuous operation.
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