Formation, application, and storage-reactivation of aerobic granular sludge: A review

It was an important discovery in wastewater treatment that the microorganisms in the traditional activated sludge can form aerobic granular sludge (AGS) by self-aggregation under appropriate water quality and operation conditions. With a typical three-dimensional spherical structure, AGS has high sludge-water separation efficiency, great treatment capacity, and strong tolerance to toxic and harmful substances, so it has been considered to be one of the most promising wastewater treatment technologies. This paper comprehensively reviewed AGS from multiple perspectives over the past two decades, including the culture conditions, granulation mechanisms, metabolic and structural stability, storage, and its diverse applications. Some important issues, such as the reproducibility of culture conditions and the structural and functional stability during application and storage, were also summarized, and the research prospects were put forward. The aggregation behavior of microorganisms in AGS was explained from the perspectives of physiology and ecology of complex populations. The storage of AGS is considered to have large commercial potential value with the increase of large-scale applications. The purpose of this paper is to provide a reference for the systematic and in-depth study on the sludge aerobic granulation process.