Long-term evolution of an activated sludge system under low dissolved oxygen conditions.

This study aims to evaluate the impacts of low dissolved oxygen (DO) levels on activated sludge performance. Two sequencing batch reactors (SBR), each with a working volume of 10 l, were investigated with different DO levels. Compared with high DO conditions (above 2 mg l-1 on average), low DO conditions in the SBR did not result in poor sludge bulking, lower chemical oxygen demand, and ammonium removal efficiency. Moreover, simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND) via nitrite and shortcut nitrification-denitrification were carried out under low DO levels. The average efficiencies of SND and nitrite accumulation ratios (NAR) in reactors A and B were 10.6 and 60.4%, respectively, under high DO levels and 4.1 and 76%, respectively, under low DO levels. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the main types of bacteria in reactor A were spherical and short rod-shaped bacteria, whereas those in reactor B were long rod-shaped bacteria and filamentous bacteria. Thus, the appropriate DO concentration created excellent microbial community structures, which helped the biological systems to perform well under low DO level operating conditions.

Formation of aerobic granular sludge under adverse conditions: Low DO and high ammonia.

In this study, two adverse environments: low dissolved oxygen (DO) and high ammonia concentration, were employed to investigate the morphology, interspecies quorum sensing, extracellular polymers (EPS) characterization and microbial communities in the formation of aerobic granular sludge. Results showed that low DO could promote filamentous bacterial outgrowth. Under high ammonia concentration aerobic granular sludge (AGS) could still be cultivated, although it was looser and lighter than the control group. During the early stage of the AGS cultivation process, AI-2 activity reached a peak value in all three reactors, and ultrasonic pre-treatment was not beneficial to the release of AI-2. During AGS formation, the production of polysaccharide exhibited increases from 12.2 % to 40.3 %, 49.6 %, and 29.3 %. And PS in R2 was the highest as the result of sludge bulking. PS/PN was 1.5~8 in the three reactors. Three-dimensional EEM fuorescence spectroscopy variation indicated the change of protein in EPS, and the highest intensity of Peak T1 was obtained. The location shift of Peak T1 was not obvious, and Peaks A, C, and T2 shifted toward longer wavelengths (red shift) of 5~60 nm, or shorter wavelengths (blue shift) of 10~25 nm on the emission scale and / or excitation scale in all three reactors. This provided spectral information on the chemical structure changes. Bacteria in R3 had the highest species diversity, and all bacteria in b-Proteobacteria were identified as genus Thauera, which suggested that simultaneous nitrification and denitrification occurred in R3. The filamentous bacteria in seed sludge and R2 were species-richer. There was a low abundance of filamentous bacteria in R1 and R3, which contributed to the granule structure stability.