RESUMO
In order to evaluate the effect of organic loading rate ( OLR) on the formation of aerobic granular sludge (AGS), a lab-scale cylindrical SBR reactor (sodium acetate as carbon source) was constructed and inoculated with collected sewage sludge. The evolution of morphology, microbial activity and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) characteristics of sludge samples in the reactor were recorded and analyzed. The results showed that AGS has the highest growth rate under the condition of 3. 20-4. 84 kg.(m3.d)-1 OLR, and a selective discharging strategy of the floccular sludge was suggested to maintain the predominance of AGS in reactor. The accumulated sludge concentration, SVI30, mean granule size, settling velocity and SOUR value of the AGS in steady-state operated SBR was 23. 9 g.L-1, 20 mL.g-1, 1. 4 mm, 102 m.h-1 and 50. 2 mg.(g.h)-1, respectively. The granulation process not only obviously changed the sludge appearance, but also significantly improved the microbial activity. Meanwhile, linear correlation was observed between the variation of protein/polysaccharide concentration and the granule size of AGS. Thus, variation of protein/ polysaccharide concentration of the EPS could be applied as an indicator for optimization of the cultivation method of AGS.
