Aerobic granular biomass: an efficient biosolid-liquid separation process

(eng) The current leading technology to treat important volumes of wastewater is the activated sludge process, where the dissolved pollution is degraded by free floating microbial consortia called flocs. The major drawback of these loose aggregates is their low settling velocity, which imposes large clarifiers to separate them from treated water. An emerging technology aims to improve this process by selecting consortia that form aerobic granules. As dense aggregates, they settle significantly faster than flocs, which may reduce both capital and operational cost of treatment plants. This research aims to develop efficient batch reactors that can promote the formation of granules that display good settling properties from different wastewater sources. The performances of the reactors are recorded and the dynamics of microbial communities are assessed. The expected outcomes of the project are both fundamental and applied, as it will give a better understanding of aerobic granulation.