Lee Eunyoung, Min Kyung Jin, Lee Ah Hyun, Park Ki Young
Department of Civil, Environmental and Plant Engineering, Konkuk University, 120 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 05029, South Korea.
Department of Tech Center for Research Facilities, Konkuk University, 120 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 05029, South Korea.
Heliyon. 2024 Aug 31;10(17):e37216. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e37216. eCollection 2024 Sep 15.
Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) represents an aggregate of sludge formed through the self-immobilization of microorganisms under aerobic conditions. It is currently under scrutiny for its potential as a technology to reduce carbon emissions and promote sustainability. The practicality of AGS stems from its ability to encourage granule formation and enhance structural stability. In this study, a total of five cations (K, Ca, Mg, Al, Fe) were introduced to facilitate stable structuring and the formation of granules for treating high-strength wastewater, such as side-stream treatment. As a result of the experiment, the loosely bound extracellular polymeric substances (LB-EPS) content in the cation-enhanced sludge witnessed a significant increase, leading to elevated total EPS content under all experimental conditions. Furthermore, the protein (PN)/polysaccharide (PS) ratio, a pivotal component of EPS influencing AGS's hydrophobicity and structural stability, exhibited a collective increase, with Mg reaching the highest value of 1.7. The relationship between relative hydrophobicity and the PN/PS ratio was found to strongly impact sludge adhesion, with noteworthy results observed particularly for Mg, Al, and Fe. The viability of attached cells reached 96.8 %, the highest recorded in the case of Mg. In the context of treating high-strength wastewater, Mg emerged as the optimal cation for accelerating AGS formation and enhancing structural stability.
好氧颗粒污泥（AGS）是指微生物在好氧条件下通过自我固定化形成的污泥聚集体。目前，它作为一种减少碳排放和促进可持续发展的技术而受到关注。AGS的实用性源于其促进颗粒形成和增强结构稳定性的能力。在本研究中，总共引入了五种阳离子（钾、钙、镁、铝、铁），以促进稳定结构的形成和颗粒的生成，用于处理高强度废水，如侧流处理。实验结果表明，阳离子强化污泥中松散结合的胞外聚合物（LB-EPS）含量显著增加，导致在所有实验条件下总EPS含量升高。此外，作为影响AGS疏水性和结构稳定性的EPS关键成分的蛋白质（PN）/多糖（PS）比值总体上升，镁达到最高值1.7。发现相对疏水性与PN/PS比值之间的关系对污泥附着力有强烈影响，特别是对于镁、铝和铁，观察到了显著结果。附着细胞的活力达到96.8%，在镁的情况下记录到的最高值。在处理高强度废水的背景下，镁成为加速AGS形成和增强结构稳定性的最佳阳离子。
