Effects of Wash-Out Dynamics on Nitrifying Bacteria in Aerobic Granular Sludge During Start-Up at Gradually Decreased Settling Time

The aerobic granular sludge process is a promising technology for the removal of nutrients and organic contaminants from wastewater. However, a large amount of the sludge is often washed out during the start-up of granular reactors, which results in reduced process performance and a protracted start-up phase. In this study, the possibility of a rapid start-up of the nitrification process through a stepwise decrease of the settling time was investigated, and the bacterial population dynamics in two lab-scale sequencing batch reactors were studied. The results demonstrated that the stepwise decrease of the settling time enabled fast granulation and rapid start-up of the process. Small cores of granules were already observed after 10 days of operation, and the biomass was dominated by granules after 28 days. The removal of organic matter and ammonium was >95% after one day and 14 days, respectively. The bacterial community composition changed rapidly during the first 21 days, resulting in strongly reduced richness and evenness. The diversity increased at a later stage, and the bacterial community continued changing, albeit at a slower pace. The rate of the stepwise decrease in settling time strongly affected the abundance of nitrifying organisms, but not the general composition of the bacterial community. The results of this study support the idea that a stepwise decrease of the settling time is a successful strategy for the rapid start-up of aerobic granular sludge reactors.