Aerobic granulation kinetics, stoiquiometrics andmorphological assessment

Abstract

In the present work, aerobic granulation of activated sludge was achieved in a sequencing batch airlift reactor (SBAR) fed with acetate as sole carbon source. Aerobic granulation process was followed by the assessment of the biomass kinetic and stoichiometric parameters through respirometric pulse experiments, and by the assessment of aggregates morphology through quantitative image analysis. This study contributes for a better understanding of the aerobic granulation process, introducing tools for aerobic granular biomass characterisation.