Sludge size affects sorption of organic micropollutants in full-scale aerobic granular sludge systems.

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  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Pergamon Press Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 0105072 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1879-2448 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00431354 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Water Res Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Original Publication: Oxford, Pergamon Press.
    • Subject Terms:
      Sewage*/chemistry ; Water Pollutants, Chemical*/chemistry ; Bioreactors*; Adsorption ; Aerobiosis ; Waste Disposal, Fluid/methods ; Particle Size
    • Abstract:
      Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) is gaining popularity as an alternative to activated sludge for wastewater treatment. However, little information is available on AGS regarding the removal of organic micropollutants (OMPs) through sorption. In this study, the sorption behavior of 24 OMPs at environmentally relevant concentrations (1 μg/L) was investigated in six sludge fractions of varying sizes (>4 mm, 2-4 mm, 1-2 mm, 0.6-1 mm, 0.2-0.6 mm, and <0.2 mm) from a full-scale AGS reactor using batch experiments. Sorption was significant (removal efficiency >40 %) for 10 OMPs, including 4 zwitterionic and 6 positively charged pharmaceuticals, indicating the importance of electrostatic interaction for OMP sorption in AGS systems. Larger granules exhibited a higher sorption coefficient and capacity than smaller AGS fractions, probably due to increased extracellular polymeric substance content for larger granules. Equilibrium OMP sorption was only reached after 72 h in granules larger than 2 mm, indicating an effect of longer diffusion distance for OMPs into larger granules. Additionally, compared to activated sludge, AGS demonstrates a similar or even slightly higher sorption capacity for 10 OMPs at 1 μg/L. Overall, this study is the first to investigate the sorption behavior of six AGS size fractions for OMPs at environmentally relevant concentrations (1 μg/L) and propose the possible roles of different-sized sludge in OMP sorption in the full-scale AGS reactor.
      Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: The co-author of this manuscript, Professor Mark C M van Loosdrecht, is the Editor-in-Chief of Water Research. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
      (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: Aerobic granular sludge; Diffusion; Micropollutants; Sorption
    • Accession Number:
      0 (Sewage)
      0 (Water Pollutants, Chemical)
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20241008 Date Completed: 20241127 Latest Revision: 20241127
    • Publication Date:
      20241202
    • Accession Number:
      10.1016/j.watres.2024.122513
    • Accession Number:
      39378732