Performance and microbial diversity of an expanded granular sludge bed reactor for high sulfate and nitrate waste brine treatment

The disposal of waste brines has become a major challenge that hinders the wide application of ion- exchange resins in the water industry in recent decades. In this study, high sulfate removal efficiency （80%-90%） was achieved at the influent sulfate concentration of 3600 mg/L and 3% NaC1 after 145 days in an expanded granular sludge bed （EGSB） reactor. Furthermore, the feasibility of treating synthetic waste brine containing high levels of sulfate and nitrate was investigated in a single EGSB reactor during an operation period of 261 days. The highest nitrate and sulfate loading rate reached 6.38 and 5.78 kg/（m3-day） at SO42--S/NO3-N mass ratio of 4/3, and the corresponding removal efficiency was 99.97% and 82.26% at 3% NaC1, respectively. Meanwhile, 454-pyrosequencing technology was used to analyze the bacterial diversity of the sludge on the 240th day for stable operation of phase X. Results showed that a total of 9194 sequences were obtained, which could be affiliated to 14 phyla, including Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Chlorobi, Bacteroidetes, Synergistetes and so on. Proteobacteria （77.66%） was the dominant microbial population, followed by Firmicutes （12.23%） and Chlorobi （2.71%）.

Quick start-up of EGSB reactor treating fresh leachate of municipal solid waste

An expanded granular sludge bed （EGSB） reactor inoculated with anaerobic granular sludge was started up with its COD removal performance, self-balancing of pH, biogas production rate and characteristics of the granular sludge during the start-up period being investigated. The results indicated that the EGSB reactor can be started up successfully in 27 d by increasing the organic loading rate rapidly. The removal efficiency of COD was maintained above 93% with influent COD concentration of 25 000 mg/L and OLR of 37.94 kgCOD/（m 3 ·d）. The EGSB reactor with good pH self-balancing could be fed with fresh leachate of low pH value （4 5）. The biogas production rate was closely related with OLR and COD reduction. Every gram of COD fed （consumed） to the reactor produced 0.34 L STP （0.36 L STP ） biogas with 0.21 L STP （0.23 L STP ） methane. Thus, 65% 70% of the produced biogas was methane. Sixty one percentage of COD fed to the reactor was converted to methane, another 33% was converted to biomass by metabolism, and the other 6% was left in the liquid phase. The specific methanogenic activity （SMA） of the granular sludge had increased by 92% after 27 d dynamic incubation. The granular sludge in the reactor had good settlement performance with majority diameter of 1 2 mm.

Optimizing Conditions of Enhancing Granule Sludge Concentration and Performance

An expanded granular sludge bed （EGSB） reactor was adopted to study the influence factors and rule of enhancing granular sludge concentration and performance. The experiment was performed at 33 ℃, pH 6.0-8.0 with continuous flow by adding proper quantity of nutritional trace elements. The results show that SLR was the key of steady operation of EGSB reactor. The increment of the granular sludge was influenced by volume loading rate （VLR）, liquid up-flow velocity and sludge loading rate （SLR）. Concentration of granular sludge increased rapidly when liquid up-flow velocity was over 0.94 m · h^-1 with SLR being at 1.0-2.0 d ^-1. With the propriety parameters： liquid up-flow velocity 2.52 m · h^-1, SLR 1.0-2.2 d^-1 and VLR 8.2-13.1 kg · m ^3 · d^-1, 23 days＇ continuous operation resulted in an increment by over 80% of granular sludge concentration in the EGSB reactor, plus good granular sludge property.

Effect of Dissolved Oxygen on Operation of EGSB

An expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor was adopted to study the dissolved oxygen (DO) effect on the operation. With the chemical oxygen demand (COD) 800-1 800 mg/L, pH 6.0-7.3, volume loading rate (VLR) 5.4-11.5 kg COD/(m3·d), the operational behaviors of EGSB reactor was researched. And the max DO concentration which influenced steady operation of EGSB reactor was determined by contrasting the changes due to different concentrations of the influent DO. With the COD 1 200-2 000 mg/L, VLR 7.2-12.0 kg COD/(m3·d), the operational characteristic of EGSB reactor was researched by aerating the recycle effluent. The results was: when the DO concentration of influent was under 3.0 mg/L, the removal efficiency of COD was 82%-90% and the operation of the EGSB reactor was steady; when the DO concentration of influent was over 3.0 mg/L, the oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) fluctuated greatly and the operation of the EGSB reactor was instable; the acidified wastewater of saccharide whose pH value was 5.1-6.5 could be treated by aerating the recycle effluent and the efficiency of COD was up to 85%-92%.