Aerobic granulation of protein-rich granules from nitrogen-lean wastewaters

Proteins (PN)-rich granules are stable in structure in long-term reactor operations. This study proposed to cultivate PN-rich granules with PN/polysaccharides (PS) >20 from nitrogen lean wastewater, with ammonia-nitrogen as sole nitrogen source at chemical oxygen demand (COD)/N of 153.8. The yielded granules can sustain their structural stability in sequencing batch reactor mode for sufficient treatment of wastewaters up to 7000 mg/L COD and with COD/N < 500 and in continuous-flow reactor for successful 216-d treatment of wastewaters up to organic loading rate (OLR) of 39 kg/m3-d. The produced granules were enriched with Firmicutes and β-proteobacteria as dominating strains. More than 58% of the nitrogen fed in the nitrogen-lean wastewater is converted to the PN in the granules. The replacement of ammonia by nitrate as sole nitrogen source led to granules enriched with γ-proteobacteria which are easily deteriorated at low OLR.