Aerobic granules in municipal waste water treatment

Granular sludge consists of spherically aggregated biomass without an artificial carrier with a diameter between 0.2 mm up to several mm. They are considered one of the most important technologies for future waste water treatment, because they offer advantages over “classical” suspended activated sludge. Besides its unique ability for simultaneous C, N and P removal in a single sequencing batch reactor (SBR) with high bimass concentration, a key advantage of aerobic granule systems is a significantly reduced settling time compared to activated sludge systems.

The focus of the aerobic granular sludge research at the Chair for Water Chemistry and Water Technology is on the interaction of waste water particles with the aerobic granules.

• Impact of waste water particles on the granulation and substrate degradation in the aerobic granular sludge process
• Influence of granulation grade on total suspended solids (TSS) in an aerobic granular sludge system fed with waste water particles
• Examination of single aerobic granules with microsensors (O2, pH, ORP) in a flow channel to mimic reactor conditions