Heterogeneity of the diverse aerobic sludge granules self-cultivated in a membrane bioreactor with enhanced internal circulation

The present work revealed the heterogeneity of the sludge granules formed in a membrane bioreactor with enhanced internal circulation, and also contributed to better understanding of their forming mechanisms. By continuously carrying out an experiment lasting for more than 3 months with the floc sludge from a local municipal wastewater treatment plant as inoculation sludge, diverse aerobic sludge granules were found to be successfully self-cultivated within the reactor. The results of scanning electron microscopy, fluorescence microscope and high-throughput sequencing measurement indicated that the obtained diverse granules exhibited quite obvious heterogeneity in their basic physico-chemical and microbial properties, and filamentous bacteria actually acted as a main skeleton to keep the self-cultivated sludge granules stable in both their structure and morphology. Furthermore, stable and high COD and TN removal achieved, over 85% and 60%, respectively, which confirmed its usefulness in wastewater treatment.