title: Partial nitritation and o-cresol removal with aerobic granular biomass in a continuous airlift reactor.
abstract: Several chemical industries produce wastewaters containing both, ammonium and phenolic compounds. As an alternative to treat this kind of complex industrial wastewaters, this study presents the simultaneous partial nitritation and o-cresol biodegradation in a continuous airlift reactor using aerobic granular biomass. An aerobic granular sludge was developed in the airlift reactor for treating a high-strength ammonium wastewater containing 950 ± 25 mg N-NH4(+) L(-1). Then, the airlift reactor was bioaugmented with a p-nitrophenol-degrading activated sludge and o-cresol was added progressively to the ammonium feed to achieve 100 mg L(-1). The results showed that stable partial nitritation and full biodegradation of o-cresol were simultaneously maintained obtaining a suitable effluent for a subsequent anammox reactor. Moreover, two o-cresol shock-load events with concentrations of 300 and 1000 mg L(-1) were applied to assess the capabilities of the system. Despite these shock load events, the partial nitritation process was kept stable and o-cresol was totally biodegraded. Fluorescence in situ hybridization technique was used to identify the heterotrophic bacteria related to o-cresol biodegradation and the ammonia oxidising bacteria along the granules.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Zulkifly
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jemaat
authors.forename: María Eugenia
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Suárez-Ojeda
authors.forename: Julio
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pérez
authors.forename: Julián
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Carrera
mesh_terms: D000332:Aerobiosis; D018533:Biomass; D019149:Bioreactors; D003408:Cresols / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence
chemical_list: D003408:Cresols; C034047:2-cresol
keywords: Aerobic granules; Industrial wastewater; Nitritation; Phenolic compounds