Abstract
Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) system employs granular sludge to treat various wastewaters including landfill leachate. CH$_4$ production of the granules determines overall performance of a UASB reactor. Sludge granules are developed by self-granulation of microorganisms and dynamic balance between granule growth and decay results in coexistence of granules with different sizes in the reactor. In this study, granules taken from a laboratory-scale UASB reactor were classified into 4 groups based on their diameters and their Physicochemical characteristics we were investigated. Each group was analyzed for settling ability, specific methanogenic activity (SMA), and elemental content. Settling ability was proportional to granule diameter. suggesting effective detainment of larger granules in the reactor. When acetate or glucose was used as a substrate, all groups showed relatively slight difference in SMA. However SMA with a volatile fatty acid mixture showed significant increase with granule diameter, suggesting better establishment of syntrophic relationship in larger granules. Larger granules showed higher value of SMA upon environmental changes (i.e., PH, temperature, or toxicant concentration). Comparative analysis of elemental contents showed that content (dry weight %) of most tested elements (iron, calcium, phosphorus, zinc, nickel. and manganese) deceased with granule diameter, suggesting importance of these elements for initial granulation. Taken together, this study verified experimentally that Physicochemical Properties of granules are related to granule size distributions. Overall results of physicochemical characterization supports that larger.
