Development of microalgae-bacteria aerobic granular sludge for landfill leachate treatment

Abstract

Over the past few decades, aerobic granular sludge has become favorable biotechnology in wastewater treatment. Combining the AGS process with microalgae technology is desired to achieve higher treatment efficiency, especially for high-strength wastewater. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of microalgae-bacteria AGS in treating landfill leachate. The photo-sequencing batch reactor, inoculated with Acutodesmus obliquus, was fed with old synthetic leachate, and run for 30days. The result showed that chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal up to 96%. The initial ammonia concentration was 130mg/L and achieved an efficiency of up to 80.77%. At the same time, the average removal of the phosphorus was 19.5mg/L, equal to 48.68%. The result of microalgae-bacteria AGS can produce the fast-settling properties of the granules throughout the experiment.