Elemental distribution of latex-based aerobic granules and its effects on micromorphological properties and settling performance

Abstract

This study focuses on the settling profile and chemical characteristics of latex aerobic granules cultivated from rubber industrial wastewater. Latex-based aerobic granular sludge (AGS) was cultivated using sequencing batch reactor (SBR) in supplemented with synthetic wastewater (SW) as nutrients feeding for biogranulation process. The bioreactor was operated for 24 h with eight series of intermittent 3 h SBR cycles continuously. The SBR configuration comprises of five operation phases from SW feeding, aeration, settling, and effluent decanting to idle. Latex granules exhibit a loose and irregular structure dominated by coccal-shaped bacteria with an average size of 4.0–5.0 mm and a settling velocity of 0.35–0.53 m h–1. The elemental analysis using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) showed that the latex granules contained various elements while X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analysis suggested the presence of zincowoodwardite, berlinite, rutile, and quartz. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis revealed the presence of aliphatic hydrocarbons, alkene, alkyne, and tertiary amine.