Performance and microbial community structure of an aerobic granular sludge system at different phenolic acid concentrations

The present work aims to use aerobic granular sludge technology for the treatment of wastewater containing high organic matter loads and a mixture of phenolic compounds normally present in olive washing water. The physicochemical performance of five bioreactors treating different concentrations of mixture of phenolic acid was monitored to observe the response of the systems. The bioreactors that operated at 50, 100 and 300 mg L-1 did not show relevant changes in terms of performance and granules properties, showing high ratio of phenolic compound removal ratio. However, the bioreactors operated with high phenolic compound concentrations showed low rates of organic matter, nitrogen and phenolic acid removal. In the same way, high concentrations of phenolic compounds determined the disintegration of the granular biomass. Next-generation sequencing studies showed a stable community structure in the bioreactors operating with 50, 100 and 300 mg L-1 of phenolic acids, with the genera Lampropedia and Arenimonas, family Xanthobacteraceae and Fungi Pezizomycotina as the dominant phylotypes. Conversely, the reactors operated at 500 and 600 mg L-1 of phenolic substances promoted the proliferation of Oligohymenophorea ciliates. Thus, this study suggests that aerobic granular sludge technology could be useful for the treatment of wastewaters such as olive washing water.