Process Safety and Environmental Protection 163 (2022) 27–35

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Process Safety and Environmental Protection

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/psep

Advances in continuous flow aerobic granular sludge: A review

Dong Xu , Jun Li a b,⁎ c
, Jun Liu , Xinghong Qu e,⁎
, Hailing Ma d,⁎
]]
]]]]]]
]]

a
College of Geomatics and Municipal Engineering, Zhejiang University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Hangzhou 310018, China
b
College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China
c
Department of Civil Engineering, Tongji University Zhejiang College, Jiaxing 314051, China
d
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sir Robert Hadfield Building, Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 3JD, UK
e
Zhejiang Tongji vocational college of science and technology, Hang zhou , 311231 China

a r t i cl e i nfo a bstr ac t

Article history: Aerobic granule in continuous-flow process is drawing increasing global interest in a quest for an efficient
Received 26 February 2022 and innovative technology in the biological wastewater treatment. This paper presents a review of the
Received in revised form 28 April 2022 literature on the development of extended treatments for complicated pollutants, numerous configurations
Accepted 6 May 2022
of continuous flow aerobic granular reactors and enhancements of granule stability in long-term operation.
Available online 12 May 2022
The challenges and prospects of full-scale applications of this process were discussed. The review attempted
to shed light on our growing knowledge to this technology, which may accelerate the spread of practical
Keywords:
Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) applications.
Continuous flow © 2022 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Sequencing batch reactor (SBR)
Stability
Full-scale

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2. Extensive wastewater treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3. Configuration of CFAGRs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4. Stability of granules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
5. Summary and perspectives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Declaration of Competing Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

1. Introduction has been regarded as an emerging biotechnology for wastewater

treatment (Adav et al., 2008; Hussain and Al-Fatlawi, 2020).
Aerobic granulation may play an important role in the field of Aerobic granules were first reported in a continuous upflow
wastewater treatment due to the advantages over the conventional aerobic sludge blanket bioreactor (Mishima and Nakamura, 1991),
activated sludge system, such as denser aggregate structure, better the technology was developed mainly in column type sequencing
solid-liquid separation, higher biomass concentration (Liu et al., batch reactors (SBRs) with the ideal conditions for aerobic granula-
2009; Buaisha et al., 2020) or even its ability to treat wastewater tion like the frequent repetition of distinct feast/famine conditions
with high organic loads or toxic substrates in only one aerobic re- (Val del Río et al., 2012), the hydraulic selection pressure (Lee et al.,
actor (Figueroa et al., 2011; Amorim et al., 2014; Zhao et al., 2015). 2010) and the hydraulic shear forces (Show et al., 2012; Zhou et al.,
Based on these advantages mentioned, aerobic granular sludge (AGS) 2014). As a result, granular SBRs were successfully used to treat
various kinds of effluents at lab scale (Gao et al., 2011a; Isanta et al.,
2012; Wagner and Costa, 2013; Jungles et al., 2014; Huang et al.,
⁎
Corresponding authors. 2015) and, nowadays, there are several pilot- and full-scale appli-
E-mail addresses: tanweilijun@zjut.edu.cn (J. Li), cations (Giesen et al., 2013; Li et al., 2014a; Pronk et al., 2015) for
quxinghong@zjtongji.edu.cn (X. Qu), HMa31@Sheffield.ac.uk (H. Ma).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2022.05.018
0957-5820/© 2022 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
D. Xu, J. Li, J. Liu et al.
municipal wastewater treatment. Nevertheless, most current large-
scale operations use continuous-flow systems, due to the lower in-
stallation costs and easier operation, maintenance and control
(Juang et al., 2010). Moreover, the application of the concepts of the
granular SBR technology is suitable especially where investments in
a completely new SBR type wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs)
are envisaged or an existing SBR WWTP is considered for upgrading.
It could be limited by the different operational conditions and con-
ventional activated sludge reactors as transforming a continuous
system into a SBR suitable to obtain aerobic granules is difficult.
Thus, research on achieving aerobic granules in continuous flow
process would have significant importance for the improvement of
already existing WWTPs. So far, at least three full-scale facilities
have successfully cultivated AGS by using hydrocyclones (Van
Winckel et al., 2016; Willoughby et al., 2016). Two facilities required
the periodic introduction of anammox granules from a sidestream
DEMON SBR (Wett et al., 2014), while the third facility did not form
granules within one year as this strategy was not adopted (Ford
et al., 2016). Another problem with the use of hydrocyclones is that
the continuous accumulation of inorganic matter may lead to a loss
of treatment efficiency (Kent et al., 2018).
This mini-review presents recent studies of current efforts on
continuous flow AGS, focus on wastewater treatment types, config-
uration of continuous flow aerobic granular reactors (CFAGRs), sta-
bility of aerobic granules, challenges of and prospects for this
biological process. It is hoped that our growing knowledge on it
might facilitate the engineering and optimization of this technology
as one of the most promising techniques in the biological waste-
water treatment and ultimately to the full-scale applications.
2. Extensive wastewater treatment
Researchers have attempted to cultivate aerobic granule in con-
tinuous-flow process used synthetic wastewater as influent to mimic
natural wastewater (Li et al., 2007; Jin et al., 2008; Juang et al., 2010).
Recent investigations have addressed the treatment of real muni-
cipal wastewater, biological nutrients (with N and P) or other com-
plicated effluents. For example, Li et al. (2015) operated a
continuous-flow mode for treating raw wastewater from a WWTP
which was comprised of both municipal (30%) and industrial (70%)
wastewater, the appearance of tiny granules in the process was first
noted after 21 days of operation and the removal efficiency of bio-
logical oxygen demand (BOD5) increased from 71% to above 88% and
the removal efficiency of NH4+-N increased from 86% to above 98%
with the development of granulation. The source of wastewater was
also used in another continuous flow process (Li et al., 2014a), in
which initial granules were observed after 13 days. Bumbac et al.
(2015) focused on the treatment performances of an AGS continuous
flow reactor treating dairy industry wastewater, the removal effi-
ciency of chemical oxygen demand (COD), BOD5, NH4+-N and
phosphate were ranged between 81% and 93%, 85–94%, 83–99% and
65–99%, respectively. Liu et al. (2012) designed a novel continuous-
flow bioreactor with AGS and self-forming dynamic membrane
(CGSFDMBR) for treating septic tank wastewater and obtained
average COD, NH4+-N, TN and TP removal efficiency of 83.3%, 73.3%,
67.3% and 60%, respectively, which was more efficient than con-
ventional bioreactors since that carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus
were simultaneously removed in a single aerobic reactor. Jemaat
et al. (2014a) investigated the performance of simultaneous partial
nitritation and o-cresol biodegradation in a continuous aerobic
granular reactor under three sequentially alternating pollutant sce-
narios (p-nitrophenol (PNP), phenol or 2-chlorophenol(2CP)) to
mimic the situation of complex industrial wastewaters with variable
influent composition. The results showed neither PNP nor phenol
inhibited partial nitritation and o-cresol biodegradation, while 2CP
had strong inhibition on both processes within 2 days, but recovered
28
Process Safety and Environmental Protection 163 (2022) 27–35
after several days. The results suggested that continuous-flow mode
is a promising technology for simultaneous removal of high-strength
ammonium wastewater containing recalcitrant compounds.
In the special wastewater treatment, the removal of antibiotics
and nursing products is more and more concerned. Both adsorption
and degradation are the main removal mechanisms of pollutants in
CFR AGS technology. Zhao et al. (2014) designed a continuous flow
granular sludge MBR reactor, and achieved a removal rate of more
than 60% of prednisolone, naproxen and ibuprofen, while Rodriguez-
Sanchez et al. (2017) removed 50% of azithromycin, norfloxacin, and
trimethoprim in a CANON reactor. The above two cases showed
differences in the stability of granules, which may be caused by
different wastewater components and antibiotic properties. The
granules in an MBR fed with approximately 1100 mg COD/L, for-
mation can be observed within 10 days, but the granules became
unstable after one month (Zhou et al., 2014). Granules in a CANON
reactor formed in tiny size, but had a more complete and dense
structure, the internal microbial structure also changed greatly with
the development of antibiotic-resistant fungi (Rodriguez-Sanchez
et al., 2017).
To save both energy and the substrate, research into continuous
flow AGS has focused on partial nitrification for denitrification. Wan
et al. (2014a) successfully started the continuous-flow process with
the function of partial nitrification within 13 days by inoculating
with mature AGS, however, as hydraulic retention time (HRT) re-
duced from 12 h to 2.4 h, the effect of eliminating ammonia nitrogen
also deteriorated, and it was found that the bacteria in AGS were
composed of Nitrosomonas sp. and N.europaea from ammonia oxi-
dizing bacteria at the end of the experiment, which account for 6%
and 94%, respectively. In their another research (Wan et al., 2014b),
They used aerobic granules to perform the partial nitrification with
high NaCl concentrations in a continuous-flow reactor. The culti-
vated granules revealed partial nitrification performances at nitrite
accumulation rate > 95% and COD removal efficiency at > 85% with a
salinity of 50 g/L, which concluded CFAGR is a promising process to
convert ammonium in highly saline wastewater to nitrite. Jemaat
et al. (2014b) utilized an aerobic granular process to achieve si-
multaneous partial nitritation and o-cresol biodegradation in a
continuous-flow reactor. The results showed that stable partial ni-
tritation and full biodegradation of o-cresol were simultaneously
maintained in a single reactor with aerobic granular biomass.
Conventional continuous-flow aerobic granular processes were
focused on the removal efficiency of COD in synthetic wastewater.
While current literature has concentrated in the simultaneous re-
moval of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, the using of continuous
flow aerobic granular processe to co-removal of recalcitrant pollu-
tants such as pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) is
an interesting development for future studies.
3. Configuration of CFAGRs
Compared with SBRs, CFAGRs usually lead to the overgrowth of
filamentous bacteria as the effect of sludge sieving is hard to control
and the driving force of mass transfer is weak, which poses severe
threats to maintaining the stability of AGS and thus extremely in-
hibits the development of the continuous flow AGS. As a majority of
WWTPs adopt the continuous flow processes, it has long been a goal
of researchers to change from the SBRs to the CFRs. However, as the
mechanism of aerobic granulation is unclear nowadays, so there are
a variety of CFAGRs different in configuration in the absence of
theoretical guidance.
CFRs usually have external clarifiers and need return sludge un-
like to SBRs. The fixed settling time in clarifier cannot be adjusted to
create a positive selection pressure to wash the poorly settleable
suspended biomass out. In addition, aerobic granules could be de-
stroyed by the return sludge pumps lead to many CFAGRs are
D. Xu, J. Li, J. Liu et al.
equipped only with sedimentation zones or sludge discharge pipes
(without sludge reflux units). Morales et al. (2012) designed the
continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) by filtered sludge through a
sludge discharge pipe, which was submerged half in water with the
internal ascending velocity of 10 m/h. A modified oxidation ditch
(MOD) with an adjustable volume intraclarifier (Li et al., 2014b) and
a reverse flow baffled reactor (RFBR) (Li et al., 2015) were proposed
for aerobic sludge granulation in a continuous flow process. Both of
the novel reactors have achieved the conditions of periodic feast-
famine, adjustable selection pressure and no necessity of sludge
reflux, meeting the needs of aerobic sludge granulation to the largest
extent.
It is relatively common to separate gas, liquid and solid with
three-phase separators which are on the upper part of reactors with
columnar in structure. Though the structures of three-phase se-
parators are different, they are mostly designed by borrowing the
idea in the upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB). Zhou et al.
(2013a) presented the continuous airlift fluidized bed (CAFB) with a
simple structure, which was a reactor composed of a three-phase
separator, an upflow zone and a downflow zone. Jin et al. (2008)
succeeded in cultivating nitrified AGS with inorganic carbon source
substrate within 75 days in a continuous airlift reactor (CAR), which
consisted of four effective parts, an upflow pipe, a downflow pipe, an
air separator and sedimentation space, and adopted the way of weir
water discharge. Jemaat et al. (2013) studied the effect of treating
high ammonia-nitrogen wastewater with AGS in a CAR, and ob-
served the biofacies of AGS. Bumbac et al. (2015) also designed a
rectangular-shape CAR by using the granule pre-settling and settling
area as a selective pressure parameter allowing granules recovery
and washout of the poor settling sludge. The integrated three-phase
separator is undoubtedly the most efficient and simplest way of
squeezing water from sludge, but traditional three-phase separators
are required to meet higher standards due to the violent airflow
disturbance and selective sludge discharge in AGS reactors. It still
needs continuous exploration to find which type of three-phase
separators can satisfy the demands of generating AGS and main-
taining its stability.
Some CFAGRs filter sludge through a sieve, retaining the granules
larger than apertures and returning them to the main reaction zone,
while discharging the flocculent sludge passing the sieve from the
reactor. Liu et al. (2012) studied the stability of AGS in the CGSFD-
MBR, which was composed of a sequencing batch airlift reactor tank,
a sett ling tank, a dynamic membrane bioreactor tank and a sludge
selection tank. In the sludge selection tank, a sieve with an aperture
of 0.6 mm was installed, which was used to sieve only a certain
volume of the mixed sludge once a day. Besides, they gradually in-
creasing the aperture (from 0.1 mm to 1.0 mm) of sieves in the
sludge selection tank which cultivate AGS successfully within 14
days (Liu et al., 2014). Although this method of screening sludge can
achieve relatively high sieving efficiency, its operation and control
are very complex and it often causes silting.
By introducing a settling velocity-based selection pressure and
setting using two-zone clarifiers for sludge screening, granulation
can be accelerated by retaining the well-settled particles and dis-
charging light flocs with weak settlement (Zou et al., 2018). In pre-
vious studies, rapid granulation was realized in such structure by
returning CaCl2-treated residual sludge (Xu et al., 2020) or by using a
strategy involving the continuous addition of dewatered sludge
during the start-up phase (Xu et al., 2021). However, the reactor was
operated under a continuous aeration state, leading to a lack of ni-
trogen and phosphorus removal capability. Considering that AGS
exhibits a long granulation time in continuous flow and that the
poor removal effects on N and P have severely restricted its large-
scale application, a novel strategy was developed involving sponge
fillers to construct an anoxic zone coupling two-zone clarifiers to
realize granulation in an integrated oxidation ditch (Xu et al., 2022).
29
Process Safety and Environmental Protection 163 (2022) 27–35
In other CFAGRs, membrane units are used to squeeze water from
sludge in place of separators. In terms of structure, such reactors can
be classified into combined reactors and separated reactors (the
biochemical reaction zone and the membrane unit are separated),
and to lessen membrane pollution, aerator pipes are installed below
membrane units, which can provide strong aeration at a high rate.
Juang et al. (2010) studied the stability of AGS in a continuously
running membrane bioreactor, which was columnar (120 cm high
and 6 cm in diameter), with the membrane unit installed on the air
diffuser. Corsino et al. (2016) designed a granular continuous flow
membrane bioreactor (GCFMBR) to study AGS stability. The reactor
was constituted by two complete mixing sub-reactors in series (2.8 L
each), the first one close to the filling zone and the second one near
the extraction zone in order to create feast and famine conditions.
Each reactor had five identical compartments with risers and fallers
to ensure the high hydraulic shear forces. Due to the good retaining
effect of membrane units, such MBRs discharged little sludge in the
process of operation. In theory, the sludge retention time (SRT) can
be extended infinitely. This phenomenon of generating AGS without
going through the process of sludge selection is obviously different
from other kinds of CFAGRs, however, it is still worth pondering
whether the continuously aging sludge can maintain the long-term
stability of AGS.
These above studies have promoted the development of the
continuous flow AGS technology to a certain extent, but the char-
acteristics and changes of biofacies of AGS as well as the main-
tenance of AGS stability remain to be further studied. After all,
numerous studies have shown that AGS reactors may become un-
stable or even disintegrate during long-term operation. In addition,
small effective volumes of reactors, largely different in configuration,
and few studies on hydraulic flow patterns of reactors, all of which
will cause difficulty in reproduction and popularization in the en-
gineering application.
4. Stability of granules
Aerobic granulation in continuous flow is always subject to in-
stability (Chen et al., 2009; Zhou et al., 2011, 2013a), highlighted the
need for further research into granule stability over a long term, are
extremely desired.
Without any other granulation contributors, such as settling time
and starvation time in the SBRs, HRT, hydrodynamic shear force or
feast/famine alternation have significantly positive effect in the
formation of compact, stable bio-granules in the continuous flow
reactors. Morales et al. (2012) indicated that only when the HRT
reduced to 1 h could regular AGS been generated, while filamentous
bacteria would dominate in the reactor when the HRT was 3 h or 6 h.
Zhou et al. (2013a) concluded that the observed granules were
mostly with regular shape and smooth edges and none obvious
granules breakage was found in the CAFB where strong shear force
exerted. Corsino et al. (2016) noted that the feast/famine alternation
was crucial for the maintenance of the continuous flow AGS. Their
results showed during the period-I with the feast and famine con-
ditions did not alternate as feasible, the granules rapidly lost their
structural integrity and were resulting in loose and unstable ag-
gregates, while in the period-II, the aerobic granules stability gen-
erally improved as the intermittent feeding allowed obtaining the
alternation of feast and famine conditions.
The metal ions improved the stability of the aerobic granules and
enhanced granulation in the SBRs by serving as nuclei or forming an
ionic bond on the surface of the particles (Gao et al., 2011a, 2011b;
Mañas et al., 2011; Liu et al., 2010), however, limited work has been
done in a continuous-flow bioreactor. Zhou et al. (2013b) char-
acterized calcium precipitations in aerobic granules cultivated in a
CAFB and explored the spatial distribution and chemical forms of
calcium in the aerobic granules, which showed the microbial
D. Xu, J. Li, J. Liu et al.
granulation in the reactor was mainly a self-immobilization process
and Ca2+ played a relative minor role in granulation. In contract,
Juang et al. (2010) were cultivated stable aerobic granules (exist for
216 days) in substrate with high concentrations of ammonium and
phosphates, and hypothesized that calcium and/or iron precipitates
within the granules substantially enhanced the structural stability of
AGS. Some studies utilized particles as seed to create stable and
compact granules. Such as, Yang et al. (2014) used backwashed
biofilm as seed to enhance aerobic granulation and stabilization in
CAFB, which was operated continuously for 90 days. In comparison
of their previous studies (Zhou et al., 2013a), the same biosystem
was collapsed in only 35 days owing to the filamentous bulking
which was seeded with activated sludge, confirming the cultivation
of aerobic granules with biofilms was more stable relative to floc-
culent sludge inoculation. Lee and Chen (2015) precipitated mag-
nesium carbonate in side pre-cultured aerobic granules to increase
their interior mechanical strength under shear. They noted that the
precipitated granules survived in continuous-flow process for 220
days at a wide range of organic loadings and without loss of struc-
tural stability.
Filamentous overgrowth is often regarded as the cause of failure
of AGS process because the loose granules can cause the loss of
biomass in the reactor. Under continuous flow operation, the organic
substrate was always available, and it was likely degraded in the
outer layers of the granules (Yang et al., 2014). This produced a
substrate gradient inside the granules that favored the proliferation
of filamentous microorganisms. Zhou et al. (2013a) studied the
stability of AGS in the CAFB, large quantities of AGS generated in the
condition of strong hydraulic shear force within 4–5 days, but after
ran for 35 days, filamentous bulking happened in the operation and
AGS would become unstable, which was most likely to be caused by
filamentous bacteria. Morales et al. (2012) operated CSTR to obtain
aerobic biomass grown in the form of granules in different opera-
tional conditions. At HRT values of 6 and 3 h, filamentous bacteria
were dominant in the biomass, the microbial populations were
mainly composed by members of Comamonadaceae and Rhodocy-
claceae families within β-Proteobacteria and members of the subclass
γ-Proteobacteria.
The structural stability of aerobic granules in a continuous flow
during long-term is the main issue in their field applications. Recent
investigations have focused on the appropriate operational condi-
tions or proposed chemical precipitation inside and outside the
granules to increase their structural stability, in addition, more re-
search is needed to focus in the causes and control of filamentous
growth under continuous flow operation, as many studies have al-
ready concentrated in SBRs (Liu et al., 2006; Li et al., 2010; Wan et al.,
2014c).
5. Summary and perspectives
Research focuses of the current literature on continuous flow
aerobic granules are shown in Table 1. Substantial advances have
been made in applying this process to complex wastewaters or en-
hancing its multi-pollutant removal, and combined processes such
as continuous flow aerobic granules-MBR should be enhanced the
efficiency to treat specific wastewater, which seems to be an inter-
esting direction for future research.
Existing CFAGR configurations are numerous, and relevant stu-
dies mainly focus on the laboratory scale, including the systematical
research of sludge-water separator’s separation effect, the research
on the hydraulic flow state in the reactor, and the data support for
long-term stable operation. These deficiencies will undoubtedly af-
fect the stability of granules and their liability of reactor if not
solved. Meanwhile, studies on AGSBR have got abundant achieve-
ments, such as the influencing factors for the formation of AGS and
30
Process Safety and Environmental Protection 163 (2022) 27–35
the granulation mechanism of AGS. Basing on these achievements
and the differences of between the above two reactors, the forms of
reactors that are more favorable for the existence of AGS should be
actively created and they will definitely and sharply reduce the risk
in research and development. In addition, some mature semi-con-
tinuous-flow and continuous-flow reactors in the deformation pro-
cess of SBR have been applied in practice, such as CASS, LUCAS, and
UNITANK etc. The operation modes of these reactors also provide a
new way for the design of CFAGRs.
How to keep the structural stability of aerobic particles is still an
urgent problem to be solved in practical application. Strategies for
generating more stable granules were discussed in light of the per-
formance with some positive operational conditions. Metal ions or
utilized particles as seeds has been implicated as being the most
reliable indicator for stability enhancement of the granules. In ad-
dition, as filamentous overgrowth is often caused the failure of AGS
process, researchers can extensively draw experience from existing
mature sewage treatment processes, such as the biological selector
widely used in engineering for inhibiting the excessive growth of
filamentous bacteria, and the shallow tank aeration used to reduce
energy consumption, etc. Further research on pilot- and full-scale
tests were needed to ascertain the stability of the continuous flow
aerobic granules in long-term operation.
Future efforts need to be devoted to overcoming the technical
difficulties mentioned in this review work and further under-
standing of the rapid cultivation and stability mechanism of AGS in
CFRs. It is suggested that future research can be expanded in the
following three aspects:
(1) In-depth analysis of mechanism. Selection pressure is the key
factor to aerobic granulation in CFRs. Currently, most studies
focus on the selection pressure based on settling velocity and
particle size, however, preliminary hypothesis analysis (only at
the hypothesis level) had been carried out on the mechanism
and specific path of granulation. More representative indicators
(such as signal molecules, etc.) and capturing in situ information
should be considered for in-depth analysis of mechanism.
(2) Verify long-term stability. The reported stable time of AGS in
CFRs varies greatly, and many studies stopped operation after
the reactor's relevant parameters were stabilized (the operation
time of many studies was less than 100 d), without investigating
the stability of the reactor's long-term operation. Therefore, it is
necessary to further determine the stability of AGS formed by
various cultivation strategies under long-term operation.
(3) Promote full-scale application. The data obtained by many
strategies are all from pilot-scale devices under strictly con-
trolled conditions. Since the implementation details and cost
analysis after pilot-scale or scale-up application are not con-
sidered, whether the existing research methods and conclusions
can serve the actual engineering needs further examining. In
addition, once granules are formed, the problem of AGS damage
in the process of conveying through pipes and pumps may also
become a practical problem, which requires evaluation of ap-
propriate pumping equipment or internal solid-liquid separator.
Hydrocyclones have been used in some full-scale application,
more cases and discussions are still needed.
This mini-review has outlined the advances in the research and
development of continuous flow aerobic granular processes taken
from the literature, particularly after 2010. It is predicted that the
full-scale trials ultimately to be performed, as many fundamental
and lab-scale investigations have already been carried out. The
continuous mode on efficient, cost-effective and environmentally
friendly wastewater treatment should be the ultimate goal of all
related R&D works.
 Table 1
Time-span reported for continuous flow AGS to form and remain stable under various cultivation strategies.

CFAGR Scale Wastewater type Characteristics of AGS HRT and OLR Set up Stable Treatment Formation Advantages Drawbacks References
configuration time performances strategy

CAR working synthetic wastewater D(average)= 1.54 mm, HRT= 5.4–22.8 h, granules 75 days NH4+-N removal three-phase with a simple which type of Jin
D. Xu, J. Li, J. Liu et al.

volume= 9.2 L, settling velocity= 82.4 m/h, OLR= 0.556–2.37 began to rate became separator structure and three-phase et al.
lab scale specific gravity= 1.07 kg/(m3·d) appear on stable over 95% the integrated separators can (2008)
day 30 three-phase satisfy the
working synthetic PNP D= 1.0–2.0 mm, settling no relevant inoculated 225 days simultaneous three–phase separator is demands of Jemaat
volume= 2.6 L, wastewater velocity= 40–80 m/h, SVI5 information with nitritation and separator undoubtedly generating AGS et al.
lab scale with high- = 9–15 mL/g granules PNP the most and (2013)
strength of from a biodegradation efficient and maintaining its
NH4Cl granular SBR was success fully simplest way stability are
at pilot scale demonstrated in of squeezing still unclear
the reactor water from and the
o- D= 1.0–1.5 mm, settling HRT= 20.4–55.2 h, 150 days the sludge reactors also Jemaat et al.
cresol velocity= 40–60 m/h, SVI5 OLR= 0.4–1.1 simultaneous need a mass of (2014a)
= 7–14 mL/g kg/(m3·d) partial aeration
nitritation and
o-cresol
biodegradation
was successfully
accomplished
o- D= 0.4–1.8 mm, settling OLR= 1.1 155 days neither p- Jemaat et al.
cresol, velocity= 43 ± 14 m/h, SVI5 kg/(m3·d) nitrophenol nor (2014b)
PNP, = 11 ± 5 mL/g phenol inhibited
phenol partial
and nitritation and
2CP o-cresol

31
biodegradation
reactions but 2-
chlorophenol
did so
working dairy industry D= 0.1–0.5 mm, the granule HRT= 10 h, granules 10 weeks the removal internal rectangular- Granule pre- Bumbac
volume= 10.0 L, wastewater had a denser core and a OLR= 3.1–5.6 were seeded efficiencies of settling tank shaped settling area for et al.
lab scale fluffier shell kg/(m3·d) from COD, BOD, bioreactor squeezing (2015)
previously NH4+-N and with low H/D water from
cultivated phosphate were ratio may sludge can
SBR ranged between realistic for hardly use in
81% and 93%, the existing full-scale
85–94%, 83–99% conventional
and 65–99%, WWTPs
respectively
GCFMBR Lab scale synthetic wastewater D(average)= 1.9 mm, settling HRT= 25 h, granules 216 days had COD inorganic generated AGS whether the Juang
(H=120 cm, velocity(average)= 54.0 m/h, OLR= 7.0 were seeded removal rates of precipitation without going continuously et al.
D=6 cm) effective kg/(m3·d) from 83–84% and in the through the aging sludge (2010)
density(average)= 1.3 kg/m3 previously indicated that granules process of can maintain
cultivated calcium and/or sludge the long-term
SBR iron precipitates selection due stability of AGS
in the granule to the good is still worth
interior retaining pondering
substantially effect of
enhanced the membrane
structural units
stability of
aerobic
granules
(continued on next page)
Process Safety and Environmental Protection 163 (2022) 27–35
 Table 1 (continued)

CFAGR Scale Wastewater type Characteristics of AGS HRT and OLR Set up Stable Treatment Formation Advantages Drawbacks References
configuration time performances strategy

working acetate-based MLSS= 4–8 g/L, VSS/TSS HRT= 7.5 h, 72 days COD and NH4+-N switching ensured the no hydraulic Corsino （）
volume= 7.5 L, synthetic wastewater ratio= 65–90% (period I), OLR= 3.84 kg/(m3·d) removal from conditions of performances et al.
D. Xu, J. Li, J. Liu et al.

lab scale MLSS=around 7 g/L, VSS/TSS efficiency were continuous to aerobic sludge and (2016)
ratio=around 90% (period II), all close to 94%, intermittent granulation, management
D= 1.0–2.0 mm phosphorous feeding no chemical issues analysis
efficiency cleanings and the
removal needed to the configuration
dropped in less membrane can't match
than 30 days already existing
WWTPs
CSTR working liquid fraction of pig D(average)= 4 mm(R1) and R1: inoculated R1 = 260 COD removal high with similar with complex Morales
volume = 6 and slurry 6.8 mm(R2), settling HRT= 1–6 h, with days, efficiency hydraulic geometry to configurations et al.
3 L (R1 velocity= 36–48 m/h (R1 and OLR= 2.4–12.0 flocculent R2 = 120 ranged between shear force the activated and more (2012)
and R2), lab R2), SVI10 = 127 mL/gTSS (R1 kg/(m3·d) activated days 50% and 80% and sludge research is
scale and R2) R2: sludge and 30–60% for R1 reactors used needed to
HRT= 1 h, settled and R2, nitrogen in WWTPs establish the
OLR= 4.8–6.0 sludge(R1), removal operational
kg/(m3·d) pig slurry efficiency in conditions
was used as both reactors
seed (R2) varied between
10% and 15%
CGSFDMBR SBAR tank septic tank D= 0.1–1.0 mm, settling HRT= 13 h, inoculated 100 days obtained MBR had high the operation Liu
(28.8 L), settling wastewater velocity= 15–25 m/h, water OLR= 0.18–0.74 kg/ with the average COD, with sieve sieving and control are et al.
tank(6 L), DMBR content= 96–98% (m3·d) stabilized NH4+-N, TN and efficiency and complex and it (2012)
tank (24 L)and aerobic TP removal rates membrane hard for full-

32
sludge selection granules of 83.3%, 73.3%, fouling was scale
tank(10 L) from a SBR 67.3% and 60%, greatly
reactor respectively relieved
CAFB working municipal wastewater D= 0.35–0.9 mm, HRT= 2 h, more than 35 days COD three-phase with a simple unstable for a Zhou et al.
volume= 5.6 L, SVI= 40 mL/g, MLSS= 4.5 g/L OLR= 3.5–4.8 kg/ 55% of concentration of separator structure and long term of (2013a)
lab scale (m3·d) granules effluent could be running, poor
formed stabilized at operated mass transfer
after12 days’ 50 ± 10 mg/L easily force leads to
cultivation even though the filamentous
influent bulking
concentration problems
fluctuated in a
wide range of
150–650 mg/L
D(median)= 0.7–1 mm HRT= 2.8 h, granules 70 days calcium played a Zhou et al.
OLR= 4.8–5.0 kg/ dominated relative minor (2013b)
(m3·d) in the role in
reactor after granulation
10 days in the reactor
MOD working municipal wastewater D(average)= 2.80 mm, HRT= 3 h, granules 120 days NH4+-N and BOD adjustable with a simple more work is Li et al.
volume= 60 L, settling velocity= 23.3 m/h, OLR= 0.53–1.1 kg/ were clearly removal rate baffles for structure that need to figure (2014b)
lab scale SVI= 46 mL/g, MLSS= 2.67 g/L (m3·d) observed in were over than settling is realistic for out the
the reactor 95% and 90%, large engineering appropriate
after 13 days respectively particles operating
RFBR working municipal wastewater D(average)= 1.30 mm, period I: tiny granules 135 days the removal rate settling- meet the conditions and Li
volume= 120 L, SVI= 43 mL/g, MLSS= 3.0 g/L HRT= 16.4 h, were first of BOD increased based needs of the hydraulic et al.
lab scale OLR= 0.54 kg/(m3·d); noted after from 71% to selection aerobic sludge flow's influence (2015)
period II: 21 days above 88% and pressure, granulation to on aerobic
(continued on next page)
Process Safety and Environmental Protection 163 (2022) 27–35
 Table 1 (continued)

CFAGR Scale Wastewater type Characteristics of AGS HRT and OLR Set up Stable Treatment Formation Advantages Drawbacks References
configuration time performances strategy

HRT= 7.3 h, the removal rate feast-famine the largest sludge

OLR= 1.2 kg/(m3·d); of NH4+-N conditions extent granulation
D. Xu, J. Li, J. Liu et al.

Period Ⅲ: increased from should be

HRT= 5.5 h, 86% to above defined
OLR= 1.6 kg/(m3·d) 98% after
30 days
CFR working real and low-strength D(average)= 0.106 mm, HRT= 18 h, granules 160 days the effluent two-zone airlift system lack of nitrogen Zou
volume of wastewater SVI= 26 mL/g, OLR= 0.16 ± 0.05 kg/ were first concentrations clarifiers and was applied to and et al.
approximately MLSS= 4.5–5.0 g/L (m3·d) observed of adding sludge return sludge phosphorus (2018)
26.8 L, lab scale after 61 days COD and NH4+-N micropowder to avoid AGS removal
were relatively disintegration capability,
low after start-up
granulation process was
domestic sewage D(average)= 0.58 mm (on day HRT= 16 h, AGS was 84 days COD removal two-zone complex and Xu
84), OLR= 0.30–0.60 kg/ formed efficiency of clarifiers and time et al.
SVI5 = 25.8–31.3 mL/g, (m3·d) successfully 83.23–93.84%, continuously consuming (2021)
MLSS= 4.2–4.6 g/L on day 25 NH4+-N removal adding
efficiency of dewatered
86.03–100%, TN sludge
removal
efficiency of
27.1 ± 3.4%, TP
removal
efficiency within
the range

33
of 45–65%
Integrated working domestic sewage D(average)= 0.66 mm (on day HRT= 16 h, AGS was 80 days COD removal two-zone the reactor lack of nitrogen Xu
oxidation volume of 80), OLR= 0.27–0.53 kg/ formed efficiency of clarifiers and configuration and et al.
ditch approximately SVI5 = 40.0 mL/g, (m3·d) successfully 83.23–93.03%, by returning is suitable for phosphorus (2020)
140 L, lab scale MLSS= 3.5 g/L in the NH4+-N removal CaCl2-treated existing removal
reactor on efficiency of residual WWTPs capability,
day 18 85.13–100%, TN sludge addition of
removal calcium salt
efficiency of increases the
22.0 ± 2.9% economic cost
real sewage the MLSS, SVI5 and average HRT= 20 h, the anoxic 90 days COD removal coupling of the reactor is more research Xu
particle size in the anoxic OLR= 0.22–0.44 kg/ zone and efficiency of sponge fillers suitable for is needed to et al.
zone and aerobic zone were (m3·d) aerobic zone 87.29% ± 2.61%, and two-zone full-scale establish the (2022)
5848 mg/L and 4812 mg/L, realized NH4+-N removal clarifiers applications operational
31.2 mL/g and 35.8 mL/g, and granulation efficiency of conditions
329.2 µm and 362.3 µm, on day 30 88.58–95.58%,
respectively and on day TN removal
43, efficiency of
respectively 60.11% ± 4.68%
Process Safety and Environmental Protection 163 (2022) 27–35
D. Xu, J. Li, J. Liu et al.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing fi-
nancial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the financial support from the
National Key R&D Program of China (2019YFC0408804), National
Natural Sciences Foundation of China (51478433) and Scientific
Research Foundation of Zhejiang University of Water Resources and
Electric Power (xky2022018).
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