Stability of expanded granular sludge bed process for terylene artificial silk printing and dyeing wastewater treatment

Terylene artificial silk printing and dyeing wastewater (TPD wastewater), containing averaged 710 mg/L terephthalic acid(TA) as the main carbon source and the character pollutant, was subjected to expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) process. The stability of the EGSB process was firstly conducted by laboratory experiment. TA ionization was the predominated factor influencing the acid-base balance of the system. High concentration of TA in wastewater resulted in sufficient buffering capacity to neutralize the volatile fatty acids (VFA) generated from substrate degradation and provided strong base for anaerobic system to resist the pH decrease below 6.5. VFA and UFA caused almost no inhibition on the anaerobic process and biogas production except that pH was below 6.35 and VFA was at its maximum value. Along with the granulating of the activated sludge, the efficiency of organic removal and production rate of biogas increased gradually and became more stable. After start-up, the efficiency of COD removal increased to 57%-64%, pH stabilized in a range of 7.99-8.04, and production rate of biogas was relatively high and stable. Sludge granulating, suitable influent of pH and loading were responsible for the EGSB stability. The variation of VFA concentration only resulted in neglectable rebound of pH, and the inhibition from VFA could be ignored in EGSB. The EGSB reactor was stable for TPD wastewater treatment.