Following a reinoculation of the expanded bed biofilm reactor (EBBR) containing coke support material with fresh anammox granules, the bacteria were dispersed with no granules visible. After few days, many granules reappeared in the reactor and remain till this day. Has anyone had such an experience or know what could be responsible for this.
Dear Comfort Anyanwu
The granulation process is a dinamic process. In occasions the granules reach a large diameter and broke up, and from the small particles, new granules grow up again. In my experience, it is something usual that inoculated granules in a reactor disintegrate in smaller particles and form new granules after a period of time.
I think in this case the reactor has the conditions for the granulation of anammox granules. Probably the disintegration was caused by the change in the conditions between the original reactor of the granules and the new reactor (substrate gradient, shear stress), or because of the storage period of the granules. The inner layers of the granules can suffer a starvation process and lose their strength, causing the disintegration of the granules. But, the anammox bacteria was retained in the reactor, probably small particles or small granules, so they form larger granules again after a period of time.
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