Physical properties and Extracellular Polymeric Substances pattern of aerobic granular sludge treating hypersaline wastewater

The modification of the physical properties of aerobic granular sludge treating fish-canning wastewater is discussed in this paper. The structure and composition of the Extracellular Polymeric Substances (EPSs) were analyzed at different salinity levels and related to granules stability. Results outlined that the total EPSs content increased with salinity, despite the EPSs increment was not proportional to the salt concentration. Moreover, the EPSs structure was significantly modified by salinity, leading to a gradual increase of the not-bound EPSs fraction, which was close to the 50% of the total EPSs content at 75 g NaCl L-1. The increasing salt concentration modified also the EPSs composition, causing the gradual reduction of protein content resulting in a decrease of granule hydrophobicity. The results pointed out that the granules stability significantly reduced above 50 g NaCl L-1, suggesting the existence of a salinity threshold above which granules stability is compromised.