Modelling the influence of physical properties of extracellular polymeric substances in aerobic granule morphology

Modelling the influence of physical properties of extracellular polymeric substances in aerobic granule morphology

de Bruin, Stefan (TU Delft Applied Sciences; TU Delft BT/Biotechnology)

Lin, Y. (mentor)
Merks, R.M.H (graduation committee)
van Loosdrecht, Mark C.M. (graduation committee)
Mans, R. (graduation committee)

Delft University of Technology

Environmental Biotechnology

2018-07-19

This thesis examines the influence of physical properties of structural EPS on granule morphology. Two types of structural EPS are found to be important. These types of structural EPS are: surface bound EPS and hydrogel forming EPS matrix. VirtualLeaf is used to model granules which contain only binding surface bound EPS. The TST model is used to find the influence of both structural EPS components. In VirtualLeaf compact granules are formed with slight bulging features, similar to granules found in literature. The TST shows that binding surface binding EPS increase the compactness of granules. Furthermore it is shown that porosity of the EPS matrix also determines compactness and maximum size of granules. The strength and measure of the EPS matrix is shown to influence granule stability.

extracellular polymeric substance
granular sludge
granule morphology

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:34a31977-0c23-4ae8-ac68-128d5bc70d7e

Student theses

master thesis

© 2018 Stefan de Bruin