Improving the resistance of Anammox granules to extreme pH shock: The effects of denitrification sludge EPS enhanced by a fluctuating C/N ratio cultivation on granules

This study investigated the effects of denitrification sludge EPS enhanced (DS-EPSCN) by a fluctuating carbon and nitrogen ratio (C/N) cultivation strategy on the properties of Anammox granules under extreme acid or alkaline shock. The results showed that the DS-EPSCN significantly improved the nitrogen removal performance of low-density Anammox granular sludge (Granules-L) and high-density Anammox granular sludge (Granules-H) under extreme acid shock (pH 5.0). The contents of high-molecular-weight substances (such as aromatic proteins and polysaccharides) in the DS-EPSCN rose markedly, contributing to a substantial increase in the flocculation efficiency under acidic conditions and increasing the granule stability. In addition, abundant amounts of N-butyryl- dl -homoserine lactone (C4-HSL) and N-hexanoyl- dl -homoserine lactone (C6-HSL) in the DS-EPSCN promoted the granule activity. However, under extreme alkaline shock (pH 10.5), the flocculation efficiency of the DS-EPSCN was poor, and the addition of DS-EPSCN had no influence on the stability of the granules but improved the activity of the Granules-H. The reason was that the release mechanism of the endogenous acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) signals in the Granules-H was activated by the exogenous C4-HSL and C6-HSL in the DS-EPSCN under alkaline conditions, leading to increased Granules-H activity. This research provides a novel approach to enhance the resistance of Anammox granular sludge to extreme pH shock.