Vince Carlo C.

Garcia
Review Paper

1. Introduction
Pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) have been in use for more than a
century by now. They are described by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as any
product used by the individuals for personal health or cosmetic reasons or used by agribusiness
to enhance growth and health of livestock. They form a wide spectrum of substances that are
comprised of but not limited to prescription and over-the-counter drugs, lotions, ointments,
fragrances, and veterinary drugs. Through the years its use has been on the rise because of
extensive use for human consumption, agriculture and veterinary purposes leading to its
increased presence in different environmental reservoirs such as surface water, ground water, and
soil (Sarmah et al., 2006; Alvarino et al., 2014; Verlicchi and Zambello, 2015).
An area of concern is in the presence of antibiotics in wastewater due to its adverse
effects on aquatic fauna (Michael et al, 2013). Currently, these antibiotics are removed by
different biological, physical and chemical processes such as advanced oxidation processes,
activated sludge process, adsorption by activated carbon and the use of membranes (Zhao et al.,
2015). A relatively new technology in biological wastewater treatment is the use of aerobic
granular sludge (AGS). There have been many recent studies done on the technologys capability
in removing wastewater contaminants such as phenol (Zhang and Tay, 2016), p-cresol (Basheer
and Farooqi, 2012), 4-chlorophenol (Carucci et al., 2009), and 2-fluorophenol (Duque et al.,
2011) each showing promising contaminant removal. Due to the trend towards aerobic granular
sludge technology research, a review of the recent advances in this field is of utmost importance.

In this review, the prevalence of PPCPs in wastewater is discussed along with the sources
and detection of these PPCPs with a particular emphasis on antibiotics. The fundamentals of
AGS comprise the bulk of this review. In this section, the advantages of the technology are
highlighted and a discussion on the important characteristics of AGS, the types of
microorganisms present, and the granulation mechanism is presented. The different researches
done related to AGS with emphasis on the types of reactors used and the type of antibiotics
removed are delineated.

2. Presence of PPCPs in wastewater

2.1 PPCPs present in wastewater and their sources
Large quantities of PPCPs end up in domestic, drug manufacturing (Larsson et al., 2007),
and agricultural wastewater effluents (Kemper, 2008). Human-use PPCPs such as lipsticks,
shampoos, soap, toothpaste, and deodorants are generally emitted in municipal sewerage systems
while veterinary drugs can be released into the environment by direct application such as in
aquaculture or by indirect applications such as in application of manure to land (Boxall et al.,
2012).
An extensive review was done on the occurrence of PPCPs on untreated and treated
sludge from wastewater treatment plants (Verlicchi and Zambello, 2015). Although the review
covers only the PPCP content of the sludge, this is still important as it gives a preview into what
PPCPs enter the wastewater treatment plants. From the aforementioned review a comprehensive
class list of PPCPs was generated as shown in Table 1. The numbers beside the classes are the
number of compounds included in the study.

Table 1. Classes of PPCPs included in the review and in brackets the number of compounds.
Class
Analgesics (11)

Class
Anti-neoplastics (2)

Class
Contrast media (1)

Antianginals (1)

Antiplatelets (3)

Receptor antagonists (5)

Antiarrhythmics (2)

Antiprotozoals (1)

Stimulants (3)

Antibiotics (45)

Beta-agonists (3)

Antiseptics (2)

Anticoagulants (1)

Beta-blockers (10)

Insect repellants (1)

Antidiabetics (2)

Diuretics (1)

UV filters (1)

Antiemetics (1)

Hormones (6)

Synthetic musks (6)

Antifungals (7)

Hypnotics (1)

Non-ionic surfactants (7)

Anti-histamines (2)

Lipid regulators (6)

Anti-hypertensives (6)

Psychiatric drugs (31)

2.2 Antibiotics in wastewater

Antibiotics in wastewater are primarily brought about by the release of these substances
from the domestic and industrial sources. Studies have shown that these substances when
released to the environment have increased bacterial resistances present in these bodies of water,
making humans and animals more susceptible to diseases (Jia et al., 2012; Larsson et al., 2007).
From Table 1, antibiotics represent almost a third of the PPCPs included in the review showing
the high research interest in the field. The high utilization of antibiotics either for personal use or
for agricultural and livestock purposes have led to this recent trend.

2.3 PPCPs detection

The fate of PPCPs in wastewater treatment plants are done through sludge sample
analysis or the direct measurement of antibiotics in wastewater (Jia et al., 2012). For actual
wastewater samples, a liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry method
combined with solid-phase extraction and a weak cation exchange cartridge cleanup can be used
(Xiao et al., 2008). In lab samples, a chromatographic analysis is employed (Carvalho et al.,
2016).

3. Fundamentals of aerobic granular sludge

3.1 Wastewater treatment using aerobic granular sludge advantages
Granular sludge was first envisioned as a strictly anaerobic process (Adav et al., 2008).
The advantage of using aerobic granular sludge over granular sludge is its relatively faster cycles
involved in the process (Dinh et al., 2014; Tay et al., 2005; Linlin et al., 2005). Compared to
activated sludge, aerobic granular sludge has a higher microbial attachment potential (Lu et al.,
2014). Aerobic granular sludge is a recent biotechnological process in wastewater treatment
capable of treating domestic, PPCPs contaminated wastewater, high strength organic and toxic
wastewaters as well as removing nutrients in wastewater (Corsino et al., 2016; Yan et al., 2015;
Bassin et al., 2012; Miao et al., 2014; Li et al., 2014; Liu et al., 2015, Kong et al., 2015).

3.2 Microorganisms present in aerobic granular sludge

In order to get a glimpse of the individual members of the microbial community inside
the aerobic granular sludge, DNA extraction followed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
amplification and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis can be used. Different kinds of
heterotrophic, denitrifying, nitrifying, glycogen-accumulating, and phosphorus-accumulating
bacteria are found in aerobic granules (Adav et al., 2008). Amorim et al. (2014) identified
twenty-five bacterial isolates from the granules of which nine had phylogenetic affiliation with
-Proteobacteria, five with -Proteobacteria, five with -Proteobacteria, four with
Bacteriodetes and two with Actinobacteria. Zhu et al. (2013) investigated the effect of 4chloroaniline on the microbial community of aerobic granular sludge and found out that the main
species changed from classes -Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria to -Proteobacteria and
Bacteriodetes. Ma et al. (2013) on the other hand, concluded that changes in organic loading
rates affected the microbial community in terms of the dominant bacterial species, however it
was stressed that the microbial diversity stayed relatively stable.

3.3 Important characteristics of aerobic granular sludge

3.3.1 Physical
The settling velocity of aerobic granular sludge is an important parameter in the efficacy
of the technology. It determines the efficiency of the solid-liquid separation in wastewater
treatment systems. The settling velocity of p-cresol degrading aerobic granules was found to be
0.06 m/s (Basheer and Farooqi, 2012). When compared with the velocity of anaerobic granules at
72m/s, the settling velocity of aerobic granules was lower at 38.4 m/s (Linlin et al., 2005). Zhang

and Tay (2016) found out that the morphology of the granules changed with the introduction of
trichloroethylene giving rise to larger granules. Dai et al. (2015) showed that a lot of cocci and
bacilli bacteria accumulated in the surface of the granules after being exposed to increased
aniline conditions. The flaw of using the settling property to characterize the granule
characteristics was exposed by Kim et al. (2008) and instead advocated for the use of the total
microbial density as a more sensitive and accurate parameter for classifying aerobic granules.

3.3.2 Chemical composition

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are high molecular weight substances excreted
by individual microorganisms and the products of microbiological processes such as cellular
lysis and hydrolysis of macromolecules (Sheng et al., 2010). They are important in the granular
structure because they are responsible for the adhesion and aggregation of the different microbes
(Long et al., 2015) These substances can alter the granules physico-chemical characteristics such
as its hydrophobicity, charge and mass transfer barriers (Adav et al., 2008, Sheng et al., 2015).
The major components of EPS are polysaccharides (PS) and proteins (PN) (Lin et al., 2014;
Long et al., 2014). The ratio PS/PN is an important parameter in the determination of the
dominant component of the EPS in terms of granular stability (Yan et al., 2015; Long et al.,
2015). To indicate chemical changes in the EPS contents of the granules, a three-dimensional
excitation emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectra is used (Miao et al., 2014; Carucci et al.,
2009; Lv et al., 2014).

3.4 Granulation mechanism

Liu and Tay (2002) proposed that granulation is a four-step process as follows
1. Bacterium to bacterium contact by physical movement through either or through a
combination of hydrodynamic, diffusion, gravity and thermodynamic forces or through
the use of flagella, cilia or pseudopods.
2. Formation of stable bacteria-solid surface or multicellular contacts through physical
forces (Van der Waals forces, opposite charge attraction, thermodynamic forces,
hydrophobicity, linking by filamentous bacteria), chemical forces (hydrogen liaison,
formation of ionic pairs, formation of ionic triplet, interparticulate bridges), and
biochemical forces (cellular surface dehydration, cellular membrane fusion)
3. Maturity of the newly form aggregates through either or through a combination of
production of extracellular polymers, growth of cellular cluster, metabolic change and
genetic competence.
4. Stabilization of the three-dimensional structure through hydrodynamic shear forces.

4. Studies on PPCPs removal

4.1 Types of reactors used
Different kinds of reactors are used in the study PPCPs removal. The most common
reactor used in the studies is a sequencing batch reactor primarily due to ease of control and
operation. Zhao et al. (2015) used a sequencing batch reactor in the study of the remediation of
PPCPs; Zhang et al. (2016) used a sequencing batch reactor in the co-metabolism of phenol and
trichloroethylene; Dai et al. (2015) used a sequencing batch reactor in investigating the influence
of an aniline supplement on the stability of aerobic granular sludge; Liu et al. (2015) used a

bubble column reactor in treating actual slaughterhouse wastewater; Corsino et al. (2016) used a
continuous flow membrane reactor in studying the stability of aerobic granular sludge in a
continuous-flow reactor which is a novel idea since most studies are done using batch reactors;
Adav et al. (2010) used a sequencing batch reactor in investigating the potential causes of
granule breakdown at high organic loading rates; Carucci et al. (2010) used a sequencing batch
reactor and a membrane reactor to compare the two in treating wastewater contaminated with 4chlorophenol; Zhang and Tay (2016) used a sequencing batch reactor in investigating the
physiological and functional diversity of microbes in phenol degradation with trichloroethylene
co-metabolism; Li et al. (2008) used a sequencing batch reactor in studying microbial population
dynamics at different organic loading rates; Yan et al. (2016) studied the simultaneous
nitrification and denitrification along with enhanced nitrogen removal of ammonium-nitrogenrich wastewater using a sequencing batch reactor; Pronka et al. (2015) used an actual wastewater
treatment plant to test its performance; Duque et al. (2011) used a sequencing batch reactor in the
degradation of 2-flourophenol; Thanh et al. (2009) used a sequencing bath airlift reactor in
characterizing aerobic granular sludge at various organic loading rates; Wagner et al. (2015) used
a sequencing batch reactor in investigating the effect of particulate organic substrate on aerobic
granulation; Wan and Sperandio (2009) investigated the role of denitrification on aerobic
granular sludge formation in a sequencing batch reactor; Jang et al. (2003) characterized aerobic
granules in a sequencing batch reactor; Long et al. (2015) used a cyclic aerobic granular reactor
to determine the tolerance to organic loading of aerobic granular sludge; Liu et al. (2005) used a
sequencing batch reactor to investigate the properties and kinetics of glucose-fed aerobic
granular sludge; Zhu et al. (2013) used a sequencing airlift bioreactor in investigating the
stability of aerobic granular sludge under 4-chloroaniline shock; de Kruek et al. (2010) used a

sequencing batch reactor in determining the behavior of polymeric substance of aerobic granular
sludge.

4.2 Antibiotics removal

The number of studies on antibiotic removal by aerobic granular sludge pale in
comparison as compared to removal by anaerobic granular sludge this is due to the fact that
aerobic granular sludge has been only around for a decade and has just been recently adapted by
Royal-HashkoningDHV in the Nereda technology (Pronk et al., 2015). Amorim et al. (2014)
investigated the performance of aerobic granular sludge in the removal of ofloxacin,
norlfloxacin, and ciprofloxacin in a sequencing batch reactor and showed that exposure to these
antibiotics led to the decrease in size and promoted its disintegration.

5. Concluding remarks and perspectives

The widespread use aerobic granular sludge technology is promising thought. The
technology can withstand high toxic loading rates and highly toxic substances. Its granular nature
allowed a more stable operation and the accommodation of higher loads. The review has shown
that it can remove multiple toxic substances and its resistance to shock loading is truly
commendable.
There has been little research in the treatment of antibiotics using aerobic granular sludge
therefore a way forward is to set a trend towards this field. The interactions between different
parameters such as temperature, pH, COD, BOD have been rarely investigated. There still many

questions that remain unanswered such as its effect on the morphology, the microbiological
community of the sludge and the possible bacterial resistance response. These are some of the
aspects that still need to be answered in order for us to realize the future of the antibiotics
removal by aerobic granular sludge.

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