Performance and microbial community structure of an aerobic granular sludge system at different phenolic acid concentrations.

The present work aims to use aerobic granular sludge technology for the treatment of wastewater containing high organic matter loads and a mixture of phenolic compounds normally present in olive washing water. The physicochemical performance of five bioreactors treating different concentrations of mixture of phenolic acid was monitored to observe the response of the systems. The bioreactors that operated at 50, 100 and 300 mg L did not show relevant changes in terms of performance and granules properties, showing high ratio of phenolic compound removal ratio.