Insight into formation and biological characteristics of Aspergillus tubingensis-based aerobic granular sludge (AT-AGS) in wastewater treatment.

The long start-up time and facile biomass loss of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) impede its application for actual wastewater treatment. The present study investigates a novel assist-aggregation strategy based on Aspergillus tubingensis (AT) mycelium pellets to accelerate sludge granulation, and engineered FeO nanoparticles (NPs) were used to further enhance flocculent sludge (FS) aggregation. The AT mycelium pellets, modified by 0.