ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the growth kinetics of aerobic granules associated with substrate utilization. The growth of aerobic granules after the initial cell-to-cell self-attachment is similar to the growth of biofilm, and can be regarded as the net result of interaction between bacterial growth and detachment. Aerobic granules can form in a wide range of different substrate nitrogen/ chemical oxygen demand (COD) ratios for nutrient and carbon removal. L. Liu et al. correlated the kinetic behaviors of aerobic granules to substrate concentration in terms of milligrams COD per liter, and some key kinetic constants were also determined. The growth of aerobic granules in terms of size and size-dependent growth rate is inversely related to the shear force, but positively related to the organic loading rate, while substrate N/COD ratio affects the growth kinetics of aerobic granules through change in the microbial population.
