Drying and storing of aerobic granules present a promising solution to the long startup period required for the cultivation of aerobic granular sludge. This work investigated the influence of drying of aerobic granules on the degradation of organic substances and nutrients removal after reactivation. Mature aerobic granules were dehydrated, air-dried, and inoculated to a different reactor after one-day storage. The reactor was operated for two months to examine the effect of the drying process on the performance of the reactivated granules in terms of organics and nutrients removal, settling properties, and structural stability. The reactor was fed with a synthetic substrate at OLR of 3 g COD/L.day. Results indicated that the stored and dried granules were rapidly reactivated achieving COD removal efficiency and ammonia nitrogen removal of over 90% after one day and was maintained until the end of the experiment. The granules were able to restore the original performance after reactivation with specific removal rates of 1.2 g sCOD/g MLSS.day, 39.5 mg NH₃-N/g MLSS.day, and 7.4 mg PO₄-P/g MLSS.day in terms of COD, ammonia, and phosphorus, respectively which is comparable to that of the granule cultivating reactor with specific removal rates for COD, ammonia, and phosphorus of 0.7 g sCOD/g MLSS.day, 34.1 mg NH₃-N/g MLSS.day, and 3.9 mg PO₄-P/g MLSS.day. The reactivated granules showed excellent settleability, as indicated by SVI₃₀ below 60 mL/g, and granulation percentage of over 90%. These results demonstrated the practical potential of drying of aerobic granules for the fast startup of granular sludge reactors. Further testing is required to determine the dried granule shelf life and the survival of important strains responsible for organics and nutrients removal.

好氧颗粒的干燥和存储为好氧颗粒污泥的培养所需的长启动时间提供了有希望的解决方案。这项工作研究了好氧颗粒干燥对活化后有机物降解和营养去除的影响。储存一天后，将成熟的好氧颗粒脱水，风干并接种到其他反应器中。该反应器运行两个月，以检查干燥过程对再活化颗粒性能的有机物和营养去除，沉降特性和结构稳定性方面的影响。用3g COD / L·天的OLR向反应器中加入合成底物。结果表明，储存和干燥的颗粒在一天后迅速重新活化，达到了COD去除效率和90％以上的氨氮去除率，并且一直保持到实验结束。颗粒在重新活化后能够以1.2 g sCOD / g MLSS.day，39.5 mg NH的特定去除速率恢复原始性能₃ -N / g MLSS.day和7.4 mg PO ₄ -P / g MLSS.day分别以COD，氨和磷计，与颗粒培养反应器的COD，氨的去除率相当，磷为0.7 g sCOD / g MLSS.day，34.1 mg NH ₃ -N / g MLSS.day和3.9 mg PO ₄ -P / g MLSS.day。如SVI ₃₀所示，重新活化的颗粒具有出色的沉降性，低于60 mL / g，造粒率超过90％。这些结果证明了将好氧颗粒干燥对于颗粒污泥反应器快速启动的实际潜力。需要进一步测试以确定干燥颗粒的货架期以及负责去除有机物和营养物质的重要菌株的存活时间。