Patent ID: 6566119
Filing Date: 2003-05-20
Classification: C02F,C12N,Y02W,Y10S

Abstract:
A method of acquiring granular growth of an aerobic microorganism in a reactor comprising a liquid and a substrate, the method comprising the steps of:(a) inoculating a reactor with an aerobic microorganism; (b) feeding the reactor with a liquid comprising a substrate; (c) feeding a gas comprising oxygen to the reactor, to cause turbulent mixing of the liquid, substrate and aerobic microorganism, wherein the substrate is converted by the aerobic microorganism to form a plurality of aerobic microorganism granules; (d) stopping the mixing for a period of time, so that the aerobic microorganism granules settle in the reactor; (e) draining the reactor by partly emptying the top part of the reactor; wherein the aerobic microorganism granules settle during step (d) for a period of time which is determined by calculating a value that is the height of the liquid in the reactor at the end of step (c) in meters divided by a settling velocity of at least 5 meters per hour; and repeating steps (b) to (e).