abstract
This study elucidates the enhancement of aerobic granulation by zero-valent iron (ZVI). A reactor aug-mented with ZVI had a start-up time of aerobic granulation (43 days) that was notably less than that fora reactor without augmentation (64 days). The former reactor also had better removal efficiencies forchemical oxygen demand and ammonium. Moreover, the mature granules augmented with ZVI had bet-ter physical characteristics and produced more extracellular polymeric substances (especially of protein).Three-dimensional-excitation emission matrix fluorescence showed that ZVI enhanced organic materialdiversity. Additionally, ZVI enhanced the diversity of the microbial community. Fe2+dissolution fromZVI helped reduce the start-up time of aerobic granulation and increased the extracellular polymericsubstance content. Conclusively, the use of ZVI effectively enhanced aerobic granulation.