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Soluble microbial products (SMP) and soluble extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) from wastewater sludge

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Abstract

Laspidou and Rittmann (Water Research 36:2711–2720, 2002) proposed that the soluble extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are identical to soluble microbial products (SMP) in sludge liquor. In this paper, we compared the physicochemical characteristics of the SMP and soluble EPS from original and aerobically or anaerobically digested wastewater sludge. The surface charges, particle sizes, residual turbidities of polyaluminum chloride (PACl) coagulated supernatant, and chemical compositions of the SMP and soluble EPS containing suspensions were used as comparison index. Experimental results revealed that the particles in SMP and soluble EPS fractions extracted from original wastewater sludge, before and after digestion, were not identical in all physicochemical characteristics herein measured. The current test cannot support the proposal by Laspidou and Rittmann (Water Research 36:2711–2720, 2002) that SMP is identical to the soluble EPS from a wastewater sludge.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan, Republic of China

    A. Ramesh & Duu-Jong Lee

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Sciences, Yuan-Ze University, Taoyuan, 330, Taiwan, Republic of China

    S. G. Hong

Authors
  1. A. Ramesh
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  2. Duu-Jong Lee
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  3. S. G. Hong
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Correspondence to Duu-Jong Lee.

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Ramesh, A., Lee, DJ. & Hong, S.G. Soluble microbial products (SMP) and soluble extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) from wastewater sludge. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 73, 219–225 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-006-0446-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-006-0446-y

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