A SBR inoculated with conventional activated sludge was employed to cultivate aerobic granular sludge.Under the selective pressure of settling time

the formation of nitrifying granules enriched with the ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) was achieved by increasing the nitrogen loading rate (NLR).The nitrifying granule was shaped like a sphere or a ellipsoid with an equivalent diameter of approximate 1.1 mm

an average settling velocity of 1.9 cm·s-1and the sludge volume index of 18.2～31.4 mL·g-1.As the aerobic granular system was operated stably

the NLR reached a value of 0.045 5 kgNH4+N· (kg MLSS·d)-1 with ammonia removal efficiency above 95% and nitrite accumulation ratio in the range of 80%～90%.The NLR was 4.55 times higher than that of the startup period.The enrichment of the nitrifying bacteria was quantified by FISH analysis which indicated that AOB was 14.9% of the total bacteria and nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) was 0.89%.It is concluded that the associated inhibition of FA at the start of the reaction and FNA at the end of the reaction would be the key factors to start up and maintain the stable nitritation.