Bioprocess Biosyst Eng (2010) 33:779–785
DOI 10.1007/s00449-009-0399-5
ORIGINAL PAPER
Effect of sponge volume on the performance of down-flow hanging
sponge system treating UASB reactor effluent
A. Tawfik • A. Ohashi • H. Harada
Received: 14 September 2009 / Accepted: 29 November 2009 / Published online: 15 December 2009
 Springer-Verlag 2009
Abstract The performance of down-flow hanging sponge
(DHS) system treating UASB reactor effluent at different
sponge volume of 38.2, 28.7, 19.1 and 9.6% was investi-
gated. The hydraulic retention time (HRT) and flow rate
were kept constant at 2.6 h and 0.46 m3/day, respectively.
The results obtained indicated that reducing the sponge
volume of the DHS system from 38.2 to 19.1% significantly
decreased the removal efficiency of CODtotal from 80 ± 8
to 62 ± 14%; CODsoluble from 71.2 ± 10 to 53.7 ± 18%
and CODparticulate from 86 ± 10 to 62 ± 15%. With further
reduction of the sponge volume down to 9.6%, the removal
efficiency was dropped to 54 ± 15% for CODtotal;
44.1 ± 14% for CODsoluble and 42 ± 12% for CODparticulate.
Likewise, the nitrification efficiency and fecal coliform
(FC) removal was strongly affected by decreasing the
sponge volume of the DHS system, i.e., the nitrification
A. Tawfik (&)
Water Pollution Research Department,
National Research Center, P.O. Box 12622,
El-Behouth St, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt
e-mail: Tawfik8@hotmail.com
A. Ohashi  H. Harada
Department of Environmental System Engineering,
Nagaoka University of Technology, Kamitomioka 1603-1,
Niigata, Nagaoka 940-2188, Japan
Present Address:
A. Ohashi
Graduate School of Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan
Present Address:
H. Harada
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University,
Sendai 980-8579, Japan
efficiency was dropped by a value of 48.3% when reducing
the sponge volume of the DHS system from 38.2 to 19.1%.
At sponge volume of 38.2%, the DHS system removes
2.6 ± 0.3 log10/100 ml of FC which is significantly higher
than that at sponge volume of 28.7, 19.1 and 9.6%.
Accordingly, it is recommended to design and operate such
a system at a bulk sponge volume not exceeding 38.2% of
the total reactor volume and at an HRT of 2.6 h.
Keywords UASB  DHS  Sponge volume  Nitrification 
COD  Fecal coliform
Introduction
The deleterious impacts caused by the discharge of
domestic wastewater or poorly treated effluents on natural
water resources and public health is well known. One of the
main arguments for justifying this situation in developing
countries is the high cost of sanitation facilities, provision
and the lack of capital resources to invest in the sector. The
scarcity of resources is habitually responsible for deficient
maintenance of the infrastructure and includes inadequate
human resources as the most important constraints, i.e.
shortages of skilled manpower, insufficiently experienced
and lacking adequate training and motivation. This factor
also includes lack of material resources, such as spare
parts, electricity, chemicals, laboratory facilities, and
equipment for maintenance tasks [1]. Therefore, the
development of suitable and low-cost wastewater treatment
technologies for low-income countries evidently needs to
be addressed. In this way, a wider set of reliable techno-
logical options able to cope with the above-mentioned
constraints must be developed and promoted accordingly.
The anaerobic–aerobic treatment of domestic wastewater
123
780
was studied in several combinations, i.e. up-flow anaerobic
sludge blanket (UASB)—moving bed biofilm reactor [2],
UASB—aerated fixed bed [3] and UASB-rotating biologi-
cal contactor [4], etc. An affordable and promising treat-
ment system namely down-flow hanging sponge (DHS) as
a post-treatment in combination with UASB reactor as a
pre-treatment has been recently implemented for sewage
treatment in developing countries [5–7]. Tandukar et al. [8]
compared the performance of a combined pilot-scale sys-
tems (UASB/DHS) versus activated sludge (AS) process
for treatment of domestic wastewater at the same hydraulic
retention time (HRT) of 9.0 h. Both systems achieved
similar removal efficiency of 90% for total COD and 94%
for total BOD5. However, UASB/DHS system outper-
formed AS process for FC removal. In addition, the excess
sludge production from a combined system (UASB/DHS)
was 15 times lower than that from AS process. Overall, the
main merits of DHS system can be summarized as follows:
• simplicity, low space requirement and no sludge
separation requirement for effective operation (advan-
tages over AS process);
• no need for periodic backwashing (advantages over
fixed bed biofilm reactors/biofilters or trickling filters);
• high amount of active biomass retained in the sponge of
DHS system and corresponding longer sludge residence
time (SRT) ensures a high degree of treatment at
minimum operational conditions. These properties are
important to hedge against any hydraulic or organic
overload to the system during the real application as
well as to reduce sludge production.
Machdar et al. [5] investigated a first generation of DHS
system (cube type) in combination with UASB reactor at an
overall HRT of 8.3 h (7.0 h for UASB and 1.3 h for DHS
unit) and a temperature of 30 C. The combined system
achieved an overall removal efficiency of 94% for CODtotal;
81% for CODsoluble and nearly perfect removal of TSS and
BOD5total. Moreover, the DHS reactor was capable of per-
forming relatively high-nitrification efficiency (73–78%).
The second generation of the DHS system (curtain type) as
a post-treatment of UASB reactor effluent was investigated
by Machdar et al. [7]. The UASB/DHS system was suc-
cessfully achieved a removal efficiency of 94–97% for
unfiltered BOD5, 81–84% for unfiltered COD and 63–79%
for TSS at an overall HRT of 8 h (6 h for UASB and 2 h for
DHS units). 52–61% of ammonia–nitrogen was removed.
After the successful operation of the first and second gen-
eration DHS reactors, the third generation DHS system
(random type) was developed to overcome a few short-
comings of its predecessors. This reactor was designed to
simplify the construction process in full scale application in
developing countries. Tawfik et al. [9] investigated UASB/
DHS (third generation) for the treatment of domestic
123
Bioprocess Biosyst Eng (2010) 33:779–785
wastewater at different HRTs of 16, 12 and 8 h. The results
obtained indicated that increasing the total HRT from 8 to
16 h significantly improves the removal efficiency of
CODtotal, BOD5total, FC and nitrification efficiency. How-
ever, at an overall HRT of 8.0 h, the combined system
achieved a residual values of 63 and 7.0 mg/l, for CODtotal
and BOD5total, respectively. The calculated nitrification rate
of the DHS system according to the nitrate and nitrite
production amounted to 0.18 kg/m3 day.
Effects of various operating parameters like sponge pore
size [10]; organic loading rate (OLR) [9] and shock load
[11] have been studied in detail for DHS system treating
UASB reactor effluent. Partial nitrification and anaerobic
ammonium oxidation for nitrogen removal in DHS system
was also investigated [12]. However, the effect of sponge
volume on the performance of the DHS system has not
previously been investigated. This study was undertaken to
assess the effect of sponge volume on the removal efficiency
of COD fractions; TSS, ammonia and FC in DHS system
treating UASB reactor effluent at a constant HRT of 2.6 h.
Materials and methods
The research was carried out with the effluent of a 155 l
UASB reactor previously investigated by Tawfik et al. [9]
and fed with domestic wastewater. The main characteristics
of the domestic wastewater are CODtotal = 480 ± 122 mg/l;
CODsoluble = 187 ± 36 mg/l; CODparticulate = 293 ± 101
mg/l; BOD5total = 194 ± 55 mg/l; BOD5soluble = 81 ±
31 mg/l; BOD5particulate = 113 ± 49 mg/l; TSS = 260 ±
138 mg/l; VSS = 204 ± 123 mg/l; TKN = 52 ± 8 mg/l;
ammonia = 24 ± 4 mg/l and FC = 4.6 9 106 ± 2.1 9
106/100 ml.
UASB reactor effluent
The main characteristics of the effluent of UASB reactor
used for the experiments are CODtotal = 226 ± 81 mg/l;
CODsoluble = 111 ± 33 mg/l; CODparticulate = 115 ± 71
mg/l; TSS = 50 ± 35 mg/l; VSS = 44 ± 23 mg/l; TKN =
31.4 ± 16 mg/l; NH4–N = 28 ± 9 mg/l and FC = 1.1 9
106 ± 8.4 9 105/100 ml.
DHS pilot plant
136 l DHS system with an internal diameter of 0.2 m was
made of plexiglass (Fig. 1). The reactor consists of four
identical segments connected vertically in series with a
total height of 3.5 m. The reactor was filled with com-
mercial sponge (polyurethane material—CF type) (27-mm
height 9 22-mm diameter) up to 38.2% of its total volume.
The shape of the sponge is perfectly cylindrical and
Bioprocess Biosyst Eng (2010) 33:779–785
Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of
DHS system treating UASB
reactor effluent
supported by perforated polypropylene plastic material to
avoid clogging of the reactor and to facilitate the pene-
tration of diffused air inside the reactor. The sponge criteria
are surface area (256 m2/m3), density (30 kg/m3), and
internal porosity (90%). A circular plate provided with
holes was used to support the filling material and to sep-
arate each segment of the reactor (Fig. 1). DHS system has
five windows for air diffusion. Anaerobically pretreated
effluent flows by gravity to the distributor situated on the
top of the DHS system and rotated at 22 rpm for equal
water distribution for whole sponge. The distributor was
madeup of aluminum.
Experimental set-up
Before starting the experiments, the DHS system was
continuously operated for 130 days. The system was stable
and attained steady-state operating conditions. The biomass
accumulated to the sponge amounted to 40 gTSS/l and
34 gVSS/l sponge. The bulk sponge volume of DHS sys-
tem was successively reduced from 38.2 to 28.7%; from
28.7 to 19.1 and from 19.1 to 9.6% by taking some sponge
out of the reactor operation. The HRT (2.6 h) and flow rate
(0.46 m3/days) were kept constant throughout the whole
experimental period. The percentage of sponge volume
(SV%) was calculated as follows:
Percentage of sponge volume ðSV%Þ
Sponge volume ðlÞ
¼  100:
Total volume of the DHS system ðlÞ
781
Scanning electron microscopy
The sponge media was harvested from DHS system and
subject to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis.
These samples were fixed in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH
7.0) containing 2.5% glutaraldehyde for 12.0 h at 4 C.
After fixation, samples were rinsed three times in 0.1 M
phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) and dehydrated gradually after
successive immersions in ethanol solutions of increasing
concentration (10, 30, 50, 70, 80, 90 and 95%). Each
rinsing and dehydrating step took 10 min. The samples
were then washed thrice in 100% ethanol before adding
hexamethyldisilazane for 30 s. Drying was completed by
incubating the samples for 2.0 h at 30 C. The sponge
samples were then coated with a piece of gold and attached
on the microscope supports with silver glue. SEM resolu-
tion was at beam energy (0.4 nm at 30 kV).
Sampling and analytical methods
Grab samples at certain time of the UASB reactor effluent
and the effluent of DHS system were collected and
immediately analyzed. Three times analysis per week were
carried out. The CODtotal, TSS, VSS and FC (membrane
filtration technique) were analyzed according to APHA,
AWWA (WEF) [13]. Raw samples were used for CODtotal,
and 0.45-lm membrane filtered samples for CODsoluble.
The CODparticulate was calculated by the difference between
CODtotal and CODfiltered, respectively. Ammonia (NH4–N),
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782 Bioprocess Biosyst Eng (2010) 33:779–785

nitrite (NO2–N) and nitrate (NO3–N) were determined by 200

COD soluble (mg/l)

HPLC. Total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKj–N) was measured 150
according HACH method. Biomass retained in the sponge
100
was harvested and analyzed. The biomass was squeezed by
distilled water and then centrifuged for determination of 50

total solids (TS) and volatile solids (VS) [13]. TS and VS 0

130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210
were calculated according to sponge volume.
Time (days)
UASB-eff. DHS-eff.(SV=9,6%) DHS-eff.(SV=19,1%)
DHS-eff.(SV=28,7%) DHS-eff.(SV=38,2%)
Results and discussion
Fig. 3 Effect of sponge volume (SV%) on the CODsoluble removal via
Effect of bulk sponge volume on the performance DHS system treating UASB reactor effluent
of DHS system treating UASB reactor effluent
at constant HRT of 2.6 h 400

COD particulate
300

(mg/l)
COD fractions and TSS removal 200
100
The results presented in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 show the effect 0
130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210
of sponge volume on the removal efficiency of the
Time (days)
distinguished fractions of COD (CODtotal; CODsoluble; UASB-eff. DHS-eff.(SV=9,6%) DHS-eff.(SV=19,1%)
CODparticulate) in the DHS system treating UASB reactor
DHS-eff.(SV=28,7%) DHS-eff.(SV=38,2%)
effluent. The results obtained indicated that reducing the
sponge volume of the DHS system from 38.2 to 19.1% Fig. 4 Effect of sponge volume (SV%) on the CODparticulate removal
significantly decreased the removal efficiency of CODtotal via DHS system treating UASB reactor effluent
from 80 ± 8 to 62 ± 14%; CODsoluble from 71.2 ± 10 to
53.7 ± 18% and CODparticulate from 86 ± 10 to 62 ± 15%. The DHS system provided a mean effluent quality of
With further reduction of the sponge volume down to 41.9 ± 13 and 65.1 ± 16.5 mg/l for CODtotal at sponge
9.6%, the removal efficiency was dropped to 54 ± 15% volume of 38.2 and 28.7%, respectively which is similar to
for CODtotal; 44.1 ± 14% for CODsoluble and 42 ± 12% the results obtained by Tandukar et al. [14]. They investi-
for CODparticulate. Based on these results, the amount of gated DHS system for treatment of UASB reactor effluent
biomass on the 19.1 and 9.6% sponge of the DHS system at sponge volume of 39% and HRT of 2.0 h. The DHS
were not enough to accommodate the incoming COD system provided a final effluent quality of 55 mg/l for
and OLR. High removal efficiency of CODtotal at CODtotal and 12 mg/l for CODparticulate. At higher sponge
sponge volume of 38.2% can be due to the high specific volume of 51.6 l and an HRT of 2.0 h, the DHS system
surface area and consequently low imposed surface loading achieved a residual values of 63 mg/l for CODtotal and
rate. Surface adsorption is the first step in the sequence of 24 mg/l for CODparticulate [9]. Better results for residual
degradation of organic matter in the DHS system. The values of CODtotal (49 mg/l), CODsoluble (32 mg/l) and
adsorbed substrate would then be hydrolyzed to diffusible CODparticulate (17 mg/l) was achieved by Mahmoud et al.
substrate on the surface and inside the sponge of the DHS [15], who used DHS system with sponge volume of 18%
system. and operated at an HRT of 2.0 h for treatment of anaerobic
hybrid reactor effluent. Higher residual COD values (60–
600 120 mg/l), BOD5 values ([60 mg/l) and TSS ([30 mg/l)
COD total (mg/l)

500 were obtained by Chernicharo and Nascimento [16] who

400 used trickling filter for the treatment of anaerobically
300 pretreated effluent. Overall, the removal efficiency of up to
200
35% for COD and 64% for TSS were achieved at longer
100
0 HRT of 24 h for sequencing batch reactor (SBR) treating
130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 UASB reactor effluent [17].
Time (days)
Higher than 67 ± 21 and 68 ± 16% of TSS and VSS
UASB-eff. DHS-eff.(SV=9,6%) DHS-eff.(SV=19,1%)
removal efficiency were achieved when the sponge volume
DHS-eff.(SV=28,7%) DHS-eff.(SV=38,2%)
fraction was kept at 38.2% (Fig. 5a, b). The removal effi-
Fig. 2 Effect of sponge volume (SV%) on the CODtotal removal via ciency of TSS and VSS was sharply decreased to 16.7 ± 8
DHS system treating UASB reactor effluent and 20 ± 12%, respectively, when the sponge volume was

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Bioprocess Biosyst Eng (2010) 33:779–785 783

(a) 200 presence of higher ammonia concentration in the treated

effluent at sponge volume of 19.1 and 9.6% can be
TSS (mg/l)

150
100 attributed to a higher production of non-nitrifying biomass
50 material, i.e. consisting of adsorbed organic matter and
0 mainly heterotrophic bacteria. It is believed that the bac-
130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 teria responsible for nitrification process have slow growth
Time (days)
rate as compared to the heterotrophic bacteria for removing
UASB-eff. DHS-eff.(SV=9,6%) DHS-eff.(SV=19,1%)
organics [18]. For nitrification to proceed, the sponge
DHS-eff.(SV=28,7%) DHS-eff.(SV=38,2%)
volume of the DHS system must be maintained at a level
(b) 160 up to 38.2%.
140 The results presented in Fig. 6 show that total nitrogen
120
VSS (mg/l)

100 (TN) removal remained unaffected when reducing the

80 sponge volume of the DHS system from 38.2 to 9.6%. 25%
60
40 of nitrogen was unaccounted in the treated effluent of the
20 DHS system. Uemura et al. [19] found that the surface of
0
the sponge biofilm was kept aerobically with high dis-
8

0
13

14

15

16

16

17

17

18

19

20 solved oxygen (DO) level. However, a distinctive DO

Time (days)
UASB-eff. DHS-eff.(SV=9,6%) DHS-eff.(SV=19,1%)
gradient occurred along the sponge inward depth, resulting
DHS-eff.(SV=28,7%) DHS-eff.(SV=38,2%) in anoxic and anaerobic conditions at deep inside portions
of the sponge, which allowed nitrogen removal happening
Fig. 5 a Effect of sponge volume (SV%) on the TSS removal via in traditional way. Kim et al. [20] investigated an inter-
DHS system treating UASB reactor effluent. b Effect of sponge
volume (SV%) on the VSS removal via DHS system treating UASB mittent aeration reactor followed by a nitrification reactor
reactor effluent packed with the porous sponge media for nutrient removal
(N&P) at SRT of 12 days. Nitrogen and phosphorus rem-
decreased down to 9.6%. The removal of coarse suspended ovals averaged as high as 76 and 95%, respectively.
solids in the DHS system can be mainly due to entrapment
and/or adsorption followed by degradation. Fecal coliform removal

Nitrogen removal As expected, increasing the sponge volume of the DHS

system from 9.6 to 38.2% leads to increase the removal
The removal efficiency of nitrogen species was signifi- efficiency of fecal coliform (FC) (Fig. 7). At sponge vol-
cantly improved by increasing the percentage of sponge ume of 38.2%, the DHS system removes 2.6 ± 0.3 log10/
volume of the DHS system. Available data in Fig. 6 indi- 100 ml of FC which is significantly higher than that at
cate that decreasing the sponge volume from 38.2 to 19.1% sponge volume of 28.7, 19.1 and 9.6%. The positive effect
significantly declined TKj-N and ammonia removal from of increased sponge volume could be due to the increased
71.2 ± 11 to 38 ± 18 and from 86.3 ± 13 to 38 ± 15%, of availability adsorption sites as well as water residence
respectively, and consequently, the nitrite and nitrate time and hence increased removal of FC in DHS system.
(NOx–N) production was significantly decreased from This assumption is supported by the results obtained by
18.0 ± 2.4 to 5.2 ± 2.8 mg/l as shown in Fig. 6. The Stevik et al. [21]. In addition, accumulating the biomass on
the surface and inside the sponge will increase straining
TKj-N and Ammonia

NOx-N and TN loss

60 25
50 20
7
40 15
(log10/100ml
(mg/l)

(mg/l)

F. coliform

30 10 6
20 5 5
10 0 4
0 -5 3
UASB- 9.6 19.1 28.7 38.2 2
effluent 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210
Time (days)
Sponge volume (SV) (%)
UASB-eff. DHS-eff.(SV=9,6%) DHS-eff.(SV=19,1%)
TKj-N NH4-N NOx-N Total N loss DHS-eff.(SV=28,7%) DHS-eff.(SV=38,2%)

Fig. 6 Effect of sponge volume (SV%) on the nitrification efficiency Fig. 7 Effect of sponge volume (SV%) on the FC removal via DHS
and TN removal via DHS system treating UASB reactor effluent system treating UASB reactor effluent

123
784 Bioprocess Biosyst Eng (2010) 33:779–785

due to reduced sponge pore size and enhanced adsorption become low. Tawfik et al. [6] found that the DHS system is
of FC [22]. Stevik et al. [23] found that specific surface effective in removal of the FC in the suspended form
area is the most important factors affecting transport of ([5 lm). However, unlike other FC in the colloidal form
Escherichia coli in biological wastewater filters. Bomo (\5 to [0.45 lm) is not well removed in DHS system.
et al. [24] found that predation played a big role for the They concluded that the adsorption of FC in the colloidal
removal of E. coli in the infiltration systems. fraction form is rate-limiting step in DHS system treating
The results presented in Figs. 8 and 9 show that the UASB reactor effluent.
removal of FC only significantly improved once the con-
centration of the dispersed COD fractions and TSS has Scanning electron microscopy

350 6.5 Scanning electron microscope photos of sponge were taken

COD fractions (mg/l)

Faecal coliform
300 before and after acclimatization (Fig. 10a, b). It was clearly

(log10/100ml)
5.5
250 5 illustrated that the clean sponge has a lot of clear pores
200 4.5
150 4 before acclimatization (Fig. 10a). However, after accli-
100 3.5 matization an obvious deposition of biomass on the sponge
3
50 2.5 surface and inside the sponge pores indicating that the
0 2
sponge acted as an ideal support for microorganisms’
UASB- 9.6 19.1 28.7 38.2
effluent growth (Fig. 10b). Biomass consists of a biodegradable
Sponge Volume (SV) (%) fraction and an inert fraction, which cannot be biologically
COD total COD soluble degraded. This inert fraction is composed by dead end
COD particulate Faecal coliform (log10/100ml) products and rest of extra-cellular matrix [7].
Fig. 8 The relationship between the FC removal and COD fractions
in DHS system treating UASB reactor effluent
Conclusions

100 7 Reducing the bulk sponge volume of the DHS system

Faecal coliform

treating UASB reactor effluent significantly declined the

(log10/100ml)
TSS (mg/l)

80 6
60 5
removal efficiency of COD fractions; nitrification effi-
ciency and FC removal. Reducing the sponge volume of
40 4
the DHS system from 38.2 to 19.1% significantly decreased
20 3
the removal efficiency of CODtotal from 80 ± 8 to
0 2
62 ± 14%; CODsoluble from 71.2 ± 10 to 53.7 ± 18 and
UASB- 9.6 19.1 28.7 38.2
effluent CODparticulate from 86 ± 10 to 62 ± 15%. With further
Sponge Volume (SV) (%) reduction of the sponge volume down to 9.6%, the removal
efficiency was dropped to 54 ± 15% for CODtotal;
TSS (mg/l) Faecal coliform (log10/100ml)
44.1 ± 14% for CODsoluble and 42 ± 12% for CODparticulate.
Fig. 9 The relationship between the FC removal and TSS removal in Likewise, the nitrification efficiency and FC removal
DHS system treating UASB reactor effluent was strongly affected by decreasing the sponge volume of

Fig. 10 The clean sponge prior starting the experiments (a) the densely attached biomass in the polyurethane foam pores (b)

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Bioprocess Biosyst Eng (2010) 33:779–785
the DHS system, i.e. the nitrification efficiency was drop-
ped by a value of 48.3% when reducing the sponge volume
from 38.2 to 19.1%. At sponge volume of 38.2%, the DHS
system removes 2.6 ± 0.3 log10/100 ml of FC which is
significantly higher than that at sponge volume of 28.7,
19.1 and 9.6%. Accordingly, it is recommended to operate
such a system at a bulk sponge volume not exceeding
38.2% of the total reactor volume and at an HRT of 2.6 h.
Acknowledgment The first author is grateful for Japan Society for
promotion of Science for giving him JSPS Post-doc fellowship.
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