DHS(Down-flow Hanging Sponge) Bio -Tower a Sustainable Method for

Waste Water Treatment

Rakesh Kumar Bhardwaj*, 1), Hariom Sharma2), and Surender Kumar Bhardwaj3)
1)
Department of Chemistry, Dyal Singh College, Karnal – 132001, INDIA

e-mail: rakesh_bhardwaj2@rediffmail.com
2)
PWD Water Supply & Sanitation, Water Testing Laboratory, Karnal – 132001, INDIA
3)
Department of Bio-Sciences, Maharshi Dayanand University Rohtak – 124001, INDIA

Abstract
Substantial sustainability integrates social, environmental, economic and institutional aspects, and
extends the scope of planning to distant regions and future generations. In spite of unprecedented
advancement in technology, globalization and urbanization across the world, a vast number of
developing countries are lagging behind in providing basic sanitation and adequate water supply to
the people. The present day speedy socio-economic development of humanity has most vigorously
stimulated the change in nature. Technological advancement, if on one hand has bettered the life of
humans on this planet; on the other hand it has sharply intensified the pollution in environment. The
energy and materials needed to sustain the present society are derived primarily from non-renewable
fossil resources, which will be depleted at some point. The treatment of waste water generated as
sewage has become both an ecological as well as an economic necessity. The investigations over the
years have observed that the presence of toxic compound in water has manifested itself in various
types of diseases in human-being and adversely affect the plants growth. Discharge of chemicals from
various industries causes hazardous effects on humans, animals and environmental balances. The
present study summarizes the result of analysis of sewage effluents of Karnal city being drained into
Yamuna river, an important tributary of Ganga (our pious GANGA), in the region of eastern Haryana
(INDIA). The sewage samples were collected at regular intervals and were analysed for TSS, BOD,
COD, ORP and pH. The concentration of toxic metals Pb, Hg, Cd, and As have been determined for
the samples . DHS(Down-flow Hanging Sponge) Bio Tower the combination of anaerobic (UASB)
with aerobic ( DHS) a self-sustainable sewage treatment system shows tremendous decrease in the
value of BOD5 - 97 % (176mg/kg to 5 mg/kg ) and COD - 94% (476 mg/kg to 27mg/kg) in the
sewage samples of Karnal.

Keywords: Waste water, Toxic chemicals, Sustainable methods

*
Corresponding Author
1. Introduction

The increasing scarcity of water in the world along with rapid population increase in urban

areas gives reason for concern and the need for appropriate water management practices. In

the closing decades of the 20th century environmental pollution emerged as a major concern

for the survival and welfare of mankind throughout the world. Modern civilization, armed

with rapidly advancing technology and fast growing economic system is under increasing

threat from its own activities causing water pollution, Singh et al. (1989). India is the seventh

largest country in the world with a total landmass of 3.29 million sq. km, population over 1

billion, 29% of which live in urban areas spread over 5162 towns. With enormous natural

resources and growing economy India is the second largest pool of technical and scientific

personnel in the world. Pollution from small size industries (SSIs) puts the Indian regulators

in front of a difficult arbitrage between economic development and environmental

sustainability. The uncontrolled growth in urban areas has made planning and expansion of

water and sewage systems very difficult and expensive, Looker (1998).

The pollution load is characterized by high colour content, suspended solids, nutrients and

toxic substances such as heavy metals and chlorinated organic compounds. The discharge of

coloured wastewater from textile, leather, printing and other industrial effluents containing

toxic compounds viz. Cd(II), Pb(II) and Cr(VI) is currently a major environmental concern in

the developing countries because of their poor bio-degradability, carcinogenicity and toxicity,

Yadav et al. (1998). Azo-dyes are the most widely used among synthetic dyes, representing

almost 70% of the textile dyestuffs produced, Knackmuss (1996). Storm water runoff and

discharge of sewage into the water bodies are two common ways by which various nutrients

enter the aquatic eco-system, Sudhira et al. (2000); Kansal et al. (2003). The abuse of water
use for diluting human excreta and transporting them out of the settlement is increasingly

questioned and being considered unsustainable, van Lier et al. (1998).

2. Methods and Materials

The same sampling protocol was employed for each measurement. Routine sampling was

employed during dry weather to characterise water quality under ‘normal’ operating

conditions, and opportunistic sampling was undertaken during rainfall. As the physical and

chemical characteristics of sewage vary from top to bottom of the sewage depth as well as

with time from morning to evening so the grab samples were collected at regular interval and

were mixed together. The samples were filtered in the field immediately after sampling and

subsequently collected in clean polyethylene bottles. The water samples were collected from

the selected area of Karnal and Panipat(an industrial town) in a routine manner for 30 weeks

in continuation covering seasons of year 2007-2008. Simultaneously the samples were also

collected from the Down-flow hanging sponge (DHS) reactor Bio-Tower, installed at a

sewage treatment plant Karnal. The pH was measured using the Systonic pH meter-324. The

samples were analysed for the BOD and COD as per the manufactures manuals for

calibrations of the apparatus and operations. For the measurements of BOD, the BOD bottles

of capacity 300 ml and the incubator was provided with a temperature control of ± 0.50 C.

The estimation of suspended solids was carried out by measuring the weight of residue

retained on the glass fiber filter (Whatman Grade 934 AH) in the known volume of the

samples. For toxic metals analysis, samples were collected from Panipat in 100 ml

polyethylene bottles and acidified with 0.5 ml of Conc. HNO3 to pH 2 and few drops of

HgCl2 were also added to stop the microbiological activity. The pre-treated samples were

taken into the polarographic cell with appropriate supporting electrolyte. Currents were

measured at peak potential of concentrated ion after making blank corrections. Dropping
mercury electrode was used as the working electrode. All the mass measurements were

performed on an electronic balance (Citizen). The experiments were carried out at 25 ± 1 0C.

The samples were stored in refrigerator before analysing and the reagents used in the

estimation were of AR grade.

3. Result and Discussion

Sewage is the wastewater released by residence and industries in a community. It consists of

more than 99 % water with only less than 1 % of dissolved and suspended solid material. The

experimental results of our measurements in the samples of sewage for the BOD, COD, ORP

TSS, VSS and pH, are reported in Table 1 and are graphically represented in Figure 1-3.

Quantitation in all observations was made by standard addition method, Willard et al. (1974).

Table 1 : Experimental measured values of pH , BOD, COD, ORP, TSS and VSS
Time pH ORP BOD COD TSS VSS
/Week (v) (mg/kg) (mg/kg) (ppm) (ppm)
Sewage Sewage Sewage UASB UASB Sewage UASB UASB Sewage Sewage
+ DHS + DHS

1 7.19 -281 151 28 2 356 189 33 263 187

2 7.12 -278 167 66 5 578 185 27 275 179
3 7.13 -266 169 70 5 560 140 40 208 118
4 7.05 -278 186 65 6 460 156 40 255 172
5 7.21 -249 144 60 9 385 197 24 180 98
6 7.16 -258 160 52 1 516 198 32 348 267
7 7.13 -252 172 55 4 420 226 31 158 85
8 7.21 -240 201 58 3 556 186 22 225 157
9 7.21 -215 228 50 6 600 228 30 315 245
10 7.28 -231 214 67 2 533 158 18 185 119
11 7.13 -231 199 52 3 584 178 36 233 171
12 7.14 -251 192 60 7 566 176 27 263 227
13 7.29 -220 180 42 5 496 180 14 225 150
14 7.22 -245 177 54 5 463 190 16 155 105
15 7.30 -152 182 70 6 462 185 25 283 206
16 7.21 -203 172 64 7 481 162 25 194 120
17 7.15 -253 139 53 9 410 160 20 247 157
18 7.18 -248 161 48 6 487 189 42 258 150
19 7.22 -247 134 53 4 411 178 30 220 158
20 7.25 -251 165 50 8 450 196 49 195 130
21 7.17 -257 179 47 10 487 169 36 208 125
22 7.21 -267 193 63 3 579 200 28 170 110
23 7.29 -239 156 72 4 611 211 30 333 250
24 7.10 -211 188 61 8 426 165 28 233 165
25 7.22 -244 178 49 9 407 164 31 247 157
26 7.28 -207 161 63 3 335 170 14 153 89
27 7.19 -252 172 43 4 386 168 10 135 97
28 7.21 -261 190 44 6 410 161 16 272 206
29 7.33 -242 169 71 7 380 168 17 215 139
30 7.18 -248 201 48 6 487 189 42 258 150

Table 1 revealed that the composition of wastewater varies significantly with session as a

result of the release of untreated domestic and industrial inorganic and organic toxicants.

Figure 1 shows that the variation of studied parameters over the study period is not regular

but at random, the studied parameter as a whole increases with alarming rate. The BOD5

measures the amount of oxygen microorganisms required in five days to break down sewage.

The amount of BOD varies from 144 mg/kg to 228mg/kg averaged 176.0(mg/kg); while

COD 335 mg/kg to 611 mg/kg averaged 476(mg/kg) and pH 7.05 to 7.33 averaged as 7.20.

The cloudiness of sewage is caused by suspended particles. The TSS ranges from 155 to 348

ppm while the VSS is averaged as 150 ppm.. The ORP (oxidation reduction potential) is a

measure of energy potential. Table 1 indicates the values of ORP various from -152 V to -281

V averaged as -242.5 V An ORP in the negative range indicates reaction taking place is

anaerobic, while the positive value of ORP indicates that the reaction is aerobic or there is

presence of oxygen.
 ORP BOD COD TSS VSS

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
-100

-200

-300

-400

Figure 1 Variation of BOD , COD, TSS, VSS and ORP in waste water with Time ( in week)

BOD (Sewage) BOD (UASB) BOD (UASB+ DHS)

250

200

150

100

50

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Figure 2 Variation of BOD with Time ( in weeks)

 COD ( Sewage) COD ( UASB) COD (UASB+ DHS)

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Figure 3 Variation of COD with Time (in weeks)

Heavy metals from waste-water are partitioned into sewage sludge and the effluent and are

returned to the environment where they may contaminate soil, water and eventually also the

food chain. While some metal compounds are essential to animals and humans, others are

known to be toxic and the environmental impact of many of them has to be elucidated

Many industrial plants discharged heavy metals and volatile organic chemicals (VOCs)

directly into streams or inject them into the subsurface. The chemicals used in the dyeing

factories viz sodium nitrate, aluminum sulphate, caustic soda and soda ash may be

responsible for high value of the studied parameters. Similar results were also reported by

Somashekar et al. (1984). The measured concentration of toxic metals Cr, Pb, As, and Hg in

the sewage samples of Panipat town along with standard deviation have been summarized in

Table 2. It can be seen from the tabulated values that the level of toxic metals in the waste

water is much higher.

Table -2 Concentrations of toxic metal and standard deviation σ in wastewater

Metal ion Supporting Electrolyte Peak Concentration σ±

Potential(v) (mg/kg)

Max. Min. Avg.

Lead 0.1M KCl -0.44 139 52 96 1.6

Chromium 1 M NaOH -0.80 112 69 75 2.6

Mercury 0.5M HCl + 0.5M H2SO4 +0.19 28 11 16 2.4

Arsenic Oxalate Buffer (pH 4.0) -1.15 17 6 13 1.2

The main components of domestic wastewater are proteins, carbohydrates, detergents,

tannins, lignin, fulvic acid, and many other dissolved organic compounds, Rebhun et al.

(1971). Pathogens or disease-causing organisms are present in sewage. Coliform bacteria are

used as an indicator of disease-causing organisms, Kansal et al. (2003).

A number of conventional treatment technologies have been considered for treatment of

wastewater contaminated with organic substances. Commercial activated carbon is regarded

as the most effective material for controlling the organic load. However due to its high cost

and about 10-15 % loss during regeneration, unconventional adsorbents like fly ash, peat,

lignite, wood, saw dust etc. have been used for the removal of refractory materials, Pandey et

al. (1985) for varying degree of success. Ionic liquids holds promise to provide better

alternative to the toxic solvents, Sheldon et al. (2001).

The removal of organic material by adsorption has recently become the subject of interest of

several workers, Nelson et al. (1969); Eye et al. (1970); Johnson et al.(1965); Deb et

al.(1966); Gupta et al.(1978,1990); Mott et al. (1992); Viraraghavan et al.(1994). They have
explored the use of fly ash as an adsorbent for treatment of wastewater to remove toxic

compounds and colour. Pandey et al.(1985), has proposed a method for removal of copper

from wastewater by taking fly ash as an adsorbent. The use of active filtration through

alkaline media for the removal of phosphorus from domestic wastewater has been proposed

by Johansson et al.(1998); and Drizo et al. (2006). Ozone is a very good oxidizing agent due

to its high instability (reduction potential 2.07 V) when compared to chlorine (1.36 V) and

H2O2 (1.78V). It has potential to degrade large number of pollutants like phenols, pesticides

and aromatic hydrocarbons and is used since the early 1970s in wastewater treatment

(Robinson et al. 2001, Özbelge et al. 2002, Pera-Titus et al. 2004). The major drawback of

the use of this method is, ozone has short half-life, it decomposes in 20 minutes so require

continuous ozonation and making this method expensive to apply, Slokar et al. 1998,

Robinson et al. 2001).

Anaerobic wastewater treatment is a biological wastewater treatment without the use of air or

elemental oxygen. Applications are directed towards the removal of organic pollutants in

wastewater, slurries and sludge. Complete replacement of aerobic with anaerobic technology

is not yet possible as the effluent quality of anaerobic treatment systems is not up to par. The

anaerobic treatment is considered as a pre-treatment technique and has been applied in

Colombia, Brazil, and India, replacing the more costly activated sludge processes. There are

different types of digesters available, some have been proven effective over time, and others

are still being tested. One of the most suitable digesters for tropical conditions is the UASB

(Up flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket).

Harada et al. (2007, 2006, 2005, and 2002) has proposed a self-sustainable sewage treatment

system with the combination of UASB as pretreatment unit and an aerobic reactor Down-

flow Hanging Sponge (DHS) reactor as a post treatment unit shown in Figure 4. The
proposed anaerobic-aerobic biocoenoses of UASB and DHS fulfills the need for a simplified

treatment system for developing countries because of its low cost, and operational simplicity,

along with sustainability of the system as a whole. The results in Table 1 and Figure 2 & 3

show a tremendous decrease of 97 % in BOD5 (176mg/kg to 5 mg/kg ) and 94% in COD

(476 mg/kg to 27mg/kg in the samples collected from DHS Bio Tower reactor at Karnal.

Bio-
Gas UASB - Effluent

Gas -Solid Aerobic

Anaerobic HRT : 2 Hr
HRT : 6 Hr Separator

Polyurethane
Perforated
Plate Aeration
Sponge
Carrier
Water
Jacket

Sewage Tank Sludge Bed Final

Effluent

UASB- Pre Treatment Unit DHS – Post

treatment Unit

Figure 4 Schematic diagram of anaerobic (UASB) with aerobic (DHS) sewage treatment.

4. Conclusions

An increasing proportion of the human population is concentrated in towns, which is

associated with the production of large volumes of waste-water that must be treated before

discharge in to a recipient.. To achieve ecological wastewater treatment, a closed-loop

treatment system is the need of hour. Now a day’s most of the systems under operation are

“disposal-based linear system”. These traditional linear treatment systems must be

transformed into the cyclical treatment to promote the conservation of water and nutrient

resources. It can be concluded from this study that combination of anaerobic (UASB) with

aerobic (DHS) a self-sustainable sewage treatment is a good alternative to other conventional

treatment system.
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