ARTICLE IN PRESS

WAT E R R E S E A R C H

41 (2007) 1379 1387

Available at www.sciencedirect.com

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/watres

Anaerobic biodegradability and treatment of grey water in

upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor
Tarek A. Elmitwallia,, Ralf Otterpohlb
a

Department of Civil Engineering, Benha High Institute of Technology, Benha University, P.O. Box 13512, Benha El-Gedida, Benha, Egypt
Institute of Wastewater Management and Water Protection, Hamburg University of Technology, Eissendorfer Strasse 42, D-21073 Hamburg,
Germany

art i cle info

ab st rac t

Article history:

Feasibility of grey water treatment in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor

Received 8 May 2006

operated at different hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 16, 10 and 6 h and controlled

Received in revised form

temperature of 30 1C was investigated. Moreover, the maximum anaerobic biodegradability

7 December 2006

without inoculum addition and maximum removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD)

Accepted 8 December 2006

fractions in grey water were determined in batch experiments. High values of maximum

Available online 5 February 2007

anaerobic biodegradability (76%) and maximum COD removal in the UASB reactor (84%)

Keywords:

were achieved. The results showed that the colloidal COD had the highest maximum

Anaerobic digestion

anaerobic biodegradability (86%) and the suspended and dissolved COD had similar

Biodegradability

maximum anaerobic biodegradability of 70%. Furthermore, the results of the UASB reactor

Domestic wastewater treatment

demonstrated that a total COD removal of 5264% was obtained at HRT between 6 and 16 h.

Ecological sanitation

The UASB reactor removed 2230% and 1521% of total nitrogen and total phosphorous in

Grey water

the grey water, respectively, mainly due to the removal of particulate nutrients. The

UASB reactor

characteristics of the sludge in the UASB reactor confirmed that the reactor had a stable
performance. The minimum sludge residence time and the maximum specific methanogenic activity of the sludge ranged between 27 and 93 days and 0.18 and 0.28 kg COD/
(kg VS d).
& 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1.

Introduction

Although domestic wastewater is a pollutant, it can be

utilised after proper treatment as a resource for fertiliser,
water and energy (Otterpohl et al., 1999, 2003; Elmitwalli et al.,
2003). Grey water, which is the wastewater generated in the
household excluding toilet wastewater (black water), represents the major volume of the domestic wastewater (6075%)
with low content of nutrients and pathogens (Otterpohl et al.,
1999; Jefferson et al., 1999; Eriksson et al., 2002). Most of
treatment plants of the grey water include a one- or two-step
septic tank system for pre-treatment (Otterpohl et al., 2003).
The grey water treatment needs both physical and biological
Corresponding author. Tel.: +20 13 3230297; fax: +20 13 3229 263.

E-mail address: t_elmitwalli@yahoo.com (T.A. Elmitwalli).

0043-1354/$ - see front matter & 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.watres.2006.12.016

processes for removal of particles and dissolved organic

matters (Jefferson et al., 1999). Recently, grey water treatment
has been studied either by application of high-rate aerobic
systems, such as rotating biological contactor (Nolde, 1999),
fluidised bed (Nolde, 1999), aerobic filter (Jefferson et al., 2000),
membrane bioreactor (Jefferson et al., 2000), or by application
of low-rate systems, such as slow sand filter (Jefferson
et al., 1999) and vertical flow constructed wetlands (Otterpohl
et al., 2003).
A significant amount (41%) of organic carbon in the
domestic wastewater originates from grey water (Otterpohl
et al., 2003). Therefore, Elmitwalli et al. (2006b) treated
grey water in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB)

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Nomenclature

ABmax maximum anaerobic biodegradability, %

COD chemical oxygen demand concentration, mg/L
CODt total COD concentration, mg/L
CODss suspended COD concentration, mg/L
CODcol colloidal COD concentration, mg/L
CODdis dissolved COD concentration, mg/L
CODfraction_wastewater_time COD fractions (t, ss, col or

Hr
HRT
Ht
Mr
Mt
NH4N
PO4P
Q

dis) concentration of the wastewater (r, f or m) in

the biodegradability experiments at time (i or e),
mg/L
hydrolysis based on the removed particulate COD,
%
hydraulic retention time, h

SRTmax maximum sludge residence time, d

SRTmin minimum sludge residence time, d
TKjN total Kjeldahl nitrogen concentration, mg N/L
TS
total solids concentration, g/L
UASB upflow anaerobic sludge blanket
V
UASB reactor volume, L
VS
volatile solids concentration, g/L
X
average sludge concentration in the UASB reactor,
g VS/L
effluent concentration, g VS/L (from the results,
1 g VSE2.05 g COD)
Xw
concentration of the excess sludge from the UASB
reactor, g VS/L
Yproduct_substrate yield of product from substrate in the
biodegradability experiments, mg/mg

Xe

hydrolysis based on influent particulate COD, %

methanogenesis based on the removed CODt, %

Subscripts

methanogenesis based on the influent CODt, %

ammonium concentration, mg N/L
phosphate concentration, mg P/L
influent wastewater flow rate to the UASB reactor,
L/d
excess sludge flow rate from the UASB reactor, L/d

Qw
SMAmax maximum specific methanogenic activity, kg
COD/(kg VS d)

reactor at ambient temperature (1424 1C). They found that a

CODt removal of 41% can be achieved at hydraulic retention
time (HRT) of 12 h and 23 1C, while a removal of 31% can be
obtained at HRT of 20 h and 18 1C.
The maximum conversion to methane (ABmax) is an
important parameter for evaluating the anaerobic treatment
of any wastewater (Elmitwalli et al., 2001). Determination of
the ABmax is carried out in batch experiments either by
addition of inoculum or without. Inoculum addition represents inaccurate method due to production of dissolved
organic matter and biogas from decay of the inoculum, while
experiment without inoculum addition suffers from a long
operational period. Elmitwalli et al. (2004) determined the
ABmax of the pre-treated (in septic tank) grey water with
inoculum addition at 30 1C. They found a high ABmax for the
pre-treated grey water (86%).
The COD removal is limited in high-rate anaerobic systems
at low temperatures and, therefore, a long HRT is needed for
providing sufficient hydrolysis of particulate organic in
domestic wastewater (Zeeman and Lettinga, 1999; Elmitwalli
et al., 2002a). The grey water has a relatively higher
temperature (1838 1C), as compared to the domestic wastewater, because the grey water originates from hot water
sources, like shower (29 1C), kitchen (2738 1C) and laundry
(2832 1C) (Eriksson et al., 2002). Therefore, high-rate anaerobic systems might run efficiently for on-site treatment of grey
water in low-temperature regions.
The main objectives of this research are to study the
feasibility of grey water treatment in the UASB reactor and
determination of the maximum removal in the UASB reactor
and ABmax of the grey water and its fractions.

col
dis
e
f
i
m
ss

colloidal
dissolved
at the end of the experiment
paper filtered wastewater
at the start of the experiment
membrane filtered wastewater
suspended solids

2.

Materials and methods

2.1.

Continuous experiment

An UASB reactor (7 L) was installed in the Institute of

Wastewater Management and Water Protection, Hamburg
University of Technology, Germany. Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the system. The system was installed
in a temperature-controlled room at 30 1C. The grey water
was collected from Flintenbreite settlement in Luebeck,
Germany. A container of 1 m3 storage capacity was installed
in the settlement to collect the grey water from the
inlet sewer pipe of the first septic tank. The collected grey
water represented a wastewater of one day and was
transported directly to the Institute, where it was stored at
4 1C until usage for reactor feeding. Table 1 shows the
characteristics of the grey water. The UASB reactor was
operated for a period of 272 days and started operation after
addition of seed-sludge from an anaerobic digester treating
primary and secondary sludge. The UASB reactor was
operated at HRT of 16, 10 and 6 h for 95, 91 and 86 days,
respectively.

2.2.

Batch experiments

The ABmax at a temperature of 30 1C was determined in

duplicate for raw, paper-filtered and membrane-filtered grey
water. For obtaining representative values, the biodegradability was determined two times for different wastewater
samples. The experiment was performed in serum bottles

ARTICLE IN PRESS
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1381

4 1 (200 7) 137 9 138 7

Biogas
Water tank
for biogas
displacement

45

..
.

Effluent

10

15 5

Beaker (1) for

the water
replaced by
biogas

Sampling points

25

Mixer

Grey
water
Grey water
st ag
k
storage tank

15

15

20

25

25

200 cm

Beaker (2) for

evaporation
determination
in beaker (1)

Temperature
Controlled
room at 30C

Diameter = 7 cm

P
Pump

UASB reactor

Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of the UASB system treating grey water.

Table 1 Characteristics of the grey water of Flintenbreite settlement in Luebeck, Germany

Average
Standard
deviation

CODt

CODss

CODcol

CODdis

Total
PO4P

Ortho
PO4P

Particulate
PO4P

TKjN

NH4N

Particulate
NN

640
127

325
132

190
96

125
37

9.8
0.6

8.0
0.6

1.8
0.5

27.2
3.5

4.2
2.0

23.0
3.6

and each bottle was flushed with nitrogen gas for 5 min to
guarantee anaerobic conditions. The experiments were
carried out without inoculum addition. Therefore, the ABmax
was determined after a long time of 125 and 121 days for the
first and the second experiment, respectively. COD fractions
(suspended, colloidal and dissolved) were measured at the
start and the end of each experiment.
At the end of continuous operation of the UASB reactor,
batch recirculation experiments were carried out two
times to determine the maximum removal of COD fractions
in grey water. In each batch recirculation experiment,
the storage tank was filled with 28 L of grey water (4 times
of the UASB reactor volume). Then, the UASB reactor was
fed with the wastewater for a period of three HRT
without wastewater recirculation. The aim of this step
is to guarantee that the wastewater in the reactor will be
similar to the recirculated wastewater. After that, the
remaining grey water in the storage tank was recirculated in
the UASB reactor for a period of five days. The COD fractions
of the recirculated wastewater in the storage tank were
measured in time.
Anaerobic digestibility and SMAmax tests were performed at
a temperature of 30 1C for the sludge in the UASB reactor at
the end of each operational phase. The digestibility and the
SMAmax were carried out for a mixture of the sludge from

each sampling port in the reactor. The anaerobic digestibility

tests were performed in 250 mL serum bottles and each
bottle contained 150 mL of sludge followed by flushing with
nitrogen gas for 5 min to guarantee anaerobic conditions. The
tests were carried out without inoculum addition. Therefore,
the anaerobic digestibility was determined after long period
of 76, 84 and 79 days for the sludge of phases 1, 2 and 3,
respectively. The SMAmax was measured according to Elmitwalli et al. (2002b), but by measuring CODdis depletion
(instead of acetate depletion) to simplify the test. The SMAmax
was determined based on the CODdis depletion in the second
feed with an initial acetate concentration of 1.5 g COD/L for
each feed and a sludge concentration of 2 g VS/L. The
anaerobic digestibility and SMAmax tests were done in
duplicate for each sample.

2.3.

Analysis

COD, TKj-N, NH4-N, ortho and total P, TS and VS were

determined as described by Standard Methods (APHA, 1998).
Raw samples were used for CODt, 4.4 mm folded paper-filtered
samples for CODf and 0.45 mm membrane-filtered samples for
CODdis. The CODss and CODcol were calculated by the
differences between CODt and CODf, CODf and CODdis,
respectively.

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2.4.

WAT E R R E S E A R C H

41 (2007) 1379 1387

Calculations

For ABmax batch experiments:



CODt_r_i  CODt_r_e
ABmax _t 100
,
CODt_r_i


CODdis_r_i  CODt_m_e
,
CODdis_r_i

(2)



CODcol_r_i  CODt_f_e CODt_m_e
,
CODcol_r_i

(3)

ABmax _dis 100

ABmax _col 100

(1)

ABmax _ss



CODss_r_i  CODt_r_e CODt_f_e
,
100
CODss_r_i

(4)

Yss_dis

CODss_m_e
,
CODdis_r_i

(5)

Ycol_dis

CODcol_m_e
,
CODdis_r_i

(6)

Ydis_col

CODdis_f_e  CODdis_m_e
,
CODcol_r_i

(7)

Yss_col

CODss_f_e  CODss_m_e
,
CODcol_r_i

(8)

Ydis_ss

CODdis_r_e  CODdis_f_e
,
CODss_r_i

(9)

Ycol_ss

CODcol_r_e  CODcol_f_e
.
CODss_r_i

(10)

For the UASB reactor:



CH4 as COD effluent CODdis  influent CODdis
,
Ht 100
influent CODss influent CODcol
(11)
Hr 100



CH4 as COD effluent CODdis  influent CODdis
,
influent CODss influent CODcol  effluent CODss effluent CODcol

12


CH4 as COD
,
Mt 100
influent CODt

(13)



CH4 as COD
,
Mr 100
influent CODt  effluent CODt

(14)


SRTmin

(15)


VX
.
Q w  Xw Q  Xe

(16)

3.

Results and discussion

3.1.

Maximum anaerobic biodegradability

The results demonstrated that the grey water had a high

value of ABmax (7674%), which is relatively higher than that
reported for Dutch domestic sewage (72%), Elmitwalli et al.,
2001. Table 2 shows the ABmax of the COD fractions in grey
water and the yield between the fractions. The results
showed that the CODcol had the highest ABmax (86%) and
the CODss and CODdis had similar ABmax of 70%. These values
are similar to those reported by Elmitwalli et al. (2001) for the
COD fractions of the Dutch domestic sewage, 77, 86 and 62%
for CODss, CODcol and CODdis, respectively. The higher value
of the ABmax_col is the reason for the higher ABmax of grey
water as compared to the domestic sewage. The grey water
contained 3035% CODcol, while the domestic sewage has
2530% (Elmitwalli et al., 2001). The results showed that the
anaerobic degradation of CODcol produced higher fraction of
CODss and CODdis. Moreover, the anaerobic degradation of
CODss and CODdis produced higher fraction of CODcol. The
higher production of CODss from the degradation of influent
CODcol might be due the production of anaerobic bacteria and
bioflocculation of the colloids and the produced bacteria. It is
well known that many living microorganisms have a flocculent growth habit and produce extracellular polymers, usually
polysaccharides, polypeptides or peptidoglycans, which enhance biosorption of particles (Dugan, 1987).

3.2.
Maximum removal of COD fractions in the UASB
reactor
Fig. 2 shows the results of the batch recirculation experiments. The results demonstrated that the UASB reactor is an
efficient system for grey water treatment, as the maximum


SRTmax


VX
,
Q w  Xw

assumed that the effluent VS was a part of the influent VS

with a residence time equal to the HRT, while for calculating
the SRTmin, it was assumed that the effluent VS had the same
SRT as the excess sludge. Due to the presence of channels and
dead zones in the sludge bed of the anaerobic reactor, the
actual SRT in the UASB is between SRTmax and SRTmin.

For the UASB reactor, it was assumed that 75% of the

measured biogas was methane (based on the biogas composition in previous studies in the treatment of domestic wastewater in the UASB reactor, Halalsheh, 2002; Mahmoud, 2002;
Elmitwalli et al., 2002b). The amount of dissolved methane in
the effluent was calculated according to Henrys Law.
Calculating hydrolysis or methanogenesis based on influent
and removed COD aims at evaluating, respectively, overall
performance of the reactor and capacity of the biomass in the
reactor in anaerobic digestion of the wastewater, as explained
by Elmitwalli et al. (2002a). For calculating the SRTmax, it was

Table 2 Maximum anaerobic biodegradability of COD

fractions and the yield between the fractions
COD
fraction

Yield (mg/mg)

ABmax_
(%)
Yss_

Total (t)
Suspended
(ss)
Colloidal (col)
Dissolved
(dis)

74 (4)
70 (5)
84 (4)
70 (5)

0.10 (0.02)
0.01
(0.005)

Standard deviations are in brackets.

Ycol_

Ydis_

0.05
(0.01)

0.01
(0.005)
0.04 (0.01)

0.02
(0.01)

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Total COD
Suspended COD
Colloidal COD
Dissolved COD

600
COD (mg/L)

Run 1

400

800
Run 2
600

COD removal (%)

800

COD (mg/L)

1383

4 1 (200 7) 137 9 138 7

400

200

200

80
60
40
20

100

0
0

Time (days)

Time (days)

Time (days)

Fig. 2 Course of COD fractions concentration and removal efficiency in the batch recirculation experiments of grey water in
the UASB reactor (wastewater upflow velocity 0.33 m/h).

Table 3 Average concentration and removal efficiency of COD fractions in grey water treatment in the UASB reactor at
different HRTs
Parameter

CODt
CODss
CODcol
CODdis

Phase 1: HRT 16 h

Phase 2: HRT 10 h

Phase 3: HRT 6 h

Influent

% Removal

Influent

% Removal

Influent

618 (130)
308 (162)
177 (114)
133 (36)

64.0 (5.0)
83.5 (5.4)
51.7 (19.0)
50.9 (8.9)

647 (137)
353 (131)
177 (81)
117 (40)

52.3 (4.8)
79.4 (7.6)
29.2 (19.8)
30.3 (7.6)

682 (106)
310 (86)
236 (90)
136 (33)

% Removal
52.0
67.6
37.1
34.8

(12.0)
(17.2)
(17.5)
(20.5)

Standard deviations are in brackets.

removal efficiency for CODt, CODss, CODcol and CODdis were

84, 99.5, 79 and 74%, respectively. For achieving the maximum
removal, about 12 days of wastewater recirculation was
required. The maximum removal efficiency of COD fractions
of grey water is relatively higher than those reported by van
der Last and Lettinga (1992), Wang (1994) and Elmitwalli et al.
(2001) for pre-settled, pre-treated and raw domestic wastewater, respectively. In the batch recirculation experiments,
the physical removal of CODss and CODcol by sedimentation
and filtration in the sludge bed of the UASB reactor without
anaerobic degradation was the reason for obtaining higher
value of maximum COD removal than that of ABmax. Therefore, the maximum removal of CODss and CODcol were higher
than their ABmax. The results of the batch recirculation
experiments showed that the CODdis had a slightly higher
removal value (74%) as compared to its value of ABmax (70%),
because the fine particles (o0.45 mm) might be removed by
physical entrapment after long period of wastewater recirculation.

3.3.

Performance of the UASB reactor

3.3.1.

COD fractions removal

Table 3 shows the concentration and removal efficiency of

COD fractions in grey water treatment in the UASB reactor.
The results demonstrated that the CODss followed by CODcol
represented the major part of the grey water CODt. In the

domestic wastewater and black water, the major part of

CODt is CODss followed by CODdis (Levine et al., 1985; Gaillard,
2002). The particulate (suspended+colloidal) COD represented
about 80% of grey water CODt, while it corresponded to
6575% of domestic wastewater CODt (Wang, 1994). The
higher content of particulate in the grey water is due to the
increase of the CODcol percentage (3035% of CODt), while it is
2530% in the domestic wastewater CODt (Elmitwalli et al.,
2002b). The relatively high percentage of the CODcol in the
grey water might be due to the presence of surfactants and
lipids in the wastewater. The percentage of CODss was almost
similar in both grey water and domestic wastewater (4050%
of CODt), while the percentage of CODdis was higher in
domestic wastewater (2535%), as compared to grey water
(1820%).
The results demonstrated that the highest CODt removal
(64%) was achieved at the longest HRT (16 h). However,
decreasing the HRT to 6 h reduced the CODt removal only to
52%. The CODt removal of the grey water is slightly lower
than that achieved in the treatment of domestic sewage at
similar conditions in the UASB reactor. Normally, the
UASB reactor in tropical regions (at temperature 425 1C) and
HRT 48 h removes 6070% of CODt (Leitao, 2004). The
slightly lower CODt removal of the grey water as compared
to domestic wastewater might be due to the high content
of CODcol and surfactant in the grey water. The CODt
removal in the UASB reactor at HRT of 6 h is significantly

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41 (2007) 1379 1387

higher than that reported by Elmitwalli et al. (2006a)

for a septic tank and an UASB reactor operated at lower
temperatures. It was found that the UASB reactor removed
33% of CODt of grey water at HRT of 20 h and low temperature of 18 1C and the septic tank removed 1114% of CODt
at long HRT of 23 days and 20 1C (Elmitwalli et al., 2006a).
The septic tank had the lowest CODt removal, as it removes
only CODss by settling, while in the UASB reactor all COD
fractions can be removed by both physical (sedimentation and filtration) and biological (anaerobic digestion)
mechanisms.

3.3.2.

Nutrients removal

Table 4 illustrates the average concentration and removal

efficiency of nutrients (N and P) in grey water treatment in the
UASB reactor. The results indicated that the grey water had a
limited amount of nitrogen, which was mainly in particulate
form (8090%), while in the black water and domestic wastewater most of the nitrogen is soluble as NH4. The concentration of phosphorous in grey water was almost similar to that
in the domestic wastewater (6.88.6 mg total-PO4-P/L for
Dutch municipal wastewater, Elmitwalli et al., 2002a, b). The
UASB reactor removed only the particulate nutrients by
sedimentation and filtration and, therefore, it had relatively
low removal of nutrients (Aiyuk et al., 2004). At the longest
HRT (16 h), the NH4 and ortho-P had a negative removal due to
hydrolysis of particulate N and P, respectively.

3.3.3.

Sludge characteristics, hydrolysis and methanogenesis

Fig. 3 and Table 5 show, respectively, the sludge profile and the
characteristics of the sludge in the UASB reactor at the end of
each operational phase. The decreasing of the HRT resulted in
lowering the sludge concentration. The average sludge
concentration in the UASB reactor (12.614.1 g VS/L) was
slightly lower than that reported in the treatment of
municipal wastewater (415 g VS/L, Leitao, 2004). The relatively low sludge concentration in the UASB reactor treating
grey water is mainly due to the lower VS/TS ratio, as
compared to that in the treatment of municipal wastewater
(6085%, Elmitwalli et al., 2002a, b; Mahmoud, 2002). The
UASB reactor treating grey water had a relatively low VS/TS
ratio, because the reactor was treating raw grey water,
without grit removal. Therefore, the grit in the raw grey
water, like fine sand and inorganic material, precipitated in

the reactor, resulting in low VS/TS ratio. The sludge profile,

visual observations and COD/VS ratio confirm the previous
assumption. The COD/VS ratio is similar to that reported for
the municipal wastewater treatment in the UASB reactor
(Mahmoud, 2002). The low values of sludge digestibility in the
three operational phases demonstrated that the sludge in the
reactor was almost stabilised. These values are similar to that
obtained in the treatment of the domestic wastewater in the
UASB reactor at tropical conditions (Leitao, 2004).
The results showed that the SMAmax increased at decreasing the HRT from 16 to 6 h. This also was obtained by Leitao
(2004) in the domestic wastewater treatment in the UASB
reactor at tropical conditions. However, this phenomenon
cannot be generalised. In the domestic wastewater treatment
in a hybrid UASB reactor at low temperature, the SMAmax
decreased at lowering the HRT (Elmitwalli et al., 2002a, b).
Although the SMAmax increased at decreasing the HRT, the
CODt removal decreased. Therefore, it seemed that the
decrease in particulate removal and hydrolysis at lowering
the HRT might be the reason. The results of the SRT showed
that the SRTmin at HRT of 6 h is relatively low (27 days).
However, the system had a sufficient CODt removal and
methanogenesis (Table 6). Accordingly, the real SRT should be
between SRTmin and SRTmax.
Table 6 shows the percentage of methanogenesis and
hydrolysis in the UASB reactor. The Mt, Ht and Hr decreased
at lowering the HRT, while the Mr was almost constant.
Therefore, lower CODt removal and the higher SMAmax at
shorter HRT is due to the decrease in the particulate
removal and hydrolysis and the increase of the organic
loading rate at lower HRT. The difference between the
removed CODt and Mt is limited (2024% of the removed
CODt) and is due to the growth of anaerobic bacteria and the
accumulation of slowly biodegradable and non-biodegradable
particulate in the reactor. However, this difference in the
batch experiments (ABmax and maximum removal in the
batch recirculation experiments) is 10% of the maximum
CODt removal. Accordingly, 1014% of the removed CODt in
the UASB reactor is slowly biodegradable COD, which was not
converted in the grey water treatment in the UASB reactor.
The results of digestibility tests confirmed the previous
conclusion, as 712% of the CODt of the sludge in the UASB
reactor was digested after batch digestion for a period of
7684 days.

Table 4 Average concentration and removal efficiency of nutrients (N and P) in grey water treatment in the UASB reactor
Parameter

Total PO4P
Ortho PO4P
Particulate PO4P
TKjN
NH4N
Particulate NN

Phase 1: HRT 16 h

Phase 2: HRT 10 h

Phase 3: HRT 6 h

Influent

% Removal

Influent

% Removal

Influent

% Removal

9.9 (0.3)
6.6 (1)
3.3 (0.7)
27.1 (3.5)
5.5 (0.8)
21.6 (3.3)

15.2 (3.6)
5.5 (11.3)
53.0 (11.2)
29.8 (4.8)
70.0 (44.0)
52.8 (10.5)

9.7 (0.7)
8.7 (1.2)
1.0 (0.5)
27.3 (4.5)
3.9 (1.0)
23.4 (4.2)

17.4 (5.1)
14.5 (9.3)
43.2 (33.3)
21.7 (5.2)
15.0 (35.5)
31.2 (13.1)

9.9 (0.8)
8.4 (0.1)
1.5 (0.3)

3.5 (1.6)

20.6 (7.1)
18.7 (1.3)
30.2 (4.0)

47.2 (53.6)

Standard deviations are in brackets.

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1.4

1.4

1.2

1.2

0.8
0.6
0.4
HRT = 16 h
HRT = 10 h
HRT = 6 h

0.2

1385

4 1 (200 7) 137 9 138 7

Reactor height (m)

Reactor height (m)

WAT E R R E S E A R C H

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2

0
0

10 20 30 40 50 60 70
TS (g/L)

10 20 30 40 50 60 70
VS (g/L)

Fig. 3 Sludge profile in the UASB reactor at the end of each operational phase.

Table 5 Characteristics of the sludge in the UASB reactor at the end of each phase
Parameter
Average VS (g/L)
Average VS/TS (%)
COD/VS (mg/mg)
Digestibility (% kg COD/kg COD)
SRTmin (d)
SRTmax (d)
SMAmax (kg COD/(kg VS d))

Phase 1: HRT 16 h

Phase 2: HRT 10 h

Phase 3: HRT 6 h

14.1
55 (5)
2.1 (0.1)
12 (3)
93
481
0.18 (0.03)

13.2
48 (2)
2.0 (0.1)
11 (2)
64
377
0.27 (0.04)

12.6
45 (3)
2.0 (0.1)
7 (2)
27
338
0.28 (0.04)

Standard deviations are in brackets.

Table 6 Calculated methanogenesis and hydrolysis in

the UASB reactor treating grey water
Phase

1
2
3

HRT

16
10
6

% Methanogenesis

% Hydrolysis

Mt

Mr

Ht

Hr

51 (3)
40 (4)
38 (3)

80 (5)
77 (4)
76 (5)

52 (3)
32 (2)
30 (3)

78 (4)
56 (4)
54 (2)

Standard deviations are in brackets.

3.4.
Potential of applying anaerobic digestion in grey
water treatment
The obtained high values for ABmax (76%) and maximum COD
removal in the UASB reactor (84%) showed the potential of the
UASB reactor in grey water treatment. Moreover, the results
demonstrated that a high CODt removal (5264%) was obtained
in the UASB reactor at HRT between 6 and 16 h and wastewater
temperature of 30 1C. Accordingly, the UASB reactor has a
significantly higher CODt removal at a short HRT as compared
to the septic tank, the common system of grey water pretreatment. The temperature of grey water ranges between 18

and 38 1C (Eriksson et al., 2002) and it can be considered similar

to that applied in this research, if short connection between
the grey water sources and the UASB reactor, and proper
isolation of this connection are applied. Consequently, installing of the UASB reactor treating grey water in the cellar of the
buildings will be a suitable option. Thus, the losses in the
wastewater temperatures can be minimised and the energy
losses from warm water in the buildings can be utilised for
extra heating of the reactor, when it is required. For keeping
the temperature of the reactor at about 30 1C and minimising
the heat loss, a good insulation is required. Accordingly, the
thermal resistance of the insulator should be X5 K m2/W. For
each insulator, the thermal resistance is known and, therefore,
its thickness can be determined.
The height of the UASB reactor should be designed to
maintain the upflow velocity less than 0.5 m/h as recommended by Mahmoud (2002) and therefore a height of 2 m, as
applied in this research, will be suitable to be applied in the
cellar of the buildings.
As the grey water has a high peak flow factor of 6.2 (Imura
et al., 1995), the UASB reactor treating grey water should have
a relatively longer HRT, as compared to that treating domestic
wastewater. Accordingly and based on the performance of
UASB reactor, a HRT between 6 and 8 h can be considered the
suitable HRT for the UASB reactor treating grey water.

ARTICLE IN PRESS
1386

WAT E R R E S E A R C H

41 (2007) 1379 1387

It is assumed within the ecological sanitation, when the

anaerobic digestion is applied, that the produced biogas will
be utilised for electricity production and/or heating. The
biogas loss as dissolved methane in the effluent of the UASB
reactor will be a limited value at 30 1C (o10% of the influent
COD as mentioned by Elmitwalli et al., 2006b). At application
of an UASB reactor for the pre-treatment of the grey water,
the produced biogas can be utilised for heating and production of electricity, if it is combined with the produced biogas
from the anaerobic digester of the black water and kitchen
organic wastes. For example, in the settlement of Flintenbreite in Luebeck, Germany, the produced biogas from
anaerobic digester of black water and kitchen organic wastes
is used for heating and electricity production (Otterpohl et al.,
1999, 2003).

4.

Conclusions

The following conclusions can be withdrawn from the

research:
1. The grey water had high values of maximum anaerobic
biodegradability (7674%) and maximum COD removal in
the UASB reactor (8474%) at 30 1C.
2. The CODcol had the highest maximum anaerobic biodegradability (8674%) and the CODss and CODdis had similar
maximum anaerobic biodegradability of 7075%.
3. In the treatment of grey water in the UASB reactor at 30 1C,
CODt removal of 5264% was achieved at HRT between
616 h.
4. The UASB reactor treating grey water at HRT between
616 h and 30 1C removed 2230% and 1521% of total
nitrogen and total phosphorous in the grey water, respectively, mainly due to the removal of particulate nutrients
by physical sedimentation, filtration and by incorporation
into biomass.
5. The sludge in the UASB reactor treating grey water
at HRT between 616 h and 30 1C was stable and had
a sufficient maximum specific methanogenic activity
(0.180.28 kg COD/(kg VS d)) and sludge residence time
(minimum and maximum sludge residence time ranged
between 2793 and 338481 days, respectively).

Acknowledgements
The first author acknowledges Alexander von Humboldt
foundation for giving him a fellowship to carry out this
research. The authors are grateful to Jens Nielsen, Stefan
Deegener, Claudia Wendland and Moataz Shalabi for technical support.
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