Presented by:

Shilpa Gupta 2008UCE559

Deepti Mittal 2008UCE407
Ankita Gupta 2008UCE116

DISTILLERY INDUSTRY
WASTEWATER TREATMENT
INTRODUCTION
Production of ethyl alcohol in distilleries based on cane sugar
molasses. The world’s total production of alcohol from cane
molasses is more than13 million m3/annum.
The 295 distilleries in India produce 2.7 billion litres of alcohol
and generating 40 billion litres of wastewater annually.
The enormous distillery wastewater has potential to produce
1100 million cubic meters of biogas. The population equivalent
of distillery wastewater based on BOD has been reported to be
as high as 6.2 billion. The wastewater from distilleries, major
portion of which is spentwash, is nearly 15 times the total
alcohol production. This massive quantity, approximately 40
billion litres of effluent, if disposed untreated can cause
considerable stress on the water courses leading to widespread
damage to aquatic life.
OVERVIEW OF DISTILLERY INDUSTRY
Dilution of
Molasses

Fermentation

Separation of
yeast and
alcohol solution

Distillation
This table presents the purpose of each one of
the processes
PROCESS PURPOSE

DILUTION Molasses available from Indian sugar mills has

a solid content varying between 76 and 90%.
In diluter, solid concentration of molasses is
brought down to 20-25o Brix.
FERMENTATIO Production of alcohol from fermentable sugars in
N molasses solution
SEPARATION Substrate is separated into alcoholic solution and
yeast sludge by centrifugation. The recuperation
of yeast is important in order to reduce the
organic load of the wastewater.
DISTILLATION The produced alcohol is distilled utilising a
counter current of steam
WATER USE
Water used in molasses-based distilleries are:
Process Application
Yeast propagation
Preparation of molasses for fermentation
Water (as steam) required for distillation
Non-process Applications
Cooling water
Treated water for making potable liquor (IMFL) and for
boiler use
Water and steam required for washing
WASTEWATER
Process waste streams
Spent wash from the analyzer column
Fermenter sludge
Spent lees from the rectifier
Non-process waste streams
Cooling water
Waste wash water
Water treatment plant wastewater
Boiler blow down
Bottling plant wash wastewater
Other wastes
SPENT WASH WASTE
CHARACTERSTICS
CHARACTERISTICS OF SPENT LEES
OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
Air Environment
The air pollutants resulting from Distillery operations will be SPM,
SO2 and Nox emitted from the boiler. The air emission from the boiler
will be dispersed through suitable pollution control equipments.
Biological Conditions
Emission of particulate matter along with oxides will affect vegetation
around the unit. The effects may vary from bleaching of leaves,
reduction in effective leaf area for photosynthesis to adverse damage
like death. This could be overcome by following proper environment
management plan.
Noise Impact
To meet out the industrial noise level prescribed by the Factory Act
[90dB(A) for 8hrs working]. Suitable acoustic measures such as proper
engineering design acoustic methods; suitable barriers and enclosures
are proposed to reduce the noise level.
SOLUTION: ANAEROBIC TREATMENT
Prior to the actual treatment steps, some conditioning measures for
the spent wash do however have to be taken:
The high temperature of the spent wash from the distillation process
have to be adjusted at least to the maximum values tolerable for the
biologic degradation.
Flow regulation, mixing Strong variations in the volumetric flow of
the wastewater have to be compensated by storage/equalization
capacities and appropriate dosage/mixing device. The spent wash
should be kept separately from other wastewater streams (cleaning
water) in order to ensure maximum control of its concentration.
Conditioning of pH-Value The usually low pH-value has to be
corrected by neutralization.
Nutrients, suspended solids : The content of macro-/micro-nutrients
and suspended solids usually range within the tolerable limits for
anaerobic bacterial activity. Should the values exceed the limits in
individual cases, these need to be adjusted.
ANAEROBIC PROCESS
SUITABLE ANAEROBIC PROCESS
UASB (Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket) – Reactor
Anaerobic reactor with up-flow regime of the treated
wastewater, sludge retention and 3-phase separation for
the separation of methane, sludge and treated wastewater.
Anaerobic Filter (Fixed Bed Reactor): Reactor with an
inert filter medium with a high specific surface for
on-growth of biomass (today mostly plastic material),
mostly with external separation and recirculation of
sludge.
Anaerobic Contact Process: Totally mixed reactor with
separation and recirculation of sludge to the methanogenic
reactor. The realization of sludge-degassing improves the
sludge consistency for separation.
Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket process Upflow anaerobic filter process

Anaerobic
contact
process
ADVANTAGES OF ANAEROBIC
TREATMENT OF DISTILLERY
WASTEWATER
Environmental aspects
Prevention of pollution of water and soil
Mitigation of greenhouse gases
Reduction of methane emissions
Reduction of fossil fuel demand
Socio-economic aspects
Hygiene aspects
Nutritional aspects
Economic aspects
Fuel savings
Revenues from energy sales
ALTERNATIVE TREATMENT AND
DISPOSAL OPTIONS FOR SPENT WASH

Incineration after evaporation: The water content of

the spent wash is significantly decreased by
evaporation, so that the dried substrate is suitable for
incineration containing about 37% of potash as
potassium oxide on an average from which potassium
is recovered in the form of potassium salts. This
potassium is used as a fertilizer or, with the addition of
chemicals, for the recuperation of K2SO4 and CaSO4.
The adverse environmental effects of disposal of
untreated spent wash are avoided, but the high energy
demand of the evaporation process that will in most
cases be met by using fossil sources of energy should
be taken into consideration.
ALTERNATIVE TREATMENT AND
DISPOSAL OPTIONS FOR SPENT WASH
Composting: In this process, press mud generated from sugar
mill is utilised to produce compost by mixing distillery
effluent. Both anaerobic and aerobic composting systems are
practiced. In some plants composting with treated effluent
treated through bio-methanation plant is also practiced. This
system can achieve zero effluent if the press mud quantity
matches with the effluent generated.
Spray-irrigation: The spent wash is applied directly to
agricultural land for fertilising purposes. Due to the high
organic loading, this can however lead to undesired
accumulation of nutrients in the soil and to infiltration of
soluble components to groundwater.
Growing of algae and fungus: Owing to its high protein
content and nutritional value, the spent wash can be used as
nutritional substrate for the growing of algae and fungus.
RECOMMENDATIONS
For the treatment of distillery spent wash, removal and/or
recovery of yeast should be prerequisite to reduce the load
and eliminate certain undue problems in the waste
treatment/recovery plants. This recovered yeast can be
utilised as a good cattle feed.
Where the availability of land is a severe constraint,
evaporation and incineration of distillery spent wash to
recover potash would appear to be the only choice.
In the countries like ours, where indigenous sources of
potash are scarce or not available, recovery of potash from
crude ash by evaporation and incineration of spent wash
would appear to be an economically attractive alternative.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Biogas generated from the distillery effluents, can be effectively
utilized in production plant boilers thus saving about 50 to 60
percent fuel/steam. The treated effluent having almost all the
potash retained in it may be utilised for irrigation purposes.
The utilization of the distillery effluent in agricul-tural fields
will not only enrich these further with essential plant nutrients
like nitrogen, phosphorous and potash but also compensate the
expenditure on fertilizers for crop growth.
Similarly spentwash utilization in bioearth composting, where
adequate land is available, being a simple process and not
involving any heavy machinery is also one of the cost effective
methods of disposal
REFERENCES
Lt Col Mantha Nagaraj, Dr Arvind Kumar, “Distillery Wastewater Treatment And
Disposal” , IIT Roorkee.
Naturgerechte Technologien, Bau- und Wirtschaftsberatung (TBW), “Anaerobic Methods
of Distillery Waste and Wastewater Treatment”, GmbH Frankfurt, Germany, June 2000.
Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, “ Technical EIA Guidelines for
Distilleries”, IL & FS Ecosmart Limited, Hyderabad, September 2009.
Abhay Chaudhari, “Status Of Effluent Treatment In Distillery Industry In India”, Praj
Industries Limited, 26th Feb, 2011 (presented at AIDA seminar)
Executive summary of the environmental impact assessment study for the proposed 100
klpd distillery in s v sugar mills limited palayaseevaram village 631 606. Kancheepuram
taluk kancheepuram district. IN SURVEY nos.435, 436 & 439
http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/pubs/625r00008/html/tfs5.htm (visited on November 1, 2011)
http://www.fao.org/docrep/T0541E/T0541E0K.GIF (visited on November 1, 2011)
http://cpcbenvis.nic.in/newsletter/agro-dec-1994/dec942.htm (visited on October 24,
2011)
http://www.aidaindia.org/public/AboutAida.php (visited on October 24, 2011)
THANK YOU!