International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 9, September 2014)
Distillery Condensate and Spent Leese Treatment for Complete
Reuse – An Approach towards Zero Intake
Apte S. S.1, Hivarekar S. B.2
1,2
Assistant Professor, Annasaheb Dange College of Engineering and Technology, Ashta.
Abstract— Distillery condensate is generated as a
byproduct of Multi-Effect Evaporation of spent wash
generated as wastewater stream from alcohol production
process. This control is generated as an effluent has a very
high amount of organic load and therefore can have a
detrimental effect on the environment. Furthermore the
stringent processes of the pollution control board and norms
for disposal of the spent wash in the environment are
extremely stringent and therefore it is necessary for the
distillery to take up treatment processes for achieving zero
effluent discharge in terms of spent wash. This had led to the
advent of the process of volume reduction in which the spent
wash volume is reduced to an extent where it can be utilized
for press mud composting/bio-composting. A technique like
Multi-Effect Evaporation is efficient alternative which
achieves this volume reduction of up to 75%. The condensate
which is generated because of the volume reduction technique
contains large amounts of volatile organic components
because of which the COD is increased very drastically and
can be in the range of 8000 – 10,000 mg/L. However, the liquid
is clear and hence if treated properly can be utilized as a
source of raw water. The present study was carried out as a
large-scale project at several distilleries and is working
successfully. It deals with the treatment process which was
selected and the observed results and problem
troubleshooting.
Keywords—Distillery Condensate, Volume Reduction,
Spentwash, Biological Treatment.
I. INTRODUCTION
Agro – based industrial sector is a major contributor to
the world economy since it is primarily responsible for the
consumer based market. Due to this inherent advantage, the
agro – based industrial sector is one of the most important
revenue generation sources in a country’s economy.
Sugar and distillery sector is one such division which
has been responsible for the successful growth of the
developing countries like Sudan, Philippines, Fiji, and
India etc. In these areas, sugarcane is cultivated as a prime
cash crop and has been dominating the country’s economy.
Moreover, this sector is not only generating revenue, but is
creating employment for a large sector of the society.
Distillery is an ancillary sector of the sugar complex and
requires the raw materials from the sugar manufacturing
process for most part.
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There are about 295 distilleries in India, mostly
concentrated in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka,
Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil
Nadu. The distillery sector is based on the production of the
different grades of alcohol suitable for the various
processes like liquor production, medical preparations, fuel
additives, cosmetics and drugs industries etc. The
generation of alcohol takes place through a very complex
process of fermentation of the raw material using some
specific fungal cultures.
The Indian fermentation industry is categorized mainly
into Maltry, Brewery and Distillery. The processes run
Majority of the units of distillery present in India are
molasses based. This is due to the presence of a large
number of sugar factories in close vicinity, which fulfill the
requirement of molasses. The second reason for the
presence of large number of molasses based units is the
scarcity of food grains for grain – based distillation
processes given the requirement of food for the population,
and the legal bindings in the countries like India.
A. Raw material and water demand
Molasses, a by – product of the sugar industry, contains
about 40 – 50% sugar content. In order to facilitate the
fermentation process, this concentration is brought down in
the range of 10 – 15% or 20 – 25 brix by addition of fresh
water. The molasses requirement for production of 1 KL of
RS is between 3.57 – 4.237 MT depending on type of
process, i.e. Continuous or Batch Process. After dilution
with fresh water, this diluted molasses solution then
undergoes the various fermentation column processes, at
each level of which the alcohol separated from the
molasses is purified further.
 Water Use in Distillery
A molasses based distillery requires fresh water for the
following processes
i. Process Application
1. Yeast Propagation
2. Molasses Preparation
3. Steam for Distillation
 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 9, September 2014)
ii. Non Process Application TABLE I
CHARACTERISTICS OF DISTILLERY SPENTWASH
1. Cooling Tower Water
2. Treated Water for Liquor Preparation Sr. Characteristics Range
No.
3. Water and Steam for Washing
1. pH 4.3 – 5.3
The average water requirement of a molasses based
2. Total Solids (mg/L) 60000-90000
distillery ranges between 85 – 90 m3 / KL of Rectified
3. Total Suspended Solids (TSS) 2000-14000
Spirit. An additional 50 m3/day of soft treated water is
(mg/L)
required for other purposes. However, in practical context,
the amount of fresh water required per day for a distillery 4. Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) 67000-73000
ranges between 11 – 13% of total RS Production capacity. mg/L
5. Total Volatile Solids (TVS) 45000-65000
II. WASTEWATER GENERATION IN DISTILLERY mg/L
6. COD 70000-98000
The process of distillation results in release of large
7. BOD 45000-60000
quantities of wastewater which has a considerable
environmental impact. The distillery is therefore one of the 8. Total Nitrogen as N 1000-1200
most critical sectors which are listed among the 17 High 9. Potash as K2O 5000-12000
Pollution Potential Industries in India. The major sources of 10. Phosphate as PO4 500-1500
wastewater in a molasses – based distilleries are listed 11. Sodium as Na 150-200
below. 12. Chlorides as Cl 5000-8000
 Process Waste Streams 13. Sulfates as SO4 2000-5000
14. Acidity as CaCO3 8000-16000
o Spentwash from Analyzer Column
15. Temperature (After Heat 700C – 800C
o Fermenter Sludge
Exchange)
o Spent leese from Rectifier Column
o Condensate from Spentwash Volume Reduction B. Distillery condensate
Unit Spentwash volume is reduced through the process of
spentwash concentration. This process is carried out
 Non – Process Waste Streams
through multi effect evaporation techniques. A variety of
o Cooling Tower Blowdown volume reduction techniques are available for spentwash
o Waste wash water concentration like Reverse osmosis, multi-effect
o Water Treatment Plant Maintenance Water evaporation (MEE) etc. The widely used method of
o Cooling Water etc. spentwash concentration is multi-effect evaporators, which
compared to the reverse osmosis techniques, are more
Out of these, most of the non – process streams are efficient and have lesser recurring costs. The efficiency of
recycled to ancillary units, or used for washing purposes, the multi-effect evaporators ranges between 60 – 75%,
gardening etc. The various types of process effluents are as thereby reducing the spentwash volume significantly. In the
described below. process, the vapors which are generated as a by – product
A. Distillery spentwash undergo condensation in the condensers and this water
Distillery spentwash is one of the 17 most high strength stream is called as Distillery Condensate. Theoretically,
wastewater streams which are described by the Central this water is more or less pure. However, since the MEE
Pollution Control Board. It is a wastewater stream process works under vacuum, any changes in the vacuum
generated from the primary column of the distillation settings can cause significant entrainment in the vapors.
process, i.e. the Analyzer column. The average generation Also, spentwash contains large amount of volatile products,
of the spentwash in a distillery ranges between 12 – 15 L/L because of which, the condensate is often entrained by the
of alcohol produced. The average characteristics of volatile organics which cause increase in the COD of the
spentwash are as given below. water. The general characteristics of the distillery
condensate are as given below.

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 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 9, September 2014)
TABLE II 4. Anaerobic digestion followed by controlled land
CHARACTERISTICS OF DISTILLERY CONDENSATE application.
For A 300 KLPD Distillery 5. Raw spentwash composting.
Sr. No. Parameter Value Method 4, 5 and 6 are now more or less discontinued
because of higher land requirement and lesser treatment
1. Volume (m3) 800 – 1000 efficiencies. Method 1 and 2 are now the methods now in
2. C.O.D. (mg/L) 6000 – 10000 practice in the distillery sector. However, concentration and
3. B.O.D.5 (mg/L) 3000 – 6000 incineration is now being slowly rejected because of its
higher capital and recurring cost and therefore
C. Distillery spentleese
concentration and composting is now dominantly practiced.
Spentleese is another type of effluent which is generated Concentration of spentwash is critical as the immense
from the Recovery columns of the distillation process. The volume of raw spentwash requires extremely extensive
effluent is mainly characterized by rogue alcohols, which treatments which are not only financially challenging but
get entrained in the spentleese due to change in the are also very high maintenance and less efficient.
conditions of the columns, which thereby affect the Concentration of spentwash significantly reduces the
parameters of the stream significantly. The parameters of treatment expenditures and also reduces the land
the spentleese are as given below. requirement to a great extent whenever an industry is
TABLE III planning to adopt composting as an option.
CHARACTERISTICS OF DISTILLERY SPENTLEESE
B. Distillery condensate and Spentleese
For A 300 KLPD Distillery The characteristics of the condensate and Spentleese
Sr. No. Parameter Value depict the need of biological treatment in order to
3 effectively reduce the organic matter content. Several
1. Volume (m ) 200 – 300
methods were discussed, and after detailed brainstorming
2. C.O.D. (mg/L) 8000 – 16000
on design considerations for the volume in question, i.e
3. B.O.D.5 (mg/L) 4000 – 8000 1200 m3/day, a conventional mode of Anaerobic Digestion
followed by Aerobic System was adopted.
III. DISTILLERY EFFLUENT TREATMENTS The process flow of the method adopted is as given
A. Distillery spentwash below:
The spentwash quantity generated from the process
varies from distillery to distillery. The quantity can also
depend on the type of process changes which may have
been implemented in a unit as well. It was seen from
practical observations at the study site that the spentwash
generation in the distillery (having a production capacity
was in the range of 4 – 6 L / L of alcohol because of a
change in the process which was implemented, wherein
spentwash recycle for certain columns was being carried
out for an undisclosed process.
However, even this quantity is still higher, and the
treatment cost and the required end results may not yet be
achieved. The Ministry of Environment and Forests
(MoEF) has now prescribed 5 specific treatment methods
for the proper disposal of the spentwash generated. The
methods are as given below:
1. Concentration and incineration
2. Concentration and composting
3. Anaerobic digestion followed by two – stage aeration FIGURE I TREATMENT PROCESS FOR DISTILLERY AND SPENTLEESE
and composting. TREATMENT

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 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 9, September 2014)
C. Treatment process description
a. Equalization Tank: The condensate and Spentleese
generated in the distillery process is collected in a 1 – day
lagoon near the distillery, and from here, the effluent is
pumped to the Condensate Treatment Plant. Here, the
effluent pH is neutralized using Caustic Soda or Lime.
Preferably, lime is utilized as a first preference as the end
use of water does not rely on the TDS of the water and
therefore, moderate TDS in the water is acceptable. The
Equalization tank is designed for a retention time of 8 hrs.
The main aim of the equalization tank is to equalize the
flow and characteristics and load the effluent to the further
treatment at a constant uninterrupted rate.
b. Anaerobic Digester: In order to limit the energy
requirement for the treatment process, an initial phase of
biological treatment in the form of Anaerobic digester was
provided. This digester was a Completely Stirred Type
Reactor (CSTR). However, instead of the conventional
agitator based mixing system, a newer advanced mode of
Pump Sparging was applied. The system was designed
keeping in mind the mixing speed required which is
approximately 4 times that of the inlet flow. This flow was
confirmed through practical studies on site. The digester
was commissioned and stabilized by the procedure
discussed later, and then, it was continuously fed with the
effluent for more than 190 days. The digester dimensions
were 12 m dia x (10+1) m Height.
c. Degasser Tower: The effluent after the biodigestion
process contains mainly remaining organic solids and gases
like Ammonia, Hydrogen sulfide etc, which are entrapped
in the effluent. If this effluent is directly subjected to the
aerobic treatment, it can result in toxic effects on the
aerobic bacterial culture. Therefore, it is necessary to
provide a treatment mode suitable for dispersion of these
gases. In order to achieve this, a degasser system based on
diffused air diffusion was provided. This system proved
effective for the complete removal of the entrapped gases
to the maximum extent.
d. Lamella Clarifier: This settling system is utilized in
order to maintain the biomass culture in the anaerobic
digester. The recirculation pattern of the lamella clarifier
was kept at 100%. Due to this, the balance of the microbial
mass in the digester was kept constant. Biodigester sludge
i.e. anaerobic sludge is naturally light in nature nd
therefore, does not settle easily. Therefore, a specialized
treatment scheme wherein aided settling is necessary
without coagulant addition. For this purpose a specialized
settling scheme in the form of Plate based settling is
utilized.
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e. Two Stage Aeration Clarification System: The effluent
after anaerobic treatment contains significantly reduced
amounts of organic load. This effluent is then further
treated in an Aerobic process scheme. In generalized terms,
the system used in the present process is called commonly
as Activated Sludge Process. However, in order to have a
better efficiency and reduced economic burdens, an
advanced ASP mode in the form of Extended Aeration,
which works on the principle of low F: M Ratio, was
utilized in two stages. Utilization of two stages was carried
out because of the end use requirement of the water.
Therefore, the second stage of extended aeration system
acted more like a polishing treatment rather than an
extensive biological treatment.
f. Tertiary Treatment: As a polishing treatment for
confirmation of consistent efficiency, a Multimedia
filtration unit for removal of any trace suspensions, and an
Activated Carbon filter to cope with any colour or trace
organics was provided. The backwash frequency for the
units was regularized to once in 2 days, which was
effectively practiced and gave satisfactory results.
IV. TREATMENT STABILIZATION PHASE
Any biological treatment requires a phase of
stabilization before actual loading of the effluent. Similarly
for this project, a stabilization phase for the commissioning
of the biological units was carried out. The phases involved
in the stabilization are as given below:
A. Digester Charging: In this phase, the digester was
loaded with cowdung, nutrients and enriched culture. The
quantity of the cowdung loading (in Tons) was typically 2
– 4% of the digester volume. The nutrient addition was
carriedut only on requirement of the process. The total
cowdung that was used in the stabilization of the above
digester was approximately 30 Tons, and the nutrients used
in the stabilization phase were approximately 500 Kgs all
together. The charging phase of the digester consisted of
loading the ingredients in the unit, and keeping the unit
under constant agitation without external additions for 2 – 3
days.
B. Digester Loading: After 2 – 3 days steady period, the
effluent loading based on the COD load was initiated. The
loading was on the basis of COD Load because of the fact
that in anaerobic reactors, quantity of organic load supplied
is more critical than the volume of the effluent. The loading
phase continued for 30 days wherein the COD load was
increased gradually keeping a constant difference between
the increases, and thereby avoiding any shockloads.
 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 9, September 2014)
TABLE IV D. End use of the treated water: The water after this
DIGESTER LOADING CYCLE extensive treatment was enough to replace the water
Sr. Flow COD COD Load Remarks demand of the distillery by almost 80% wherein the water
No. (m3/hr) (mg/L) (Kg/m3.hr) was used in fermenter makeup, cooling tower makeup and
other non – critical processes in the distillery. This
1. 10 6000 60 Loading Initiated
significantly decreased the financial load, and also, reduced
2. 10 6200 62 the dependence of the distillery on the external water
3. 15 5800 87 Increased by approx. source by a large extent.
30Kg/m3.d
4. 15 6000 90 V. RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS
5. 11 10800 118.8 Flow decreased
Regular analysis of the effluent was carried out in order
suitably so that
to observe the health of the Condensate and Spentleese
consistent loading treatment scheme. The cumulative results analysis is as
increase @ 30Kg/m3.d given below.
is maintained
6. 12 9600 115.6
7. 20 7200 144
8. 20 7600 152
9. 26 7000 182
10. 26 6800 176.8
11. 18 6600 118.8 Loading decreased due
to sudden pH drop.
Loading rate decreased
to <120Kg/m3d
12. 18 6900 124.2
13. 22 6800 149.6
14. 21 7500 157.5
15. 25 7500 187.5
16. 28 6500 182
17.

C. Aeration Tank Charging: The charging / commissioning FIGURE II VARIATION IN COD FROM INLET TO OUTLET
of the Aerobic phase was initiated on the 5 day of the
digester loading phase. The day was calculated using the
amount of time required for the digester to overflow and
the time required for the same effluent to reach the
Aeration Tank – I. The charging phase for aeration tank
comprised of filling the tank to 40% capacity with fresh
water on the 3rd Day of the digester loading and addition of
the enriched aerobic microbial culture in sufficient quantity
along with nutrients. This steady stage continued uptil the
5th day when the digester effluent began to reach the unit.
Similar calculations and additions were carried out on the
second stage aeration phase, which began on the 9 th day of
the digester loading phase.

FIGURE III COD REMOVAL EFFICIENCY VARIATION

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 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 9, September 2014)
Water after this extensive treatment was enough to
replace the water demand of the distillery by almost 80%
wherein the water was used in fermenter makeup, cooling
tower makeup and other non – critical processes in the
distillery. This significantly decreased the financial load,
and also, reduced the dependence of the distillery on the
external water source by a large extent.
Furthermore, since the water requirement dropped
significantly, the dependence of the factory on the external
water source was negligible, and the internal usages were
also controlled through in – plant measures, utilizing
which, the factory made a significant monetary profit. The
photographs of the Distillery and Spentleese treatment unit
are given below:
VI. CONCLUSIONS
The study that was conducted in the project was based
on actual data generated through practical operations of the
treatment scheme employed. The design was carried out by
the primary author and the plant erected on the same basis.
The treatment proved to be a critical initiative for the
proper disposal of the spentwash from the distillery which
is a major environmentally dangerous wastewater stream.
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The amount of investment required for the project is
roughly 1 – 2% of the capital cost of the distillery, and
which can reduce the expenditure of the factory on water
significantly. This is a ground breaking design which has
been incorporated by the authors firm in more than 10
distilleries in India.
REFERENCES
[1] Apte S. S., 2011, Anaerobic Filter for Distillery Condensate
Treatment – Optimization of Anaerobic Filter System for Distillery
Condensate Generated from Volume Reduction of Spentwash, LAP
Lambert Academic Publishing GmbH & Co. KG, ISBN: 978-3-
8473-4713-2
[2] Baez – Smith C., 2006, Anaerobic Digestion of Vinasse for
Production of Methane in the Sugar Can Distillery, Proceedings of
SPRI Conference on Sugar Processing
[3] Bortone G., 2009, Integrated anaerobic / aerobic biological treatment
for intensive swine production, Bioresource Technology, Elsevier
Publication, Vol. 100, pp. 5424 – 5430.
[4] Chen Y. and Cheng J. J., 2005, Anaerobic Processes in Waste
Treatment, Water Environment Research, Water Environment
Federation Publication, Vol. 77(6), pp. 1347 – 1388.