NUTRIENT REMOVAL

Wastewater produced during the winemaking process often contains an

order of magnitude greater chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration than is
typical of domestic wastewater. This waste stream is also highly variable in flow
and composition due to the seasonality of winemaking. Winery wastewater is high
in organic matter from grapes and wine. This organic matter contributes up to 85%
of all contaminants in winery wastewater (Safferman). The remaining organic
matter includes yeast, alcohol, esters, sugar, soluble organic acids, tannins, lignin,
and polyphenols. In addition to organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus are of
primary concern. Proteins that are removed during stabilization of wine are the
predominant source of these nutrients. The use of phosphate detergents can also
contribute to the phosphorus concentrations. Potassium and sodium are often
found in high concentrations in winery wastewater due to cleaning agents and
excess grape juice.

Without proper treatment, the discharge of winery wastewater can result in

adverse health and environmental consequences, such as methemoglobinemia in
infants, eutrophication, cyanobacterial blooms, and cyanotoxins. Historically,
onsite treatment of winery wastewater at small wineries has been accomplished by
land application, but stricter regulations have increased the land that is needed for
treatment, reducing that available for vineyards. Currently, activated sludge
systems represent the majority of treatment systems at wineries. Emerging
treatment systems for winery wastewater include membrane bioreactors, jet-loop
activated sludge, and air micro-bubble reactors (Mosse et al. 2011).

The Wine Distillery effluent that will be treated contains BOD at 840mg/L,
Nitrates at 1135mg/L and COD at 1540mg/L. In order to create an effluent that
falls within the standards of DAO 34 s. 1990 for Class C waters (BOD = 7-
10mg/L, N = 10mg/L), Activated Sludge process will be employed. In this process
microorganism’s growth will be stimulated using the organic compounds as
nutrients. The concentration of these nutrients is called MLVSS or Mixed Liquor
Volatile Suspended Solids however MLVSS is not the only solid in the
wastewater influent for this process there are also inert; the mixture of active
biomass and inert is called MLSS or Mixed Liquor Suspended Solids. As the
organisms grow along with the action of agitation brought about by the injection
of air, the particles will flocculate and form what is called as activated sludge.
After Aeration, the sludge that contains some of the inert suspended solids will be
settled out. Some of the sludge will be sent to treatment before disposal, while a
part of it becomes return sludge to maintain the population of microbes in the
aeration tank.
In the Preliminary and Primary Treatment the water’s pH from an acidic value of
3.5 increases to a relatively neutral pH of 7.2 and a DO of 60 mg/L. In order to
treat the influent wastewater it was calculated that two tanks with the volume of at
least 1403.5m3 each are necessary to make the process possible. This volume
was taken by using the Hydraulic Retention Time for TKN, which is slower
compared with the Hydraulic Retention Time for BOD. However, constructing an
aeration tank using an exact theoretical value may pose issues therefore; a
safety factor of 1.5 will be employed to yield the dimensions 10mx25mx20m
using the ratio 1:2.5:2

References:

Roca, P. 2019 Statistical Report on World Vitiviniculture; International

Organisation of Vine and Wine Intergovernmental Organisation: Paris, France,
2019

Mosse, K.P.M.; Patti, A.F.; Christen, E.W.; Cavagnaro, T.R. Review: Winery
wastewater quality and treatment options in Australia. Aust. J. Grape Wine Res.
2011, 17, 111–122.

Steven I. Safferman Applied Science in Treatment of Winery Wastewater