DISTILLERY WASTE WATER TREATMENT

PRAVEEN KUMAR TONI

IPA , ENROLLMENT NO.-10515017

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF Prof. I.D. MALL

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROORKEE, 247667

 INTRODUCTION
 Distilleries produce alcohol; alcohol may be used for various purposes,
e.g. to produce potable alcohol, alcohol for blending with gasoline, or
alcohol as a feedstock for a variety of downstream chemicals, chemical
intermediates, as fuel for automobiles – gasohol. etc.
 The first known Indian distillery was established in 1805 at Janjmow,
Kanpur in (U.P).
 At present there are about 319 distilleries in India with an installed
capacity of more than 3250 million liters of alcohol production per
annum.
 About 15 liters of waste water is produced per liter of alcohol production.
 In general, distillery wastewaters are acidic, have a brown color due to
the pigment called “melanoidin” which is refractory in nature to the
biological treatment.
 PRODUCTION OF ETHYL ALCOHOL

 The manufacturing process for molasses based ethanol

consists of following stages:
 Feed preparation
 Yeast propagation and Continuous fermentation
 Multi-pressure distillation with integrated spent wash
evaporator
 Stillage processing
 Molecular sieve dehydration for fuel alcohol
 Packing
 MOLASSES
FRESH WATER

MOLASSES
DILUTER

YEAST CULTURE & CO2+ H2O

NUTRIENT

YEAST SLUDGE
FERMENTER

YEAST SLUDGE
SEPARATOR

H2O VAPOR

CONDENSER ANALYZER
COLUMN
SPENT WASH

EVAOPARATOR

CONDENSATE
WATER TO COOLING
R.S. COLUMN
TOWER

BOILER
LEES WATER
FERSH WATER
ASH

ENA COLUMN

LEES WATER
 Characteristics of wastewater generated in an Indian distillery
parameters Specific wastewater colour pH Suspended BOD COD
generation(kl/kl solids(mg/L) (mg/L) (mg/L)
alcohol)
Spent wash 14.4 Dark brown 4.6 615 36500 82080

Fermenter 0.6 Yellow 3.5 3000 4000 16500

cleaning
Fermenter 0.4 Colourless 6.3 220 105 750
cooling
Condenser 2.88 Colourless 9.2 400 45 425
cooling
Floor wash 0.8 Colourless 7.3 175 100 200

Bottling 14 Hazy 7.6 150 10 250

plant
other 0.8 Pale yellow 8.1 100 30 250
 ISI Standards for limits of composition of distillery effluent
characteristics For discharge into water For discharge into For discharge
course public sewer on land

pH 5.5-9.0 5.5-9.0 5.5-9.0

BOD5(mg/L) 100 500 500

Total suspended 100 600 ----

solids(mg/L)

Oil and grease(mg/L) 10 100 6-10

Temperature (0C) Shall not exceed 4000C at ---- ----

any section of the stream
within 15 meters from
effluent outlet.
 DISTILLERY WASTEWATER TREATMENT TECHNOLOGY

 BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT (AEROBIC/ANAEROBIC)

 ELECTRO COAGULATION
 MEMBRANE SEPARATION
 INCINERATION PROCESS
 COMPOSTING
 LAND FILLING
 BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT

BIOMETHANATION PLANT

Biomethanation involves conversion of organic

compounds present in the effluent using
bacteria under anaerobic conditions. During
their life cycle the bacteria break these organic
compounds into methane gas and carbon
dioxide.

PROCESS INVOLVES FOLLOWING STEPS:

1.Hydrolysis
2.Acidogenesis
3.Acetogenesis
4.Methanogenesis
 TREATMENT AFTER BIOMETHANATION
B
I
O
M
E
T Solar Evaporation
H
A
N
+ Two Stage Aerobic Irrigation
A Treatment
T
I + Two Stage + Tertiary Surface Water
O Aerobic Treatment
N Treatment

+ Evaporation + Incineration Potash Recovery

 ELECTRO COAGULATION METHOD
 In the EC process, the coagulant is generated in situ by electrolytic oxidation of an
appropriate anode material. In this process, charged ionic species—metals or
otherwise—are removed from wastewater by allowing it to react (i) with an ion
having opposite charge, or (ii) with floc of metallic hydroxides generated within the
effluent.
 The EC technology offers an alternative to the use of metal salts or polymers and
polyelectrolyte addition for breaking stable emulsions and suspensions.
 The technology removes metals, colloidal solids and particles, and soluble inorganic
pollutants from aqueous media by introducing highly charged polymeric metal
hydroxide species.
 REACTIONS : Aluminum
Anode : Al → Al3+ (aq) + 3e−
Cathod : Al3+ (aq) + 3H2O → Al(OH)3 + 3H+ (aq)
nAl(OH)3 → Aln(OH)3n
Iron
Anode :4Fe(s) → 4Fe2+ (aq) + 8e−
4Fe2+ (aq) + 10H2O(l) + O2(g) → 4Fe(OH)3(s) + 8H+ (aq)
Cathod: 8H+ (aq) + 8e− → 4H2(g)
 EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP

Power
source +

Parallel
anode Parallel
Cathode
+

Rheostat

Electrocoagulation
cell

Wastewater
Magnetic
bar stirrer

Magnetic
stirrer
EC MECHANISM

STAGES INVOLVES IN EC
(a) Formation of coagulants by
electrolytic oxidation of the
‘sacrificial electrode’;
(b) Destabilization of the
contaminants, particulate
suspension, and breaking of
emulsions;
(c) Aggregation of the destabilized
phases to form flocs.
 FACTORS EFFECTING EC
1. pH: High removal is obtained in pH range 5-9
2. Treatment Time: % removal increases with time.
3. Current: Bubble generation rate increases, and bubble size decreases with increases
current, which are beneficial for pollutant removal efficiency by H 2 floatation.
4. Electrode material:
5. Inter electrode distance:% Removal decreases as increases the distance between
electrodes.

APPLICATION OF EC
1. EC have been used to treat wastewater in various process industry
including pulp and paper, mining and metal processing.

2. EC has been applied to treat water containing foodstuff wastes, oil wastes,
dyes, suspended particles, chemical and mechanical polishing waste,
organic matter from landfill leachates, defluorination of water, synthetic
detergent effluents, mine wastes and heavy metal containing solution.
MEMBRANE SEPARATION METHOD
MBR (Membrane bioreactor):
Membrane Bioreactors combine conventional biological
treatment processes with membrane filtration to provide
an advanced level of organic and suspended solids
removal. When designed accordingly, these systems can
also provide an advanced level of nutrient removal. In an
MBR system, the membranes are submerged in an
aerated biological reactor. The membranes have
porosities ranging from 0.035 microns to 0.4 microns
 Comparing Four Membrane Processes
Reverse Osmosis Nano filtration Ultra filtration Micro filtration
(RO) (NF) (UF) (MF)
Membrane Asymmetrical Asymmetrical Asymmetrical Asymmetrical
symmetrical

Thickness 150 µm 150 µm 150-250 µm 10-150 µm

Thin film 1µm 1µm 1µm

Pore size <0.002 µm <0.002 µm 0.2 - 0.02 µm 4 - 0.02 µm

Rejection of HMWC, LMWC HMWC Macro molecules, Particles,

sodium chloride mono-, di- and proteins, Clay
glucose oligosaccharides polysaccharides Bacteria
amino acids polyvalent neg. vira
ions,
Membrane CA CA Ceramic Ceramic
material(s) Thin film Thin film PSO, PVDF, CA PSO, PVDF
Thin film
Operating 15-150 bar 5-35 bar 1-10 bar ˂ 2bar
pressure

Membrane Tubular, Tubular, Tubular, Tubular,

 REVERSE OSMOSIS
PRINCIPLE OF REVERSE OSMOSIS:
Pressure is applied to saline water to force the pure
water molecules through a semi-permeable membrane.
The majority of dissolved salts, organic, bacteria and
suspended solids are unable to physically pass through
the membrane and are discharged form the system in
the rejected brine. The pure water is then ready for use
without further treatment
RO Process Removes nearly all contaminant ions and most dissolved
neg-ions,(Mg2+,Ca2+,SO42-,Na+,color),
RO operates immediately, without any minimum break-
in period,
Low effluent concentration possible,
Bacteria and particles are also removed, and Operational
simplicity and automation allow for less operator
attention and make RO suitable for small system
applications.

RO Membrane system
 NANO FILTERATION

 Nanofiltration is a relatively recent membrane filtration process used most

often with low total dissolve solid water such as surface water and fresh
ground water, with the purpose of softening (polyvalent cation removal)
and removal of disinfection by-product precursors such as natural organic
matter and synthetic organic matter.
Nanofiltration (NF) is a cross-flow
filtration technology which ranges
somewhere between ultra filtration
(UF) and reverse osmosis (RO).
Nanofilter membranes are typically
rated by molecular weight cut-off
(MWCO) rather than nominal pore
size.
NF membranes are still subject to scaling and fouling.
More energy is required for NF than MF or UF.
ULTRA FILTRATION

This separation process is used in industry

and research for purifying and concentrating
macromolecular (103 - 106 Da) solutions,
especially protein solutions.
APPLICATION:
Dialysis and other blood treatments.
Concentration of milk before making
cheese.
Fractionation of protein.
Clarification of fruit juice.
Laboratory grade water purification.
Wastewater treatment.
Drinking water disinfection (including
removal of viruses)
Removal of pesticides combined with
Suspended activated carbon pre-treatment.
 USE OF DISTILLERY EFFLUENT IN AGRICULTURE

 The effluent contains high potassium (1.3%) and sulphur (0.4%)

and appreciable amounts of nitrogen (0.2%) and acts as a slow
release fertilizer being mostly in the colloidal form. Moreover, it
contains large amount of calcium, copper, manganese, zinc and a
substantial quantity of organic matter essential for soil health. So it
can be applied directly to the land as irrigation water as it helps in
restoring and maintaining soil fertility, increasing soil micro flora,
improving physical and chemical properties of the soil leading to
better water retaining capacity of the soil. The effluent is ideal for
sugarcane, maize, wheat production.
 Being very rich in organic matters, the utilization of distillery
effluents in agricultural fields creates organic fertilization in the soil
which raises the pH of the soil, increases availability of certain
nutrients and capability to retain water and also improves the
physical structure of soil.
COST RECOVERY METHODS FROM THE DISTILLERY EFFLUENTS
 The wastewaters generated during the distillery and brewery operations
contain high organic loads. It has a BOD from 30,000 to 60,000 mg/1. So
due to this high organic contents, the wastewaters can be subjected to
treatment for the produc­tion of biogas, composting, aquaculture and
potash recovery:
 BIOGAS: For the production of biogas from distillery effluent, anaerobic
biomethanation of the effluent is adopted, generally. High rate anaerobic
technologies are utilized for biogas generation. Fluidized Bed Reactors
and Up flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) Reactors are mostly
utilized for the production of biogas from the effluents.
 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.
 POTASH RECOVERY:
It is done by incinerating the distillery spent wash. In this process, the raw
distillery spent wash is first neutralized with lime and filtered. This is further
concentrated to about 60% solids in multiple-effect evaporators. Now this
thick liquor from the evaporator is burnt in an incinerator and is converted
into ash. The dry solids of the spent wash in the form of coke in the
incinerator has an average calorific value of 2 Kcal/kg, which is sufficient for
supporting self-combustion of the thick liquor in the incinerator. The resulting
ash is found to contain about 37% of potash as potassium oxide on an
average. This ash is further leached with water to dissolve the potassium salts.
Then it is neutralized with sulphuric acid and is evaporated. The potassium
salts are crystallized in a crystal1izer. The crystallized mixed potassium salt
contains 73.5% of potassium sulphate (K2SO4) 16.5% potassium chloride
(KCl) and 5% of sodium salts. It is estimated that a distillery dis­charging
about 300 m3 of spent wash per day could recover 3 tonnes of Potassium as
Potassium oxide or about 5.34 tonnes of Potassium sulphate and 1.2 tonnes of
Potassium chloride per day. This potassium is used as a fertilizer.
Thank you