Distillieries - Environmental Clearance

Distilleriesthe effluent and composting is adopted by some distilleries in Maharashtra andKarnataka.The anaerobic digestion followed by evaporation in MEE and spray drying is followed atThe Ugar Sugar Works Ltd., located in Belgaum, Karnataka.The industry shall have to develop suitable system for reduction of effluent as there are nospecific guidelines developed for evaporators/reverse osmosis/reboiler/spray dryers.2) Anaerobic digestion followed by controlled land applicationFor standalone distilleries, the only option is to concentrate spent wash and burn in boiler.The distilleries which are attached to sugar industries may also adopt this technology.The concentration and incineration technology has been also adopted by some distilleriesin UP, Maharashtra and Karnataka.There are no guidelines developed for boilers. However, the following issues may beconsidered while adopting this technology.(A) Sludge from fermenters/settled sludge from storage tanks which may be around3-5 % of spent wash quantity shall have to be treated/disposed.(B) The condensates from the evaporators while concentrating spent wash wouldhave COD concentration between 10,000-15,000 mg/L, which needs to be treated.The pH of condensate is around 4.0 – 4.6 which requires neutralisation. The quantityof condensate generated may be around 50- 55% of the effluent quantity generated.The suggested treatment for condensates may be biological such as anaerobic followed byaerobic treatment and recycling it as make up water after treatment on RO principles.The sludge from biological treatment/reject from RO shall have to be treated either bycomposting or land fill or any other suitable method.3.11 Classification of Distilleries for Wastewater Treatment MethodsThere are very few distilleries which use malt exclusively or even as a substantial part oftheir feed material. For the model case, therefore the consideration is limited todistilleries producing RS from molasses, which may or may not be converting part thereofto IMFL.The capacity of distilleries based on molasses varies from 2,000 to as high as 60,000 kLof RS per annum. Capacity-wise the distilleries can be classified into three broad groupsas follows:Table 3-13: Classification of Distilleries based on CapacityProduction ScaleProduction Capacity kL/AnnumSmall Up to 5,000Medium Above 5,000 and Up to 10,000Large Above 10,000 and Up to 20,000TGM for Distillery Industry 3-39 August 2010