Water sustainability has emerged as a significant concern for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industries including the distillery industry. This industry is a major consumer of water, with the fermentation process involving the dilution of molasses in water and yeast culture. This results in the production of fermented wash with an alcohol content that is later distilled to achieve a higher concentration. However, this process generates significant amounts of wastewater containing various contaminants such as high levels of organic compounds like sugars, alcohols, and organic acids, as well as suspended solids (yeast sludge, spent lees), and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus). These contaminants can affect the pH, BOD, and COD of the soil and receiving water bodies, making it illegal to discharge untreated or poorly-treated distillery effluent into the environment.

Wastewater streams from the production of (bio) ethanol or ethanol spirits are typically well-suited for anaerobic treatment due to their organic compound content. The anaerobic pretreatment zone in the HALBR technology by EauTech Solutions ensures optimal removal efficiency of organic COD. The reaction zone (airlift configuration), using attached growth biomass, removes nitrogen from waste streams effectively. The possibility of the ANAMMOX® process within the reaction zone of HALBR facilitates the removal of excess nitrogen, requiring up to 60% less aeration energy compared to traditional systems and eliminating the need for an external carbon source like methanol. Conventional biological treatment systems for distillery wastewater treatment often face challenges related to maintaining an optimal MLSS concentration. This can lead to issues such as inefficient treatment, poor removal of contaminants, and unstable system performance. Successful biomass separation in terms of settling properties of HALBR ensures that the rotating spiral separator is used as a coupled clarifier to sustain higher biomass concentration through boosting the sludge compressibility and settleability which further upgrades the overall treatment bioprocess.

EauTech Solutions offers comprehensive expertise to help the distillery industry through simple automated operation, easy on-site implementation and modularity, a smaller footprint by eliminating the need for the secondary clarifier, highly-efficient nitrogen removal, and lower surcharges.