Novel Method for Achieving Zero Effluent Discharge Status for Ethanol Distilleries:

Spentwash Colour Removal by Reverse Osmosis

Abstract:
Continuous & sustained production of Ethanol on industrial scale is dependent on clearance
from Ministry of Environment & State Pollution Control Boards. On account of the need for earliest
possible implementation of the environmental standards prescribed by Central Pollution Control
Board (CPCB), a need for developing ways & means for attaining a zero discharge status for
distilleries is arising. Control of pollution arising from distillery spentwash is done by a variety of
methods, consisting of biogas generation & aeration, composting, evaporation & incineration, ferti-
irrigation. Evaporation & incineration being capital intensive is seldom practiced. Ferti-irrigation is
now a days banned. Thus biogas & composting are methods of choice. However, biogas method
does not remove the colour, irrespective of aeration. Complete composting many times is difficult
due to non-availability of composting material (pressmud) in right ratio. These difficulties are solved
by application of reverse osmosis technique to generate about 50% clean colourless reusable
water & the balance 50% concentrate can be easily composted by available pressmud. This
method thus creates an opportunity to arrive at zero discharge status. A specific configuration of
reverse osmosis, called Disc-Tube Membrane System was found to give consistent steady state
results for processing spentwash.

INTRODUCTION:
On account of the need for earliest possible implementation of the environmental
standards prescribed by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the topic of pollution control in
Ethanol distilleries has gained paramount importance. Pollution arising from alcohol distilleries has
been recognised as one of the most difficult problems to be solved to the entire satisfaction of the
Pollution Control Act. Irrespective of removal of large quantities of BOD & COD from the
spentwash by a variety of methods, the caramels contained in the same on account of their high
colour value defeat the valid claims of any process of treatment. Caramels are formed during the
sugar manufacture & are carried over into molasses. Irrespective of microbial action during
fermentation, they still get carried over into spentwash without any change. So long as any passer
by can see a dark colour to whatever way treated spentwash, he cannot accept the treatment to be
practically valid. This notorious colour shall continue to play havoc with the fields & water bodies.
Thus removal of colour is the key to any sound pollution control process for spentwash.

PRESENT PRACTICES FOR SPENTWASH TREATMENT:

Out of the variety of processes tried & demonstrated at different times, the technically most
accepted ones are (a) Biogas followed by aeration (b) Biogas followed by composting (c)
Concentration & Incineration of raw spentwash (d) Direct composting of raw spentwash.
Except for the concentration & incineration, all the other methods carry a fear of letting the
caramel colour appear in the discharge. The method (a) can never remove the colour, though
practiced at many locations. It will only end in wasting precious electricity.

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 Apart from being capital intensive, the concentration & incineration process too carries its
own difficulties of clogging & clumping, either during evaporation or in incineration, due to presence
of potassium. Many ambitious projects have come across insurmountable difficulties, preventing
any consistency in the results.

The true promise of colour removal can indeed be achieved only in composting, provided it
is properly done & leaching by rainwater is properly prevented. Proper composting first of all
requires adequate pressmud. At some locations, use of composting material other than pressmud
is reported. e. g. coconut husk. However, once it is known to be useful for such application, the
price of any composting material goes up & availability too goes down. Further treatment of
composting material & spentwash depends on a variety of factors & methods vary widely in their
means & claims. Without going into those details, the first & foremost parameter in the composting
is acknowledged to be the adequate quantity of composting material.

ALTERNATE REMEDY IN TERMS OF MEMBRANE PROCESS:

Once it is acknowledged that the composting is the method of choice, which is not only
affordable, but also technically easy to handle for achieving the desired results, the composting
material takes the center stage. Once the composting material is the prime factor, its quantitative
availability assumes primary importance. Without any dispute, pressmud is the only material of
composting of choice.
The quantity of pressmud & the spentwash volume (technically prescribed by Pollution
Control Boards to be in the ratio of 1: 2.5 to 1: 3.5, depending on the cycle time) have mostly been
disproportionate, if quantitative availability of press mud is looked at. Just using the available press
mud in disproportionate quantity, gives rise to improper degradation of the spentwash COD &
colour. Thus the fear of leaching the colour during rainy season cannot be avoided, resulting into
unsound & unsatisfactory treatment.
In view of the above difficulties, in order to achieve satisfactory degradation of COD &
colour in the spentwash, either the pressmud availability is to be increased or the volume of
spentwash has to be reduced. The reduction of the spentwash volume at the fermentation or the
distillation stage gives rise to a concentrated spentwash, which resists biogas treatment. It is well
known that such concentrated spentwash has to be again diluted to derive satisfactory biogas
generation. The pressmud quantity comes out of a very standardised sugar manufacturing process
& no factory will desire to disturb the same to avoid any sugar loss through the same.
Thus it is imperative to look for other means to reduce the volume of spentwash in order to
arrive at a satisfactory composting & thereby zero discharge status.
The application of membrane process to spentwash was thought to be such method of
choice, which may derive one stream of colourless, permeate water & the other stream of
concentrated spentwash. Out of the four well-known membrane processes viz. Microfiltration,
Ultrafiltration, Nanofiltration & Reverse Osmosis; for sizable removal of colour as well as TDS,
reverse osmosis was thought to be the method of choice, on account of its inherent characteristics.

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MATERIALS & METHODS:

Out of the various configurations available for membrane techniques. Viz. Spiral wound,
hollow fiber & Disc & Tube ; spiral wound was chosen for its very general availability in India from
a large number of suppliers.
For the initial trials, a spentwash obtained from one distillery after bio-digestion (i.e. biogas
treatment) was tried out. Irrespective of variety of trials, it never gave consistent results & spiral
wound membrane module was choked, fouled & had to be ultimately discarded.
A search on the Internet & inquiries with many original membrane producers in the world
led to the conclusion that it is not possible to use such spiral wound membranes for such
application involving high BOD, COD & TDS.
Thus the only choice is to use Disc & Tube module, though it is not commonly available in
the market. All the trials led to consistent results as indicated in the Table A. The spentwash was
steadily split into two streams, one a clear colourless water & the other, a dark concentrated
spentwash. The average proportion of the streams was 50%. The quality of the clear water was
equivalent to or better than the process water. The concentrated stream consisted on an average
double the levels of COD, BOD & TDS. Many spentwash samples were tried out to account for
their varying characteristics, depending on the geographical origin of the sugar cane. It was found
that the results were irrespective of these variations.
The only difficulties found were in terms of interference of suspended matter, arising out of
the MLSS in the spentwash stream coming out of the biogas plant & the smell of hydrogen sulfide,
associated with the colourless water derived.
Changing the point from which the spentwash was taken for processing solved the MLSS
difficulty. The settling tank or the clarifier outlet gave much better results. Use of bag-filter also was
an alternative solution. The smell of hydrogen sulfide was easily removed by bubbling air by fish
tank air bubbling device. Since hydrogen sulfide is a small molecule, it must be passing through
the membrane. Being volatile & with less solubility in water, mere low pressure bubbling of air
removed its contents, as indicated by the smell of thus treated permeate water.
Encouraged by these findings, raw spentwash (i.e. without any biogas treatment) too was
tried out & the results were found to be equally encouraging. In fact, the raw spentwash posed
lesser difficulties in terms of suspended solids & hydrogen sulfide, for obvious reasons. The
membranes are not thermally stable, hence raw spentwash was required to be cooled to ambient
temperature.
Some samples of the concentrated spentwash, obtained by the above technique were sent
to verify their suitability for composting. The results were encouraging to show that the same can
safely be composted.

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CONCLUSION:
Thus it can be concluded that the above mentioned specific membrane configuration has
the distinct ability of processing both the raw & biogas treated distillery spentwash, to obtain two
streams, one containing clear & colourless water & the other a concentrated spentwash. Their
quantitative proportion was average 50: 50. Thus the processing of the spentwash by this
technique offers an opportunity to reduce the volume by 50%, facilitating its convenient
composting. The overall pressmud & land requirement also is reduced to 50%, thus saving
operating cost. The clear & colourless water may offer another opportunity to recycle the same,
which could be a great boon to distilleries operating in water scarce areas or those spending large
amounts of money for their water supply. Alternatively it can simply be given to irrigation to benefit
the farmers.

Table A:
Typical results of spentwash decolourisation & water recovery by reverse osmosis

CASE 1 CASE 2
PARAMETRS SPENT WASH AFTER RAW
BIOGAS SPENT WASH
INPUT
COLOUR BLACKISH BROWN BLACK
VOLUME liters/hr 450 450
FEED COD ppm 30,000 100,000
FEED TDS (Inorganic) ppm 25,000 max 25,000 max
OUTPUT
COLOUR COLOURLESS COLOURLESS
VOLUME (liters/hr) 225 225
PERMEATE COD ppm < 750 max < 2000 max
PERMEATE TDS(Inorganic ) ppm <1000 max < 1500 max
RECOVERY 50% 50%

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