Degradation of predigested distillery effluent by isolated bacterial strains

Batch studies were conducted on degradation of anaerobically digested distillery wastewater by three bacterial strains, viz. Xanthomonas fragariae, Bacillus megaterium and Bacillus cereus in free and immobilized form, isolated from the activated sludge of a distillery wastewater treatment plant. The removal of COD and colour with all the three strains increased with time up to 48 hr and only marginal increase in COD and colour removal efficiency was observed beyond this period up to 72 hr. After this period removal efficiency remained fairly constant up to 120 hr. The maximum COD and colour removal efficiency varied from 66 to 81% and 65 to 75%, respectively for both free and immobilized cells of all the three strains. The strain Bacillus cereus showed the maximum efficiency of COD (81%) and colour (75%) removal out of the three strains. An interrelationship between the percent COD and colour removal was carried out by correlation and regression analysis and was justified by high values of coefficient of correlation (r = 0.99) for all the cases. The first order removal rate kinetics was also applied and rate constants were evaluated for COD and colour removal efficiencies.     

Biotechnological conversion of agro-industrial wastewaters into biodegradable plastic, poly beta-hydroxybutyrate

Waste activated sludge generated from a combined dairy and food processing industry wastewater treatment plant was evaluated for its potential to produce biodegradable plastic, poly beta-hydroxybutyric acid (PHB). Deproteinized jowar grain-based distillery spentwash yielded 42.3% PHB production (w/w), followed by filtered rice grain-based distillery spentwash (40% PHB) when used as substrates. Addition of di-ammonium hydrogen phosphate (DAHP) resulted in an increase in PHB production to 67% when raw rice grain-based spentwash was used. Same wastewater, after removal of suspended solids by filtration and with DAHP supplementation resulted in lower PHB production (57.9%). However, supplementing other wastes with DAHP led to a substantial decrease in PHB content in comparison to what was observed in the absence of DAHP.     

威兰胶生产废液循环利用工艺

为减少威兰胶生产过程中的废水排放量,针对威兰胶生产中废水形成的主要环节,对乙醇蒸馏母液的循环利用工艺进行初步研究。在分析乙醇蒸馏母液主要成分的基础上,对比威兰胶发酵过程的物质耗用量,以蒸馏母液作为配制培养基用水,确定威兰胶循环发酵培养基的组成,构建威兰胶生产废液循环利用的闭路工艺,达到清洁生产的目的。研究表明,与常规威兰胶发酵相比,采用闭路循环发酵工艺可节省30％KH2PO4及60％MgSO4·7H2O用量,同时产品质量浓度维持在16．8g/L左右,其黏度及流态特性指数n值分别维持在5．1 Pa·s和0．275左右。     

毛云芝菌利用糖蜜酒精废水产漆酶培养基优化

为提高毛云芝菌的漆酶产量,降低生产成本,同时使糖蜜废水中的营养成分得到充分利用,变废为宝,以糖蜜废水作为碳源,对毛云芝菌发酵产漆酶进行研究。在单因素试验基础上,以不同浓度糖蜜废水、尿素含量为自变量,漆酶活力为因变量,采用Box-Behnken设计方法得到最佳的培养基配方为糖蜜废水浓度47%,尿素添加量0.5%,漆酶活力可达1 810.0 U/mL,约为优化前的6倍。说明毛云芝菌利用糖蜜废水作为碳源生产漆酶是可行的,为糖蜜废水资源化利用高效生产有价值产品奠定了理论基础。     

Growth-associated production of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate from glucose or alcoholic distillery wastewater by Actinobacillus sp. EL-9

Summary The characteristics of poly--hydroxybutyrate (PHB) production from glucose or alcoholic distillery wastewater by isolated Actinobacillus sp. EL-9 were investigated. PHB production was not dependent on nutrients limitation in Actinobacillus sp. EL-9. The PHB accumulation of Actibobacillus sp. EL-9 followed a growth-associated type where the cell growth and PHB accumulation were carried out simultaneously. The Actinobacillus sp. EL-9 was shown to synthesize and accumulate PHB from alcoholic distillery wastewater during growth. The best growth and PHB production were obtained with enzyme-hydrolyzed alcoholic distillery wastewater.     

Sustainable power generation from floating macrophytes based ecological microenvironment through embedded fuel cells along with simultaneous wastewater treatment

Miniatured floating macrophyte based ecosystem (FME) designed with Eichornia as the major biota was evaluated for bioelectricity generation and wastewater treatment. Three fuel cell assemblies (non-catalyzed electrodes) embedded in FME were evaluated with domestic sewage and fermented distillery wastewater in continuous mode for 210 days. Fermented distillery effluents from biohydrogen production (dark-fermentation) process exhibited effective power generation with simultaneous waste remediation. Two fuel cell assemblies (A1 and A2) showed effective bioelectricity generation. Increasing the organic load of wastewater showed good correlation with both power generation (A1, 211.14 mA/m²; A2, 224.93 mA/m²) and wastewater treatment (COD removal, 86.67% and VFA removal 72.32%). Combining A1 and A2 assemblies depicted stabilized performance with respect to current and voltage along with significant decrease in ohmic and activation losses. FME also exhibited effective removal of nitrates, colour and turbidity from wastewater. The studied miniatured ecological system facilitates both energy generation and wastewater treatment with a sustainable perspective.     

Anaerobic treatment of distillery spent wash - a study on upflow anaerobic fixed film bioreactor

Anaerobic digestion of wastewater from a distillery industry having very high COD (1,10,000-1,90,000 mg/L) and BOD (50,000-60,000 mg/L) was studied in a continuously fed, up flow fixed film column reactor using different support materials such as charcoal, coconut coir and nylon fibers under varying hydraulic retention time and organic loading rates. The seed consortium was prepared by enrichment with distillery spent wash in a conventional type reactor having working capacity of 3 L and was used for charging the anaerobic column reactor. Amongst the various support materials studied the reactor having coconut coir could treat distillery spent wash at 8d hydraulic retention time with organic loading rate of 23.25 kg COD m(-3)d(-1) leading to 64% COD reduction with biogas production of 7.2 m3 m(-3)d(-1) having high methane yield without any pretreatment or neutralization of the distillery spent wash. This study indicates fixed film biomethanation of distillery spent wash using coconut coir as the support material appears to be a cost effective and promising technology for mitigating the problems caused by distillery effluent.     

Treatment of high strength distillery wastewater (cherry stillage) by integrated aerobic biological oxidation and ozonation

The performance of integrated aerobic digestion and ozonation for the treatment of high strength distillery wastewater (i.e., cherry stillage) is reported. Experiments were conducted in laboratory batch systems operating in draw and fill mode. For the biological step, activated sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment facility was used as inoculum, showing a high degree of activity to distillery wastewater. Thus, BOD and COD overall conversions of 95% and 82% were achieved, respectively. However, polyphenol content and absorbance at 254 nm (A(254)) could not be reduced more than 35% and 15%, respectively, by means of single biological oxidation. By considering COD as substrate, the aerobic digestion process followed a Contois' model kinetics, from which the maximum specific growth rate of microorganisms (mu(max)) and the inhibition factor, beta, were then evaluated at different conditions of temperature and pH. In the combined process, the effect of a post-ozonation stage was studied. The main goals achieved by the ozonation step were the removal of polyphenols and A(254). Therefore, ozonation was shown to be an appropriate technology to aid aerobic biological oxidation in the treatment of cherry stillage.     

Improving biogas production from protein-rich distillery wastewater by decreasing ammonia inhibition

A large quantity of protein-rich distillery wastewater is produced during the process of bio-ethanol production from kitchen waste. It is difficult, however, to treat protein-rich distillery wastewater by anaerobic digestion due to ammonia inhibition. In this study, a novel method was investigated to reduce ammonia inhibition during thermophilic anaerobic digestion through the recirculation of water-washed biogas into the headspace (R1 system) or liquid phase (R2 system) of the reactors. The results show that the method greatly improved biogas production from distillery wastewater. R2 system achieved stable biogas production at a higher organic loading rate (OLR) of 4.0 g VTS/L/d than R1 system at 3.0 g VTS/L/d. At the same OLR, we observed a higher biogas production rate but lower accumulation of NH₄⁺ and volatile fatty acids in the reactor, and higher ammonia absorption rate in the water tank of R2 system than R1 system. The better performance of R2 system could be attributed to the more efficient removal of ammonia from liquid phase. In addition, adjusting the C/N ratio of distillery wastewater from 9.0 to 11.4 significantly enhanced the maximum OLR from 3.0 to 7.0 g VTS/L/d in R1 system.     

Phenol-mediated improved performance of active biomass for treatment of distillery wastewater

Activated sludge from a wastewater treatment plant consists of a consortium of microbes that utilize various organic molecules including persistent organic pollutants for their survival. Phenolic compounds and their derivatives along with dibenzofuran (DBF) are found as dominating pollutants in distillery waste. The acclimatization process leads to selective enrichment of the microbial community; and in this study, we report the acclimatizing effect of phenol on improving the treatment efficiency of two different distillery sludges—sludge from conventional aeration tanks (CAT), and from an extended aeration tank (EAT). The adaptation-dependent performance of activated biomass was studied by monitoring the increase in colony-forming units (CFUs) on mineral media and the utilization pattern for phenol (300×10³ and 530×10³ CFU for CAT and EAT sludge, respectively) and DBF (260×10³ and 430×10³ CFU for CAT and EAT sludge, respectively). The study showed that the acclimatization process remarkably improved the performance sludge for treatment of distillery wastewater. There was an improvement in chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency from 19% (unacclimatized sludge) to 31% in the case of acclimatized sludge (raw wastewater), which improved further to 82% and 87% with dilution of wastewater by 10 times (0.1×) and by 50 times (0.02×), respectively. Highest growth yields were observed with 0.1× wastewater (0.324 and 0.308 g g⁻¹ d⁻¹ for CAT and EAT sludges, respectively), while lower values are reported for the remaining two forms of wastewater. The study proposes that acclimatization step could be included as part of a treatment plant where the activated biomass could be intermittently metabolically charged by exposing it to selected molecules to increase treatment efficiency.     

A pilot scale anaerobic upflow reactor treating distillery wastewaters

Summary A two-stage pilot reactor has been tested for the anaerobic digestion of distillery wastewater with a COD of-10,000 mg/1. In the first stage (residence time 16–72 hours), carbohydrates are fermented to low molecular weight metabolites. The second stage is an upflow reactor (residence time 14 hours) in which these metabolites are converted to biogas. Overall COD elimination is 84% (BOD, 92%) with biogas production 5–7 times the active volume of the upflow reactor per day. The process withstands temporary stress conditions fairly well. The results indicate that anaerobic treatment in the upflow reactor qualifies as an efficient and low cost method for distillery wastewater treatment.     

Application of response surface methodology for optimization of important parameters in decolorizing treated distillery wastewater using Aspergillus fumigatus UB2 60

Distillery wastewater causes many environmental problems and colored substances must be removed from it before discharge into the environment. Decolorization of anaerobically treated distillery wastewater was therefore studied using locally isolated Aspergillus fumigatus. As cultural conditions are very important for the decolorization process, the combined effect of initial maltose concentration, pH and mycelial mass was studied using response surface methodology. A central composite design for the three variables was employed to study the combined effect on decolorization efficiency of distillery wastewater. The optimum initial maltose concentration was found to be 15.13 g/l, the optimum pH was 5.57 and the optimum mycelial mass 2.57 g/l.     

福矛高温大曲中芽孢杆菌16S rDNA-RFLP及系统发育分析

目的:从福建建瓯黄华山酿酒有限公司高温大曲中分离出89株芽孢杆菌,通过初步筛选鉴定并进行微生物多样性研究.方法:对其16S rDNA进行PCR - RFLP分析和系统发育研究.结果:初步筛选得到的18株芽孢杆菌被HhaⅠ和MspⅠ酶切聚类分为四大组.通过系统发育分析样品中有6株Bacillus subtilis,4株Bacillus cereus,2株Bacillus sonorensis,2株Bacillus licheniformis,以及Bacillus pumilus、Bacillus oleronius、Bacillus coagulans和Bacillus thuringiensis各1株.结论:研究显示该高温大曲中可培养芽孢杆菌具有微生物多样性.     

Performance of anaerobic contact filter in series for treating distillery spentwash

Investigations were carried out by using rigid polyurethane foam as a packing material in the anaerobic contact filter (series) to treat distillery spentwash. The effect of hydraulic retention time (HRT) in treatment efficiency of reactor (I) and (II) was evaluated at different initial substrate concentrations ranging from 1500 mg/l to 19,000 mg/l. The effect of toxic parameters such as sulphate present in the distillery spentwash and the corresponding parameters such as total sulphide and un-ionized hydrogen sulphide generated during digestion of wastewater were evaluated to assess the reactor performance. The results showed that at 4 d HRT the overall COD removal percent ranged from 98% to 73% for an influent COD of 1500 mg/l to 19,000 mg/l. The overall performance of COD removal percent in reactor (I) and (II) at 2, 3 and 4 d HRT's were investigated. At 3 d HRT the reactor (II) showed a higher COD removal percent when compared to reactor (I), which clearly shows the role of hydraulic retention time in degradation of the organic matter present in the wastewater above an influent COD concentration of 5000 mg/l.     

Anaerobic fluidized bed reactor with sepiolite as support for anaerobic treatment of vinasse

Summary An anaerobic fluidized bed reactor, using sepiolite as support, for the treatment of distillery wastewater was started-up using a stepped loading regime with addition of methanol. Six different steady states at hydraulic retention times between 0.5 and 2.48 days were studied achieving a COD removal efficiency of 70.5 to 88.6%.     

Fungal remediation of Amarula distillery wastewater

Amarula Cream is an alcoholic beverage derived from the distillation of fermented marula fruit and to date there is no scientific data as to the characteristics of the distillery wastewater generated from its production. The wastewater was found to have a chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 27 g/l, a pH of 3.8, a high concentration of phenolic compounds (866 mg/l) and a high suspended solids content (10.5 g/l), all of which could adversely affect biological treatment. Full-strength wastewater was treated using shake-flask monocultures of four white rot fungi (Trametes pubescens MB 89, Ceriporiopsis subvermispora, Pycnoporus cinnabarinus or Phanerochaete chrysosporium) at pH 5.0 with no additional carbon or nitrogen supplements. Trametes pubescens performed the best with regards to degrading phenolic compounds, COD and colour, while P. cinnabarinus improved the pH to the greatest extent. Laccase synthesis was only detected in the T. pubescens and C. subvermispora cultures. Six wastewater concentrations (100, 80, 60, 40, 20 and 10%) were assessed at pH 4.5 to establish an optimum concentration for remediation and laccase production by T. pubescens. Similar COD removal efficiencies (71–77%) and phenolic removal efficiencies (87–92%) were achieved at all concentrations. The phenolic removal efficiencies improved by approximately 5% compared to the screening experiment at pH 5.0, indicating that the laccase was more efficient at pH 4.5. The pH became more basic as a result of treatment and the colour decreased for samples below 60% wastewater concentration. The maximum laccase activity (1063 ± 26 units/l) was obtained in the 80% wastewater concentration. This study has resulted in the first characterization of Amarula distillery wastewater and showed that it has a high phenolic compound concentration, COD and suspended solids content. It was possible to biologically treat the wastewater at full strength using a number of white-rot fungi just by raising the pH.     

Isolation and characterization of aerobic bacteria capable of the degradation of synthetic and natural melanoidins from distillery effluent

Melanoidins, complex biopolymer of amino-carbonyl compounds are the major coloring and polluting constituents of distillery wastewaters. In this study, three aerobic melanoidin-degrading bacteria (RNBS1, RNBS3 and RNBS4) were isolated from soil contaminated with distillery effluent and characterized as Bacillus licheniformis (RNBS1), Bacillus sp. (RNBS3) and Alcaligenes sp. (RNBS4) by biochemical tests and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The degradation of synthetic and natural melanoidins was studied by using the axenic and mixed bacterial consortium. Results have revealed that the mixed consortium was more effective compared to axenic culture decolorizing 73.79 and 69.83% synthetic and natural melanoidins whereas axenic cultures RNBS1, RNBS3 and RNBS4 decolorized 65.88, 62.56 and 66.10% synthetic and 52.69, 48.92 and 59.64% natural melanoidins, respectively. The HPLC analysis of degraded samples has shown reduction in peak areas compared to controls, suggesting that decrease in color intensity might be largely attributed to the degradation of melanoidins by isolated bacteria.     

Accumulation of propionic acid during anaerobic treatment of distillery wastewater from barley-Shochu making

Synthetic wastewater consisting aliphatic acids contained in distillery wastewater from barley-shochu making was treated anaerobically. It was suggested that propionic acid was produced from lactic acid and citric acid via succinic acid. Since it appears to be difficult to treat anaerobically wastewater in which propionic acid is accumulated, we attempted to repress the production of propionic acid during acidification. The amount of propionic acid produced increased with an increase in the hydraulic retention time (HRT) at pH 7. Although the treatment was examined using different pHs at a shorter HRT of 10 h, it was difficult to repress the production of propionic acid.     

Production of protease using wastewater from the manufacture of shochu

The production of protease using wastewater from a shochu distillery was investigated in order to devise a process for the treatment of shochu distillery wastewater. Aspergillus usami mut. shirousami IFO 6082 was selected from among eight strains for production of protease. Production of 240 U/ml of proteolytic activity was achieved after 72 h in a jar-fermentor culture under the following conditions: initial pH, 5; 30°C; aeration, 1 vvm; and agitation, 600 rpm. The protease was purified by column chromatography on Sephadex G-150 and isoelectrofocusing. The molecular weight of the purified enzyme determined by SDS-PAGE was 56 kDa, and the isoelectric point was pH 4.0. The optimum pH for the reaction was about 4.0, so the enzyme is therefore an acid protease. The optimum temperature for proteolysis ranged between 55 and 60°C, while the enzyme was unstable at temperatures above 60°C.