Distillery spent wash is a highly polluting effluent generated from alcohol distilleries. In India alone, 319 distilleries produce over 40 billion liters of wastewater annually. Existing treatment methods partially reduce the biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, and total dissolved solids of the wastewater but mechanical separation using centrifugal decanters can further improve treatment efficiency. The decanters remove a high percentage of suspended solids to help subsequent evaporation and drying stages work more effectively.

1. S e p a r a t o r
Distillery Spent Wash Treatment
Distillery spent wash refers to the effluent generated from
alcohol distilleries. On an average 8–15L of effluent is gene-
rated for every liter of alcohol produced. The alcohol distille-
ries are extensively growing due to widespread industrial
applications of alcohol such as in pharmaceuticals, food,
perfumery, etc. It is also used as an alternate fuel. Pollution
caused by it, is one of the most critical environmental issue.
There are 319 distilleries in India alone, producing 3.25
billion liters of alcohol and generating 40.4 billion liters of
wastewater annually. As per the Ministry of Environment and
Forests (MoEF), alcohol distilleries are listed at the top in the
“Red Category” industries .
Despite standards imposed on effluent quality, untreated or
partially treated effluent very often finds access to water-
courses. The distillery wastewater with its characteristic
unpleasant odor poses a serious threat to the water quality
in several regions around the globe. The ever-increasing
generation of distillery spent wash on the one hand and
BOD
COD
TDS
Parameters
50.000 - 60.000
110.000 - 190.000
90.000 - 150.000
Untreated
Characteristics of distillery effluent
8.000 - 10.000
45.000 - 52.000
30.000 - 32.000
Anaerobically treated
5.000 - 8.000
20.000 - 25.000
1.000 - 2.000
After separation

2. quattro Separator SrL a socio unico
C.so Mazzini, 170 - 60121 Ancona - Italia
Tel. +39 071 9945592
Fax. +39 071 9923500
info@quattroseparator.com
www.quattroseparator.com Better separation through research
Spent Wash
Liquor
Wet cakeEvaporation
Blending
Cattle feed
Drying
stringent legislative regulations of its disposal on the other
has stimulated the need for developing new technologies.
Depending on the raw materials being processed, stillages
can beMolasse, Grain stillage, Potato stillage, Yeast stillage.
These thin liquor stillages contain all the nutrients of the raw
materials except for their fermented starch and sugars: i.e.
they contain proteins, fat, fibre, minerals etc. in greater
concentrations than were present in the original raw mate-
rial. These liquors can therefore be processed into added-
value animal feeds by concentration and, if necessary,
drying and crystallisation/precipitation of certain substances
(e.g. potassium, sodium).
Mechanical separationMechanical separation
By removing a large percentage of the suspended solids
with a centrifugal decanter help the evaporation stage to
work more efficiently and achieve a higher solids content,
thus reducing the heat load on the drying stage.
The efficiency of a plant is a complicated matter. Using
correctly sized and specified centrifugal decanter to achieve
high separation of the suspended solids and a dry cake is a
plus for the overall operation and economic performance of
the plant.
Our decantersOur decanters
quattro Separator decanters are renowned for their excep-
tional performance and reliability. To achieve the best possi-
ble separation, the decanter operate at high G-forces for
strong cake dryness, together with a deep pond for increa-
sed solids recovery. The conveyor differential speed is auto-
matically controlled and monitored by our Structura® control
system software.
MaintenanceMaintenance
Maintenance requirements have also been reduced by
incorporating materials with the very best wear protection,
particularly at on main wear points as conveyor flights and
solid discharge outlets.
Distillery Spent Wash Treatment