ABSTRACT
Distilleries have a significant impact on industrial expansion and poverty reduction by providing various income opportunities, trade, and employment. Despite the ethanol production and economic development of the country, distilleries have become a serious challenge in the present scenario due to the production of a huge amount of solid and liquid toxic wastes. In distilleries, molasses is diluted with water and taken to a large fermenter to produce bioethanol with the addition of yeast inoculum. After fermentation, the broth is filtered and then distilled to concentrate bioethanol. The final effluent after the distillation process is the molasses wastewater, also known as spent wash or raw effluent. Even though wastewater is generated at various stages of alcohol production, wastewater from the fermenter sludge, spent wash, and spent lees are the main contributors to pollution. Thus, the safe disposal of such kind of wastewater is challenging. This chapter aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the generation of various type of wastes in distillery effluent. Furthermore, the physiochemical properties of various wastes are also discussed.
