ANNOUNCEMENTS
Distilleries are a water intensive industry consuming large amounts of freshwater and producing a highly toxic effluent as its waste. Water management in distilleries have become a key concern due to the strict regulations of following ‘Zero Liquid Discharge’. This paper delves into the water flow patterns of Indian distilleries, freshwater consumption, and spent wash treatment technology. Further, it provides various water conservation measures along with the upcoming technologies to treat spent wash. The results revealed that about 70% of the water is recycled in distilleries, 20% is lost to evaporation and 10% are the other miscellaneous losses. Only 30% of the water consumed is freshwater which is obtained from ground water. The study also reports the various strengths and weaknesses of the membrane filtration technology (UF+RO) and then provides the opportunities of implementing it in the distillery sector. The gaps identified during the research were related to the behavioural aspect of water conservation wherein losses and leaks are not reported or recorded. This leads to a lot of miscellaneous losses. Therefore, performing a water audit helps distilleries in understanding the water flow pattern in the plant and reducing the water use in an efficient manner.
Key Words: Water Conservation, Spent wash treatment, Water flow, Recycling, Membrane Filtration.
