A Process To Treat High-Strength Brewery Wastewater via Ethanol Recovery and Vinasse Fermentation

LISANDRO G. SELUY; MIGUEL A. ISLA

INDUSTRIAL & ENGINEERING CHEMICAL RESEARCH

AMER CHEMICAL SOC

Lugar: Washington; Año: 2014

0888-5885

Certain wastewaters from breweries (purges from the fermentation processes, discarded beer, etc.) exhibit a Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) as high as 170000 mg O 2 /L. This is due to their content of ethanol and carbohydrates remnant form the fermentation process. These effluents can represent up to 3% of the volume of beer produced and they must be treated prior to their discharge into the environment. This is currently accomplished in conventional treatment plants that usually include anaerobic reactors (e.g. UASB) followed by an aerobic treatment. In this work, a process comprising the distillation of the ethanol contained in these effluents and the fermentation of vinasses to enhance the ethanol production was developed, and its technical-economic feasibility was studied. The process allows depleting the organic load by 85% at a rate 15 times faster than conventional processes. In addition, a valuable product like ethanol is produced.