Current Technologies for Degradation of Distillery Wastewater – methods and techniques- A review

Abstract: Large volumes of wastewater with a high organic content that are pigmented and acidic are produced by distilleries. Melanoidin, a class of high molecular weight organic molecules, is primarily responsible for the dark brown color of wastewater from distilleries. The release of wastewater into the environment carries a high risk of pollution It also lessens sunlight penetration in rivers and lakes, which in turn lowers photosynthetic activity and dissolved oxygen concentration. It follows that one of the most important environmental challenges is how to dispose of this liquid waste. Traditional methods of treating distillery wastewater - chemical, physical, and biological treatment have the drawbacks of being expensive, requiring a lot of energy and producing secondary pollution in the process. The highly reactive hydroxyl radicals produced by light-enhanced oxidation processes oxidize organic materials in solution and transform it entirely into harmless products like CO2 and inorganic molecules. This study reviewed the use of TiO2 as a photocatalyst in the photocatalytic degradation in aqueous solution under UV and solar light. Degradation is shown to be dependent on a number of factors, including pH, catalyst concentration, substrate concentration, and oxidants presence. Additional factors influencing the degradation are reaction temperature and light intensity

Keywords: Distillery effluent, Melanoidin, Pollution, Advance Oxidation Process, Wastewater treatment