title: Wet air oxidation pretreatment of biomethanated distillery effluent: mapping pretreatment efficiency in terms color, toxicity reduction and biogas generation.
abstract: The effluents from molasses-based distilleries after biomethanation are beset with problems of intensified dark brown color, high residual COD, low biodegradability index (BOD/COD ratio <0.2) and toxicity issues for possible land application as a potential fertilizer. Wet air oxidation (WAO) pretreatment of biomethanated distillery effluent resulted in substantial enhancement in the biodegradability index (BI) (up to 0.8). WAO pretreated effluent on anaerobic digestion indicated favorable biogas generation with methane content up to 64% along with concomitant COD reduction up to 54.75%. The HPLC analysis indicated that the pretreatment facilitated degradation of major color containing compounds-namely melanoidins, up to 97.8%. The pretreated effluent with enhanced biodegradability along with substantially reduced color also indicated positive effect on seed germination (up to 100%), implying toxicity reduction of the effluent post WAO pretreatment.
authors.affiliation: CSIR - National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sarat Chandra
authors.affiliation: CSIR - National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Malik
authors.affiliation: CSIR - National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Suvidha
authors.affiliation: CSIR - Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Padmere
authors.affiliation: CSIR - Central Leather Research Institute, Adyar, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shanmugam
authors.affiliation: CSIR - National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India; CSIR - Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, Karnataka, India. Electronic address: sn_mudliar@neeri.res.in.
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Mudliar
mesh_terms: D000388:Air; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D056804:Biofuels; D057919:Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003116:Color; D007220:Industrial Waste; D008697:Methane / Q000378:metabolism*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D007220:Industrial Waste; D014873:Water Pollutants; D008697:Methane
keywords: Anaerobic degradation; Distillery effluent; Melanoidin; Seed germination; Wet air oxidation