Aerobic treatment of wine-distillery wastewaters.

Abstract

Waste from food-processing and allied industries is largely made up of organic compounds which can be metabolized by aerobic or anaerobic means. However, these wastes present a series of problems to biological depuration plants, such as the need for prior treatment to establish conditions suitable for the development of the microorganisms responsible for the process; and the long retention time of the biomass if acceptable effluents are to be obtained. Again, the seasonal nature of many of these industries makes for very heterogeneous waste. This means that treatment plant must be versatile and are subject to rapid successions of close-down and start-up interspersed with long intervals of inactivity. All these difficulties oblige the industries in the sector to adapt depurative technology to their particular needs. Wine distilleries fall into this general category. Their waste (called vinasses) is acidic, has a high organic content and varies widely according to the raw matter distilled: wine, lies, etc. This paper studies the start-up of digestors for aerobic treatment of vinasses and the establishment of optimum operating conditions for an adequate depurative performance.