Wastes from a Whiskey Distillery—
Sources and Characteristics
C. W. Klassen
Technical Secretary
A. P. Troemper
Principal Sanitary Engineer
Illinois Sanitary Water Board
Springfield, Illinois
Any agency successful in administering an industrial-waste pollution-
abatement program must recognize several basic industrial policies. The
object of any industry is to show a profit. Thus, capital expenditures
are made where a profit can be realized or where, if expenditures are
not made, a loss would occur. The solution to an industrial-waste
problem is the responsibility of the industry. A solution that has not
been obtained is merely an indication that insufficient time and study
have been directed to the problem by the industry. While the recovery
of a salable by-product should constitute a primary approach to a waste-
disposal problem, the ultimate objective of abating pollution should
always be foremost. When an industry through applied study and
research solves its waste problem by recovering a valuable and salable
by-product, the public, the owner of the stream, and the industry, the
user of this public property, both benefit.
One of the classic examples of such a solution to a complex industrial-waste problem exists in the distillery industry. The economic
recovery of distillers' grain from distillery wastes has been demonstrated
as a financially desirable solution. This profitable by-product recovery
is a tribute to applied industrial research. With the feasibility of feed
recovery from spent mash definitely established, it is often difficult for
the pollution-abatement enthusiasts to understand why every industry
should not incorporate this process in its operations. Industrial thinking
is primarily geared to production, and when additional capital expenditures are to be made, it is more often for equipment to produce more
whiskey. Now, however, with an established method for abating stream
pollution and at the same time recovering a by-product at a profit, any
justification for pollution by a whiskey distillery vanishes. Many distilleries are also realizing the necessity for incorporating feed-recovery
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