High Rate Trickling Filter Pilot ;i> Plant Studies on Distillery Waste   ^
NELSON   ROBERTS  AND  J.   B.   HARDWICK
Development Engineer & Assistant Development Engineer Joseph E. Seagram & Sons Inc.
Lawrenceburg, Indiana '
In the early days of the distilling industry the wastes which were discharged into the streams were extremely strong and the pollution from distillery operations was a serious problem. However, during the last 15 years most modern distilleries have put by-product recovery units into operation for the treatment of their residue. These by-product recovery units effect a reduction of more than 95 per cent in the pollution load from the plant. It is the residual 5 per cent of the total potential distillery pollution which is the subject of the present paper. In order to define the magnitude of the problem, complete surveys were and are being made. These surveys have established the amount of the pollution load from the distillery and have shown where in the process the bulk of this pollution originates.
Since Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Inc. operate distilleries in the Ohio River Valley, the company is naturally very much interested in the problems of pollution which arise from industrial wastes. The company's largest plant and the one where these studies are being carried on, is located at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, less than a mile from the Ohio River. While no rigid standards have been prescribed for the Ohio River, it is realized that the problem of industrial waste treatment is important to all industry in the Ohio River Valley.
THE   DISTILLERY  PROCESS '
A brief description of the distillery process will probably facilitate understanding of the data to be presented. Essentially the process in any distillery consists of the conversion of grain starch to alcohol by fermentation and the distillation of this alcohol into whiskey or spirits. The grains used are usually corn and rye or some combination of the two together with malted barley. In the Lawrenceburg plant the slurry of corn or rye meal is cooked in a continuous pressure cooker and cooled in a five stage flash cooler. A slurry of malt meal is added to the  cooked  mash  to convert  the starch  to sugar before the mash  is
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