Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) has inked an agreement with the Distillery Division of Bannari Amman Sugars Ltd., Erode, for a collaborative research project titled “Studies on Eco-monitoring of the Land Application of Bio-methanated Distillery Spent-wash on Crop Production, Soil Health and Sustainable Environment.”
It is a three-year project with a budget outlay of Rs 10.6 lakh.
The Registrar of the farm varsity, Dr P. Subbian, and Mr K Sundaramoorthi, Vice-President, Bannari Amman Sugars, signed the MoU in the presence of the TNAU Vice-Chancellor, Dr P. Murugesa Boopathi, and Dr M. Paramathma, Director of Research, TNAU.
While stating that waste utilisation was one of the alternative ways of pollution abatement, the Vice- Chancellor said distilleries have witnessed remarkable growth in recent years.
In Tamil Nadu alone, there are 19 distilleries located in major sugarcane areas. These distilleries use molasses (a by-product from the sugar factory) as raw material to make alcohol.
During the distillation process, huge quantity of spentwash (liquid effluent) is generated and this is estimated at 3.2 billion litres annually.
Distillery wastes contain rich organic matter and can be utilised as a source of liquid manure.
The Professor and Head of the Department of Environmental Sciences, Dr P. Doraisamy, said that the wastes were characterised by high soluble salts coupled with high Biological Oxygen Demand and Chemical Oxygen Demand.
The farm varsity will undertake a thorough analysis of the soil and water in the fields where the treated distillery spentwash is applied.