Biological Treatment of Malting and Brewing Effluents

Abstract

The malting and brewing industries use a large volume of water and discharge more than 70% of the intake as effluent with a high organic contamination. Faced with more stringent legislations and hence higher treatment and discharge costs, the malters and brewers have to examine critically their techniques for water conservation and waste management throughout the process, and for treatment and disposal of their effluents. It is our purpose to present a comprehensive review of available and promising methods for handling malting and brewery effluents.

Although numbers of treatment schemes are being used or have been proposed, there is no widespread agreement on the most suitable method.