Standardization of the optimal ratio of distillery spent wash to the pressmud windrows for effective and ecofriendly compost

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1 Available online at ISSN: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NOVEL TRENDS IN PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES Standardization of the optimal ratio of distillery spent wash to the pressmud RESEARCH ARTICLE V. Rengaraj* 1 and Mazher Sultana 2 1 Research Scholar, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore. 2 Department of Advanced Zoology & Biotechnology, Presidency College Chennai -05. Article Info Article history Received 30 July 2014 Revised 9 Aug 2014 Accepted 11 Aug 2014 Available online 30Aug 2014 Keywords Compost, pressmud windrows, spent wash, microbial composting. Abstract Distillery effluent, a waste water of distillery industry is of purely plant origin and contains large quantities of soluble organic matter and plant nutrients, but not contains any toxic compounds. The spent wash obtained from distilleries being effectively utilized with sugar factory waste known as pressmud through compositing process. Compositing was utilized as a source for measuring C:N ratio and to produce stable organic soil manure. Nine pressmud windrows were formed by fixed weight ratios of pressmud and different ratio of spent wash (1:1, 1:1.5, 1:2, 1:2.5, 1:3, 1:3.5, 1:4, 1:4.5 and 1:5). Compositing process parameters include temperature, ph, electrical conductivity, C:N ratio, phosphorus and biological property were measured periodically. Addition of effluent above in 1:3.5 ratio caused notable increase in ph and temperature in the windrows. Salt content, organic carbon, N, P and K percent in the compost were increased with increase in spent wash application. The treatment with 1:1.5, 1:2 and 1:2.5 of compost pressmud and spent wash were found good for microbial population. The various compost parameters were found optimum in the 1:3.5 ratio of compost press mud and spent wash application. INTRODUCTION India is a major producer of sugar in the world and contributes substantially to economic development. The waste/byproducts like bagasse and molasses from sugar factory are also economically more important. Bagasse is used in the production of paper, electricity and also as a fuel in boilers. Molasses is the cheap source for production of alcohol in distilleries by fermentation method [1]. There are 319 distilleries in India producing 3.25 billion liters of alcohol and generating 40 billion liters of spent wash annually [2]. These spent wash and press mud cause disposal and pollution problems. Pressmud is soft, spongy, amorphous and dark brown or white material containing sugar, fiber, and coagulated colloids including cane wax, albuminoids, inorganic salts and soil particles. It consists of 80% water and contains 0.9%-1.5% sugar, organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, sulphur and coagulated colloids and other materials in varying amounts [3]. It is acidic having high biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD). It cannot be disposed directly into water bodies [4]. Like other organic material affect the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil [5]. In many areas SPM is directly transported to the fields from sugar mills as an organic enhancement to fields. Due to this practice, cane sugar yield has been increased causing decrease in demand of inorganic fertilizers [6]. Being a flexible crop, sugarcane is a rich source of (a) Fiber containing cellulose material (b) Food containing sucrose, fructose, syrups,jaggery (c) Fodder made from green leaves and top ofcane, molasses, bagass, sugar press mud (d) Fuel from residue/waste of sugar industry (e) Chemicals like alcohol, bagasse & molasses There are three main by-products of sugar industry, which has great economic value: (a) Sugar press mud (SPM) (b) Bagasse (c) Molasses To whom correspondence should be addressed: V. Rengaraj rengaraj84@gmail.com VOLUME 4 NUMBER 4 AUG

2 The environmental problem associated with distillery effluent could be mitigated by chemically or biologically stabilized soluble nutrients through aerobic composting process [7]. The various physical, chemical and biological parameters includes have been proposed to evaluate the progress of composting process [8]. The aim of this work was to standardize the optimal ratio of distillery spent wash to the pressmud windrows for effective and ecofriendly composting. MATERIALS AND METHODS The present study was conducted at M/S Rajshree Sugars and Chemicals Limited, Varadaraj Nagar, Theni district. Nine windrows were made with the pressmud obtained from the factory in the fixed weight of 2 MT/meter. The pressmud windrows have a height of 1.5 meters, width of 3.5 meters and length of 100 meters. In total, nine treatments were performed with each of replicate thrice. The microbial compost starter culture containing a consortium of bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes were applied to the compost. The dosage was 1Kg/ ton of pressmud. The pressmud windrows were sprayed with various ratio of spent wash. It was then aerotilled with a device called aerotiller. At thirteen week, the spent wash application was stopped. The compost of the pressmud with spent wash was performed for 90 days. The compost sample was collected from different depth and different location from the experimental windrows periodically. The collected samples were homogenized and analyzed for the evaluating the electrical conductivity (EC), ph composition of Organic Carbon, N, P, K, and microbial composition. Table 1. The trial treatments in windrows S.No Windrow P : S 1. W 1 1:1 2. W 2 1: W 3 1:2 4. W 4 1: W 5 1:3 6. W 6 1: W 7 1:4 8. W 8 1: W 9 1:5 P: S- Ratio of pressmud and spentwash applied in the respective windrow. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The composition of the pressmud and the distillery spent wash was measured evaluation and tabulated in table 2. The observed concentration of nitrogen, phosphorous, calcium, potassium, magnesium, sulphur, copper, zinc, manganese and iron was found to ranges between %, %, %, %, %, %, mg/kg, mg/kg, mg/k and mg/kg respectively. The ph was ranging between in the pressmud in the present study. Table 2. Characteristics and % of nutrients present in of pressmud S.No Parameter Values 1. Organic carbon % 2. Nitrogen % 3. Phosphorus % 4. Calcium % 5. Potassium % 6. Magnesium % 7. Sulphur % 8. Copper mg/kg 9. Zinc mg/kg 10. Manganese mg/kg 11. Iron mg/kg 12. ph Sugar press mud (SPM) is also termed as press mud cake or filter cake. During the processing of sugarcane, cane juice contains a large number of impurities which are in the form of precipitates and these impurities are separated using filtration process. Both types of filtration processes i.e. batch type filter presses or rotary vacuum filtration process or, produces cake. SPM produced during extraction of sugar as an impurity has multiplex uses like as a fertilizer, animal feed and industrial use as a building lime after calcinations process. Composition of SPM varies with different industries by the following factors: (a) Classification methods (b) Variety of cane (c) Locality (d) Mill efficiency (e) Soil type (f) Nutrients available This SPM is produced at a rate of 7-9% of total weight of sugar cane in carbonation industries and 3-5 % in sulfitation industries. Suneela et al., [9] suggested the following composition of SPM used VOLUME 4 NUMBER 4 AUG

3 in their studies to produce biofertilizer is listed in Table 3. They further detected Silicon, Iron, Manganese, Calcium, MgO and P 2 O 5 in some appreciable amount in SPM. Compost fertilizer is always evaluated by the percentage of organic matters in the final product. Organic matter contains all types of fiber, wax, crude proteins sugar, and all other carbon containing components available in the final product. Table 3. % of nutrients present in sugar pressmud S.No Nutrients % 1 Moisture Fiber Crude wax Sugar Crude protein Nitrogen In India, Sugar industry with 571 sugar mills is the major agro-industry in the country and produced 24.5 million tons of sugar during [10]. About 500 tons of industrial wastes (liquid and solid) are discharged daily from sugar factory during crushing season as Pressmud, boiler ash and distillery waste water [11]. Pressmud is a solid waste by-product of sugar-mill and about 3% produced from total quantity of cane crushed. Pressmud is a rich source of organic carbon, NPK and other micronutrients. Addition of organics improved soil organic carbon and available NPK status and had no adverse effect on soil ph and EC. This study indicated that through the application of 10 tonnes of biocompost or enriched pressmud or Acetobactor + phosphobacterium (each 10kg), 25% chemical fertilizers could be saved without loosing yield and quality besides improving soil fertility [12]. Several studies have been conducted on Pressmud for its suitability to use in agriculture and for energy production [3, 13, 14] and [15]. The purpose of this study was also to investigate the sugar mill Pressmud waste for bioavailability of some heavy metals. Table 4 Characteristics and % of nutrients present in distillery spent wash S.No Parameter Values 1. ph Total solids 2,20,000-2,30, BOD 80,000-1,00, COD 1,80,000-2,00, Dissolved solids 2,00,000-2,10, Suspended solids 15,000 25, Total Nitrogen 3,000-5, Potassium 11,000-14, Phosphates 20,000 25, Sodium 2,000 5,000 The composition of distillery spent wash has considerable variation depending on the same factors as discuses above in the SPM compositions. The composition of distillery spent wash used to produce biofertilizer is listed in Table 4. During compositing, ultimate changes in the various parameters on various times were measured periodically. Chemical Parameters Table 5. reveals the physical and chemical properties of the compost after spent wash application on 90 th day of compositing in different windows W1 W9 Windrow ph EC (dsm -1 ) Organic carbon % Nitrogen% C:N Phosphorus % Potassium % W : W : W : W : W : W : W : W : W : VOLUME 4 NUMBER 4 AUG

4 ph The changes in the ph of the compost were assessed from 10 th day to 90 th day of the study. It was observed that the windrows ph was ranged between 7.73 and The highest ph was observed for the 1:1 ratio of 8.57 and lowest of 7.73 for 1:5 pressmud: spent wash windrows. The decrease in ph of the compost was occurs more in the addition of above 1:3.5 ratio of pressmud and spent wash in the windrows. Due to the conversion of organic acids into stabilized compounds, the ph got lowers in the windrows. This conversion occurs faster in the 1:1, 1:1.5, 1:2 and 1:2.5 ratios (Fig -1a). Electrical Conductivity Electrical conductivity is the measure of soluble salt concentrations in the compost. The EC of the compost was directly proportional to the quantity of the spent wash applied. The highest EC of 1.78 dsm -1 was observed for 1:5 pressmud and spent wash ratio. It was intermediate for the 1:3.5 and lowest of 0.96 dsm -1 for 1:1 pressmud and spent wash ratios. The higher EC value in the higher spent wash ratio is due to the presence of nonbiodegradable minerals in addition to organic minerals in the compost (Fig -1a). Organic Carbon In general, the composition of the organic carbon in the pressmud was gradually decreases as the days of the composting progress. There was a gradual increase in the content from 16.74% (W 1 ) to 29.67% (W 9 ), this was due to the organic carbon present in the distillery effluent itself. The ratio of 1:3.5 pressmud and spent wash shows higher performance in the entire composting process in the present investigation (Fig -1b). Nitrogen Nitrogen is essential for the enhanced microbial activity in the compost. It provides the suitable condition for microbial multiplication and activity. The nitrogen content of the windrows was increased gradually in W 1, W 1.5, W 2, W 2.5, W 3, and W 3.5. This may also have been contributed from dead microbial cells as nitrogen in a crucial component in proteins, amino acids, enzymes and coenzymes necessary for cell growth and metabolism. The lower addition of effluent shows increased nitrogen content in present the study (Fig -1b). Carbon and Nitrogen ratio The C: N was gradually increased with increase in the ratio of pressmud and spent wash. The C: N ratio got decreased dramatically as the days progressed. The addition of effluent in the windrows from W 1 to W 6 markedly enhances the C:N ratio. The composting occurs faster in the effluent ratio of 1:3 and 1:3.5 ratios. The composting occurs very slower in W 8 and W 9. Phosphorus and Potash The percentage of phosphorus and potash in the compost increased with the level of spent wash added for the entire 90 days of composting (Fig - 1c). The results of Bhupendra Kumar et al., (2011) [16] showed that the concentration of analysed heavy metals were lower than recommended values in their studies. Their Single extractions study shows that trace elements were not readily available as indicated by the water extraction experiment, but the presence of chelating agents in sediments can render the metals more bioavailable. Therefore, they suggested that during composting of pressmud, some chelating agent should be applied for leaching of metals considering safe use in agriculture. The result of present study was also found in consistent with their Studies. VOLUME 4 NUMBER 4 AUG

5 Physical Parameter- Temperature The changes in the temperature were observed in all the windrows during the entire process in the present study. The temperature was low in the initial stage of the compost, it raised during the peak period of composting. It declines gradually as the process reaches the final stage of the composting. In the windrows W 8 and W 9, the temperature was very less during the process than in other windrows. Table 6. Effect of different quantities of spent wash on compost pile temperature Days Windrows W W W W W W W W W Biological Parameter Table 7. Changes in microbial communities due to application of spent wash Days Windrows Bacteria (10 5 ) Fungi (10 3 ) Actinomycetes (10 4 ) Bacteria (10 5 ) Fungi (10 3 ) Actinomycetes (10 4 ) Bacteria (10 5 ) Fungi (10 3 ) Actinomycetes (10 4 ) W W W W W W W W W Values are in the CFU/g of the sample. VOLUME 4 NUMBER 4 AUG

6 The microbial community includes bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes were assessed during the composting process at 30 days interval (Fig -2a). On the first 30 days, the ratio of effluent and high ratio of effluent did not showed much influence on microbial population. After 60 days, the significant reduction of microbial population was observed (Fig -2b). The 1:3 ratios of pressmud and spent wash contained high microbial population during the all stages of composting (Fig -2c). In this research paper, the main focus is to use one of the byproduct i.e. Sugar press mud (SPM), with spent REFERENCES 1. Nandy T, Shastri S and Kaul SN. Wastewater management in a care molasses distillery involving bioresource recovery. Journal of Environmental Management, 2002, 65, Uppal J. Waste utilization and effuluent treatment in the Indian alcohol industry: An overview. Proceeding of the Indo-EU workshop on promoting efficient water use in Agrobased industries. New Delhi. 2002, Yadav DV. Utilization of pressmud cakes in Indian agriculture. Indian.J.Sugarcane Technol, 1992, 7, Suganya K and Rajannan G. Effect of one time post-sown and pre-sown application of Distillery spent wash on the growth and yield of maize crop. Botany Research nternational, 2009, 2(4), Tandon HLS. In: Waste Recycling in Agriculture. Fertilizer Development Consultation Organization, New Delhi. In: Chemical and Biological methods for water pollution studies. Enviromedia Publication, Karad Rolz C, de León R, Cifuentes R, Porres C. Window composting of sugarcane and coffee byproducts. Sugar Tech, 2010, 12(1), wash obtained from distilleries, which is converted in to compost fertilizer (Suganya and Rajannan, 2009) 4. Production of composed fertilizer from lingocellulosic residues of by-products of sugar industries is found to be worthy for maintaining health of plant and soil properties and protects the plant from various soil borne diseases. On the basis of the obtained results from the various parameters, it was observed that the ecofriendly, good quality with stabilized nutrient range of press mud compost can be obtained with 1:3.5 ratio of press mud and spent wash application, Such Bio-fertilizer reduces the hardness of soil and makes it more porous due to the presence of organic matter, phosphate, sulfur and other minerals. CONCLUSION The optimum quantity of press mud and spent wash application provides suitable environment for the microbial activity and also yield good quality of compost. This can be adopted for effective utilization of distillery spent wash in distillery industries. 7. Jadav HD and Savant NK. Influence of added spent wash on chemical and physical properties of soil. Indian.J.Agric.Chem., 1975, 8, He XT, Logan J and Traina SJ. Physical and chemical characteristics of municipal solid waste composts. J.Envir.Qual., 1995, 24, Suneela S, Suhaib UI, Shahid RM and Kashif J. Compost Fertilizer production from Sugar Press Mud (SPM). Int. J.Chem. Env.Eng, 2011, Mohammed AA and Fatima Q. Pakistan J. Scient. Ind. Res., 2004, 47(1), Rakkiyapan P, Thangavelu S, Malathi R and Radhamani R. Effect of Biocompost and enriched pressmud on sugar cane yield and quality. Sugar Tech, 2001, 3(3), Partha SN and Sivasubramanian V. Recovery of chemicals from pressmud A sugar industry waste. Indian Chemical Engr. Section A, 2006, 48(3), Singh KK, Sharma SK and Sharma DK. Int. J. agric. Sci., 2007, 3(1), Kalaivanan D. and Omar Hattab K. Res. J. Microbiol., 2008, 3(4), VOLUME 4 NUMBER 4 AUG

7 16. Bhupander K, Sanjay K, Dev P, Singh SK, Meenu M, Jain PK, Lal RB, Sharma CS and Mukherjee DP. A Study on Sugar Mill Pressmud Compost for Some Heavy Metal Content and their Bioavailability. Asian Journal of Plant Science and Research, 2011, 1(3), VOLUME 4 NUMBER 4 AUG