Physico-chemical characterization of distillery effluent and COD reduction by using Bacillus badius and Lysinibacillus fusiformis

Elimination of pollutants from distillery effluent is becoming increasingly important from environmental and aesthetic point of view. Due to large volumes of effluent and presence of certain recalcitrant compounds, the treatment of this stream is rather challenging by conventional method. Therefore, present study characterizes the physico-chemical parameters of distillery effluent. The results of study presents an account of problem such as pH (3.7), colour (black), Electrical Conductivity (15.2  ms/cm), Chemical Oxygen Demand (80500 mg/l) Total solids (22382 mg/l), Suspended Solids (4332 mg/L), Potassium (6080 mg/l), Calcium (1950 mg/l), Chloride (7120 mg/l ), Sulphate (3250 mg/l), Phosphate (472 mg/l), Sodium (490 mg/l). High concentration of these constituents plus Phosphate, sulphate makes discharge of distillery waste water into water bodies causing problems like eutrophication and other adverse environmental effects. Further studies deals with pure culture of bacteria and role of bacteria in process like COD reduction to develop a better understanding of the phenomenon. This study revealed that the highest COD reduction was obtained with bacterial strain (Bacillus badius) at 30°C after 10 days of incubation period day at pH 8.