Woody construction wastes on account of various adhesives; paint etc. may have some limitations because of fungicidal properties. The technology has great promise in South East Asia and other areas where agricultural woody wastes are generated in large quantities.

Lignin is given off as waste. Lignin is a complex mixture of polymers. The molecular unit is partially aromatic with phenolic hydroxyl, methoxyl and carboxyl groups attached. It has found little use. A recent promising use is in the manufacture of Dimethyl Sulphide and Dimethyl Sulfoxide which is used as a spinning solvent in polyester yarn making. Other end uses for Lignin include as road binders for asphalt emulsions, adhesives for floor coverings, core binders in foundry practice and in the preparation of Levulinic acid. Activated Carbon can also be manufactured from the Lignins. Lignins can be removed from solutions by acidulation with either Carbon Dioxide or Sulphuric Acid.

The Coskata Process promoted by General Motors uses a wide variety of  different feedstocks to produce Ethanol. Agricultural wastes, purposefully grown crops and other waste materials like old tires and even municipal waste streams can be used with very little or Zero land fill waste. Anaerobic bacteria in a reactor are fed Carbon Monoxide and hydrogen produced by the gasification of the feed stock. The reactor is a sealed plastic tube with millions of filaments on which the bacteria live. Bacteria feed on the Carbon monoxide and hydrogen and produce ethanol. This process does not use genetically modified organisms and the microbes that are being used are not pathogenic. Being anaerobic they are poisoned as soon as they come into contact with air. The process is also less taxing on water. While other current methods of ethanol production take three to four times of water per unit of alcohol produced, the Coskata process needs less than a unit of water per unit of ethanol produced.

Coors Brewing Company, Aurora, Colorado Brewery is producing Alcohol from Beer waste. Ethanol is stripped from the waste Beer stream. They are also building a second unit to process waste biomass to ethanol. The brewing operations result in almost 87000 tonnes of brewers grains on a dry matter basis plus nine other byproducts that contain fermentable starches or some ethanol. The Biomass conversion plant will produce in excess of 4 million gallons of ethanol per year through enzymatic conversion of starches to fermentable sugars, yeast fermentation, stripping, distillation and dehydration of Ethanol. The residual wet distillers grains and solubles are utilized as cattle feed and in Dairy operations.

Star Techs Plasma Converter system contains a plasma field that reaches temperatures up to 30000 degrees Celsius. The plasma breaks down feedstock materials such as waste coal, used tires, wood wastes, raw sewage, municipal solid wastes, biomass, discarded roof shingles, coal waste, discarded corn stalks, and other agricultural by products to their core elements. The Synthesis gas thus produced can be used as feed stock for anaerobic bacteria to produce ethanol or heat, pressure and a catalyst can be used to convert the gas to alcohol.

Some researchers have pointed out that Ethanol and Bio diesel from agriproducts do not provide as much energy as it takes to create them.

Animal manures are truly renewable feedstocks for Ethanol production. The quantity of Swine manure produced in the U.S. estimated at 5 billion  tones dry matter per year is sufficient to contribute substantially to Ethanol production. With a conversion efficiency of 40% there is a theoretical yield of 500 million gallons a year.

Industries that are likely to be benefited from the waste to Ethanol services include food and beverages, breweries and wineries, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, chemical and consumer goods and agriproducts.

Tokyo Gas has built a plant to produce both Ethanol and methane from organic waste in the ward of Koto, Tokyo. Organic waste from school lunches is mashed and then taken to saccharisation tanks. Enzymes are added to the tank to breakdown starch into sugars. The suspension is then separated into the soluble and insoluble portions. The soluble part is rich in glucose which is fermented and distilled to give Ethanol. The solids are mixed with the distillation wastes and used for the generation of methane.

Sources

www.nedo3r.com/techsheet

www.tsk-g.co.jp

www.ecogeek.org/content

www.greencarcongress.com/2005

www.greencarcongress.com/2006

www.consumeraffairs.com/news04

www.glinden.blogspot.com/2004

www.terradaily.com

www.mark.asci.ncsu.edu/SWINEREPORTS/2001

www.ars.usda.gov

www.vincentcorp.com

www.sciencelinks.lipi.go.id

Agriculture scientists would like the farmers to realise that reduction of chemical based fertilizers and pesticides can benefit both man and earth over the long run, and in particular for farmers, as a major portion of whose money is spent on buying these chemicals.

Value of waste
The focus, they believe must shift to educating farmers on the value of waste matter being generated in both their fields and homes and the technology to convert these waste into wealth. Their farm economics will definitely improve if they realise and adopt this.

It is precisely on these lines that scientists at the Myrada Krishi Vigyan Kendra at Gobichettipalayam, in Erode, Tamil Nadu have been working for the past several years in implementing a project called IFD (Integrated farm development model). Also called as LESA (Low External Input Sustainable Agriculture) the project is at present operational in about 32 villages in Erode district of Tamil Nadu.
Innovative model

According to P. Alagesan, Programme Coordinator, IFD is an innovative model especially designed for small scale farmers in improving farm productivity in a sustainable manner through integrating farm resources by recycling farm and home wastes. “The main concept of IFD is to integrate the animal and human wastes into useful and productive components such as for the manufacture of vermicompost, pest repellants and biogas thereby reducing input cost for farmers,” he said.
Bio pest repellants

For example, in villages, the urine and dung from cattle is usually washed into a drain or the dung is collected, dried and used as cooking fuel.

“But our IFD farmers collect the urine and dung in a collection tank and use it for generating biogas and manufacturing biogrowth promoters such as Panchagavya and Amirtha karaisal, to make bio pest-repellants,” explained Mr. Alagesan.

The spent slurry from the bio gas plant is used to make high quality manure by adding other farm wastes to it, and can also be used to breed earth worms.

“To ensure food and fodder security our research team has been conducting several programmes to emphasize the importance of kitchen gardens. The size of the kitchen garden depends upon the family size and income (usually 2-5 cents). A limited supply of water channelled through a low cost micro irrigation system ensures a good harvest,” he said.

High yielding green fodder varieties are also grown in these gardens to provide fodder to the animals. By growing these fodder varieties, the cost of buying feed has come down to nearly 12 per cent, explained Mr. Alagesan.

Farmer friendly
Technology must be farmer friendly and IFD farmers have been trained on scientific storage of harvested produce. The farmers store their harvested grains in special grain structures called ‘pucca koti’ (Hindi word) and metal bins.

These storage structures have been able to minimize grain loss to nearly 20 per cent and also protect the harvested produce from pest and pathogenic infestations. Finally, the waste generated from the farmer’s family is also not wasted. A eco-san toilet has been designed to collect the faeces and urine separately.
Rich nutrient

The faeces is covered with wood ash after every use and it falls into a soil pit and decomposes into a rich nutrient which can be safely used as manure for the field.

The urine is separately channelled to the kitchen garden where it seeps through the earth to nourish the plants.

Studies conducted in these villages have shown that about 35 per cent of external input cost has been reduced by effective utilization of farm and home wastes.
Forest regeneration

Use of biogas (2 cubic metre capacity has the potential to save about 210 kg of fuel wood per month) brought down firewood consumption. In a village called M.P. Doddi about nine tonnes of fuel wood in a month has been saved which has a direct impact on regeneration of forest area around the region.

Respiratory problems commonly encountered by the rural women in smokey kitchens have largely been minimized.

UNICEF has identified this as an innovative model and has planned to replicate it in other parts of the nation.

From Walnut shells
Walnut shells serve as an alternative source of  Activated Carbon. Adsorption capacity increased with increase in activation temperature but beyond 400 degrees celsius resulted in thermal decomposition. Activation longer than one hour at 375 degrees celcius resulted in a destruction of the micropore size.Activation with ZnCl2 was better than that with CaCl2 and increased with increasing concentrations upto a certain limit beyond which increasing concentrations inhibited activation.Applicability of the activated carbon from walnut shells, as adsorbent  for synthetic copper wastewater, was better for Copper Ions as compared to  carbon from coconut shell.

From Rosa canina seeds
“An activated carbon has been developed from Rosa canina sp. seeds, characterized and used for the removal of methylene blue (basic dye) from aqueous solutions.”

From Corn Cobs
A new absorbent material  made from the remains of corn cob is being used to store natural gas. A nanaporous carbon material is produced from the waste corn which is referred to as the “sponge for natural gas”,where the methane uptake is 120v/v or more. Other materials used to make this adsorbent material , olive pits and coconut shell, are more expensive to produce.Flat low pressure high capacity natural gas tanks for vehicles holding no greater than 500psi of methane have been developed.This  reduced the effects in the event of an explosion because of lower pressure of the storage tank and allowed for more trunk space in cars.

Corn cob dried and crushed is mixed with phosphoric acid (H3PO4),where it serves as an activating agent.Excess phosphoric acid is removed and the mixture is carbonized at 450-650oC in a reactor, after which it is evaporated at 160oC for 3 hours.It is washed with hot water to bring the pH to a neutral point.The washed activated carbon is dried at 110oC and grinded and sieved to a particle size of 40 mesh.Using a hydraulic press and a die the powder and a small quantity of binding agent is pressed into monoliths or briquettes to obtain the highest density .These briquettes are used for storage of natural gas at a targetted capacity of 150v/v .The applications include use in gas based vehicles,transportation of natural gas and adsorption of gas from land fills.

From Oil Palm wastes,cork powder and other agricultural wastes
Adsorption of Sulfur Dioxide on Activated Carbon from Oil-Palm Waste and use of cork powder as source of activated carbon has also been studied.Agricultural wastes could be considered as suitable raw materials for the production of activated carbon.activated carbon was produced by chemical activation with phosphoric acid of agricultural wastes such as bagasse, hard shells of apricot stones, almond, walnut and hazelnut shells,activated carbon from the hard shells of apricot stones have the best adsorption properties and the highest surface  area. This activated carbon could be used in the separation of metal ions from wastewaters.

From pyrolysis of sewage sludges
Activated carbons can also be produced by the chemical activation and pyrolisis of sewage. The adsorbents produced from sewage sludges were able to adsorb dyes from coloured waste waters like saffranine and methylene blue.Methylene blue absorption was faster than that for Saffranine.

From Waste newsprint
Waste paper activated carbon has been  prepared from waste newsprint paper and its adsorption capacities were almost the same as ordinary activated carbon on the market.

From Waste Tyres
Technology is available to burn tires in order to seperate and recover carbides.Some parts of the carbides are active and can be used as active carbon. Water (steam) is added to the system for activation.Steel and generated steam can be recovered seperately.

Methods for treating waste tires include retreading,stockpiling, landfilling, recycling, pulverization, fueling, incineration,and pyrolysis. The simplest means of treating waste tires are landfilling and stockpiling. However,wastetires are not easily biodegradable in landfills and, when stockpiled, the accumulation of water in waste tires provides an ideal breeding ground for disease-carrying mosquitoes and rodents. Moreover, uncontrolled fires have broken out in piles of waste tires, and the emission of gaseous air pollutants during open burning has threatened human health and the safety of nearby communities.Waste tires contain more than 90% organic materialsand have a heat value of 32.6 mJ/kg (14,000 Btu/lb),compared with that for coal of 18.6–27.9 mJ/kg (8000–12,000 Btu/lb). Several attempts have been made to convert waste tires to auxiliary fuel. Among them, pyrolysis is a favorable choice for treating waste tires from environmentaland economic perspectives. Pyrolysis is a typical thermal treatment process in the absence of oxygen (O2),which decomposes waste tires into carbon black, combustible gas, and pyrolysis oil.The combustible gas can be recovered as an auxiliary fuel, while the pyrolysis oil, with a composition similar to that of diesel, can be further distilled as supplemental fuel. Furthermore, waste tires or carbon black could be activated into powdered or granular activated carbon for air pollution control and wastewater treatment.

Rubber separated from waste tires was first carbonized at 500 °C in N2 atmosphere. Next, the obtained chars were activated with steam at 850 °C. As a result, fairly mesoporous activated carbons  were obtained. To further improve the porous properties of the activated carbons, the char was treated with I M HCl at room temperature for 1 day prior to steam activation. This treatment increased mesopore volumes , Furthermore, adsorption characteristics of phenol and a dye, Black 5, on the activated carbon prepared via acid treatment were compared with those of a commercial activated carbon in the liquid phase. Although the prepared carbon had a larger micropore volume than the commercial carbon, it showed a slightly lower phenol adsorption capacity. On the other hand, the prepared carbon showed an obviously larger dye adsorption capacity than the commercial carbon, because of its larger mesopore volume.

From Waste Wood
Activated carbons have been produced from waste wood and have the added advantage of  better utilization of resources and reduction of carbon dioxide generation from waste incineration.Specific surface area and adsorption performance of activated carbons from waste wood were found to be nearly equal to those of commercial activated carbons which could be used for humidity-control in houses and leachate treatment in landfill. Waste wood activated carbon also demonstrated equivalent or superior performance to commercial activated carbons.

From Waste Tea
Activated carbons were prepared by phosphoric acid activation with and without microwave treatment and carbonisation of  waste tea under nitrogen atmosphere at various temperatures and different phosphoric acid/precursor impregnation ratios.

From spent activated carbon from water filters
Spent activated carbon from water purifier (Aqua Guard, India) for the removal of atrazine (2 chloro-4 ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-1, 3, 5 triazine) from wastewaters has also been tried successfully.

From Beer Lees
Activated carbon was successfully produced from beer lees which are the main waste material from a beer-production process, when KOH and CO2 were used as oxidizing agents in activation process.

From combustion ash from low Nox boilers
Coal fired plants now use low NOX boilers to reduce emissions. These burners reduce the NOX but increase the unburnt carbon left after combustion and power plants are left with fly ash and unburnt carbon.This impacts the recycle and reuse of fly ash.One use of combustion waste is as activated carbon.While both anthracite and unburned carbon can produce acceptable activated carbon, unburned carbon is probably less expensive and better for the environment. Unburned carbon, separated from fly ash, does not need cleaning or crushing, nor does it need heating to remove volatile components. Also, while anthracite sells for about $50 a ton, the waste from power plants can be separated for $10 to $15 per ton, and the fly ash could be sold to cement manufacturers.

From Chicken Waste
Preparation of low cost activated carbon from chicken waste is a promising way to produce a useful adsorbent for Hg removal. The activated carbon from chicken waste has the same mercury  capacity as commercial activated carbon.

From Broiler Excreta
Ammonia (NH3) pollution from broiler excreta is a primary concern for broiler industry viability.Activated carbon made from broiler litter is effective for NH3 adsorption originating from litterand provides  an opportunity to not only reuse the manure, but also treat the emissions from or within broiler houses.
The BAC is a much cheaper alternative than commercially produced activated carbons and can be applied directly tohe litter if health of birds are the concern or via a filtration system if air pollution concerns demand compliance to standards.

From Urban Waste
The organic fraction of urban waste is converted to active carbon via an improved pyrolytic process. The active carbon produced has a low ash content, high pore volume and hardnessand the active carbon of the present invention possesses superior characteristics. The urban waste referred to herein includes various types of waste produced in the urban environment. For the purpose of this invention urban waste is defined as waste which includes domestic waste and commercial waste but does not include industrial waste. In this context, domestic waste includes waste produced in an average normal household which comprises food waste, paper products and packaging, plastic products, wood, glass and metal. Commercial waste is the waste produced by the commercial sector. Much of the commercial waste is generated by food establishments, markets, grocery stores and the like.

In the initial stage the waste is sorted for the removal of foreign materials. The waste is then shredded to particle size of about 2cm x 2cm x 2cm, and then dried at a temperature of about 110°C. The dried particulate waste is then transferred to the pyrolysis vessel wherein the pyrolysis is a two stage process conducted at a temperature, preferably, in the range of 1400C to 500°C, in which primary pyrolysis takes place at about 160°C and in the second stage the temperature reaches 3900C. The pyrolysis stage takes about 2 hours. Optionally, matter made of polymeric materials, typically, plastics and rubbers, are removed prior to and/or subsequent to any one of the pyrolysis stages. The charcoal produced in the pyrolysis is crushed to a mean particle size up to about 0.01mm. This charcoal produced in the pyrolysis stage has an ash content of 9-20%. This charcoal is granulated in an extruder with a charcoal: water: oil ratio of about 1: 0.7: 0.15. The subsequent carbonization is carried out at a temperature, preferably, in the range of 110oC to 600°C. The granulated carbon is then carbonized at about 180°C under anaerobic conditions. The subsequent activation is carried out at about 790OC in the presence of steam and combustion gases. The combustion gases used in this stage are mixed with gases from the drying process.

The final purifying of the activated carbon is done by rinsing with an aqueous acidic solution, preferably, 5%-20% HCl solution, until the ash content is 2%-5% followed by washing in water until the water extracts have a pH of 3.5-5. The rinsed activated carbon is finally dried at about 100oC to a final water content in the range of 4%-8%.

The activated carbon obtained by the process of the present invention has an ash content of 2%-5%, a mean pore volume in the range of 0.95-1.2 ml/g  and a hardness in the range 85-95.

From Chlorella Vulgaris and Rice Husk
Chlorella vulgaris and rice husk were selected from microorganisms and agricultural waste, respectively, to create new gold-eluteable adsorbents for adsorption of gold-thiourea complex, and compared with activated carbon.  Although heated-immobilised C. vulgaris had the highest eluteability, it adsorbed less gold. Therefore, heated rice husk could be used as an alternative adsorbent for gold-thiourea pre-concentration.

Activated carbon (AC) of high quality has been produced from rice husk. The production involves two (2) main steps: (1) carbonization of raw material at temperature below 800oC in the absence of air using fixed bed reactor (furnace); (2) activation of resulting char with an alkali. The high-quality activated carbons produced have surface areas of 2,896-3,287 m2/g, methylene blue values of 999-1,050 mg/g and benzene gas adsorption of 167-212%.
References

1.Jin-Wha Kima, Myoung-Hoi Sohna, Dong-Su Kim, Seung-Man Sohnb and Young-Shik Kwonc ,Production of granular activated carbon from waste walnut shell and its adsorption characteristics for Cu2+ ion, Journal of Hazardous Materials,Volume 85, Issue 3, 17 August 2001, Pages 301-315

2.Abe Ikuo,Maruyama Jun,   Fukuhara Tomoko,Iwasaki Satoshi ,Production of Activated Carbon from Waste Wood by Air-Based Activation Method. Science and Industry VOL.74;NO.9;PAGE.442-447,2000

3.F. Rozadaa, L. F. Calvoa, A. I. Garcíaa, J. Martín-Villacortab and M. Otero,Dye adsorption by sewage sludge-based activated carbons in batch and fixed-bed systems  , Bioresource Technology ,Volume 87, Issue 3, May 2003, Pages 221-230

4.A. Gürsesa,  Ç. Dogarb, S. Karacac, M. Açikyildiza and R. Bayraka ,Production of granular activated carbon from waste Rosa canina sp. seeds and its adsorption characteristics for dye ,Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 131, Issues 1-3, 17 April 2006, Pages 254-259.

5.The Properties of Activated Carbon Made from Waste Newsprint Paper ,Journal of Porous Materials, Volume 6, Number 3 , May, 1999 ,Pages 191-196

6.Emine Yagmura, Meryem Ozmaka and Zeki Aktas,A novel method for production of activated carbon from waste tea by chemical activation with microwave energy, Fuel, Volume 87, Issues 15-16, November 2008, Pages 3278-3285

7.Emine Yagmura, Meryem Ozmaka and Zeki Aktas,A novel method for production of activated carbon from waste tea by chemical activation with microwave energy ,Fuel,Volume 87, Issues 15-16, November 2008, Pages 3278-3285

8.Pranab Kumar Ghosh and Ligy Philip, Performance Evaluation of Waste Activated Carbon on Atrazine Removal from Contaminated Water,Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part B, Volume 40, Issue 3 May 2005 , pages 425 – 441

9.Hyoung-Ho LEE, Yuki HIRANO, Norihiro MURAYAMA, Shigeno MATSUMOTO and Junji SHIBATA, Adsorption Properties of Activated Carbon Prepared from Waste Beer Lees by KOH Activation and CO2 Activation, Department of Chemical Engineering, Kansai University and Asada Iron Works Co. Ltd.  February 1, 2007

10.Aik Chong Lua,  and Jia Guo, Journal of Environmental Engineering, Vol. 127, No. 10, October 2001, pp. 895-901,

11.Beatriz Cardoso, Ana S. Mestre, Ana P. Carvalho,* and Joa~o Pires,Activated Carbon Derived from Cork Powder Waste by KOH Activation: Preparation, Characterization, and VOCs Adsorption,Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 47 (16), 5841–5846, 2008.

12.Masahiro Shimada1, Takahiko Iida1, Kensuke Kawarada1, Yoshifumi Chiba, Toshihiro Mamoto and Takayuki Okayama
Porous structure of activated carbon prepared from waste newspaper ,Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management
Volume 2, Number 2 ,October, 2000,Pages 100-108

13.Chung-Shin Yuan, Hsun-Yu Lin, Chun-Hsin Wu, and Ming-Han Liu,Preparation of Sulfurized Powdered Activated Carbon from Waste Tires Using an Innovative Compositive Impregnation Process,Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, Volume 54, July 2004, 862-870

14.Yaji Huang, Baosheng Jin, Zhaoping Zhong, Wenqi Zhong, Rui Xiao ,Characteristic and mercury adsorption of activated carbon produced by CO2 of chicken waste.J Environ Sci (China). 2008 ;20 (3):291-6

15.Fitzmorris, K.B., Miles, D.M., Lima, I.M. 2007. Efffacy of activated carbon from broiler litter in the removal of litter generated ammonia. Proceedings International Symposium on Air Quality and Waste Management for Agriculture Research,September 16, 2007,701P0907 CD-ROM.

16.Dr. R.B. Lartey, & Dr. Francis Acquah, K.S. Nketia,  CSIR Developing National Capability For Manufacture Of
Activated  Carbon From Agricultural Wastes ,The Ghana Engineer, May 1999.

At a small coastal Industrial zone Kalundborg near Copenhagan an exemplary material exchange is being practiced. The exchange involves a 1500M.W. Power plant,(Asuaes Power Station),a 3.2 million metric tones capacity oil refinery,(Stat Oil),a 14 million square meters of Gypsum Board manufacturing unit,(Gyproc),an Intermational Biotechnology company with a sales in excess of $2 Billion and the city of Kalundborg which supplies residential heat and hot water to the residents.
The Power plant supplies waste steam to the refinery and in turn gets refinery gas which substitutes some of the coal. Excess steam is also supplied to the Biotechnology Company, (Novo Nosdisk) and the city of Kalundborg for heating. This replaces almost 3500 individual furnaces which otherwise are a source of high air pollution. Desulphurization at the Power plant also produces Gypsum which meets1/3rd of the need of Gypsum in the Board manufacturing unit. Sludge from the Biotechnology Company is used as fertilizer on nearby farms and surplus yeast from its Insulin plant is sold to farmers as pig food.

From:
Damle Anand- Use of Fly Ash in Burnt Clay manufacturing, Cleaner Technology, Impacts/12/2003-2004, MOEF-CPCB, Govt. of India, 2003 pages11-21

Her organic business venture Daily Dump offers different types of composters that convert the waste generated in one’s  kitchen into compost. If the customers do not require the compost, it can be sold back to Daily Dump.

What began as a small venture with family members and potters, three years ago, Daily dump is set to treble its turnover to Rs 36,00,000 (Rs 3.6 million) this year. Today, the company has about 4,500 dedicated customers in Bangalore who use the profitable composters.

The response has been encouraging and the company has steadily grown over the past 3 years. In the first year, Daily Dump made a turnover of Rs 200,000, which increased to 12,00,000 (Rs 1.2 million) last year.

Poonam says home waste generated in one’s kitchen is 50-70 per cent organic, but urban India has still not found an effective way to dispose this waste, which can actually be churned back into the system by converting it into useful organic manure.

“Keeping this waste off the streets will be the biggest challenge that civic authorities across every city will face. If we can convert this into compost, it can reduce the mess on the streets by 60 per cent, that’s a big impact,” Poonam points out.

The Daily Dump design is available to anyone who is interested, the designs are protected by a creative commons license and the cloning approach allows anyone to use these designs. “I plan to support every person who is brave enough to clone this in every possible manner,” says Poonam.

Poonam Kasturi shares her experiences of  ‘a great ride, tough but very fulfilling’ of converting household waste into wealth and how her products can make a far reaching impact in a country like India.

1.         Spent wash to be utilized for compost making with press mud/Agriculture residue/Municipal wastes.

2.         Spent wash to be concentrated and dried/incinerated.

3.         Effluent to be used for irrigation only after Biomethanation, two stage secondary treatment and dilution with process water.

4.         Effluents (BOD<2500 mg/L) to be discharged in a controlled manner into the sea only after Biomethanation and secondary treatment so that D.O. does not fall below 4 mg/L in the mixing zone.

5.         To be used in fertiirrigation as one time controlled application on land after detailed study.

6.         Achieve zero effluents discharge in inland surface waters by December 2005.

It was also decided that new stand alone distilleries and expansions of existing distilleries will not be given environmental clearance unless they achieve zero effluent discharge in surface/ground water.

The AIDA has compiled data from 233 Distilleries across the country in 2006. Based on this data,101 distilleries had achieved 100% utilization of spent wash,17 gave incomplete information, 34 achieved 50 to 75% utilization and 22 distilleries were closed. (aidaindia.org/its08 and cpcb.nic.in).