Abstract
The production of Tequila (55% Alc. Vol.) in Mexico for the year 2008 was 227 million liters, and consequently around 2,270 million liters of Tequila vinasses (TVs) were generated, which without proper treatment is equivalent to the pollution produced by 6.2 million people. The lack of both finances and technology availability are reasons for the absence of wastewater treatment plants (WTP) in the Tequila factories, with the exception of some big and medium size factories. There are WTPs based on both biological and physicochemical processes and also combinations of them that have been implemented to treat TVs; however, in most of the cases the implementation has not been effective. The WTPs that utilize a biological anaerobic process seem to be the most suitable for the treatment of TVs; however, there are some technical factors that have to be considered before the implementation of a technological solution for this environmental issue. This mini-review presents the state of the art of wastewater treatments performance in the Tequila industry, discussing the efficacy of the systems together with other technologies that could be considered to fulfill the requirements for the environmental regulation in Mexico.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arvanitoyannis IS, Ladas D, Mavromatis A (2006) Wine waste treatment methodology. Int J Food Sci Technol 41(10):1117–1151
Bautista-Zúñiga F, Durán-de-Bazúa MC (1998) Análisis del beneficio y riesgo potenciales de la aplicación al suelo de vinazas crudas y tratadas biológicamente. Rev Int Contam Ambient 14(1):13–19
Beltrán FJ (2004) Ozone reaction kinetics for water and wastewater system. CRC Press, Boca Raton
Beltrán FJ, Álvarez PM, Rodríguez EV, García-Araya JF, Rivas J (2001) Treatment of high strength distillery wastewater (cherry stillage) by integrated aerobic biological oxidation and ozonation. Biotechnol Prog 17(3):462–467
CNIT (2009) Informe estadístico 2008. www.tequileros.org. Accessed: December 2009
CRT (2008) Estadísticas de economía. www.crt.org.mx. Accessed: December 2009
Dalton R (2005) Alcohol and science: saving the agave. Nature 438(7071):1070–1071
Davila-Vazquez G, Arriaga S, Alatriste-Mondragón F, de León-Rodríguez A, Rosales-Colunga LM, Razo-Flores E (2008) Fermentative biohydrogen production: trends and perspectives. Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol 7(1):27–45
Espinoza-Escalante F, Pelayo-Ortiz C, Gutiérrez-Pulido H, González-Álvarez V, Alcaraz-González V, Bories A (2008) Multiple response optimization analysis for pretreatments of Tequila’s stillages for VFAs and hydrogen production. Bioresour Technol 99(13):5822–5829
Espinoza-Escalante F, Pelayo-Ortíz C, Navarro-Corona J, González-García Y, Bories A, Gutiérrez-Pulido H (2009) Anaerobic digestion of the vinasses from the fermentation of Agave tequilana Weber to tequila: the effect of pH, temperature and hydraulic retention time on the production of hydrogen and methane. Biomass Bioenergy 33(1):14–20
Goyes A, Bolaños G (2005) Un estudio preliminar sobre el tratamiento de vinazas en agua supercrítica. In: Proceedings of the XXIII Congreso Colombiano de Ingeniería Química. Manizales, Colombia
Íñiguez-Covarrubias G, Peraza-Luna F (2007) Reduction of solids and organic load concentrations in tequila vinasses using a polyacrilamide (PAM) polymer flocculant. Rev Int Contam Ambient 23(1):17–24
Jiranuntipon S, Chareonpornwattana S, Damronglerd S, Albasi C, Delia M-L (2008) Decolorization of synthetic melanoidins-containing wastewater by a bacterial consortium. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 35(11):1313–1321
Linerio-Gil JE, Guzmán-Carrillo A (2004) Tratamiento de efluentes y aprovechamiento de residuos. In: Gschaedler-Mathis AC (ed) Ciencia y tecnología del tequila; Avances y perspectivas. Centro de Investigación y Asistencia en Tecnología y Diseño del Estado de Jalisco (CIATEJ). Guadalajara, México, pp 258–284
López-López A (2009) Evaluación de alternativas de tratamiento para vinazas tequileras, internal project CIATEJ-PI-VINAZAS/08/PT. (unpublished data)
López-López A, Pic JS (2006) Desarrollo de un proceso de oxidación avanzada basado en ozono para degradar compuestos recalcitrantes. In: Proceedings of the V Congreso Internacional de Ciencias Ambientales. Oaxtepec, Morelos, México. pp 820–827
López-López A, Pic JS, Debellefontaine H (2007) Ozonation of azo dye in a semi-batch reactor: a determination of the molecular and radical contributions. Chemosphere 66(11):2120–2126
Méndez-Acosta HG, Snell-Castro R, Alcaraz-González V, González-Álvarez V, Pelayo-Ortiz C (2009) Anaerobic treatment of Tequila vinasses in a CSTR-type digester. Biodegradation. Published online, doi:10.1007/s10532-10009-19306-10537
Meza-Pérez A, Briones-Méndez R, Ilangovan K (1996) Floculación-coagulación como postratamiento del efluente de un reactor anaerobio que trata vinazas tequileras. In: Proceedings of the XXV Congreso Interamericano de Ingeniería Sanitaria y Ambiental. Ciudad de México, México
Mohana S, Acharya BK, Madamwar D (2009) Distilley spent wash: treatment technologies and potential applications. J Hazard Mater 163(1):12–25
Moletta R (2005) Winery and distillery wastewater treatment by anaerobic digestion. Water Sci Technol 51(1):137–144
Montes-Moncivais A, Moreno G, Buitrón G (2008) Biological hydrogen production from tequila industry wastewater (YWP-012). In: Proceedings of the 1st IWA Mexico National Young Water Professionals Conference. Mexico city, Mexico
Noyola A (1999) Desarrollo de tecnologías mexicanas en tratamiento de aguas residuales: una experiencia. Interciencia 24(3):169–172
Pant D, Adholeya A (2007) Biological approaches for treatment of distillery wastewater: a review. Bioresour Technol 98(12):2321–2334
Satyawali Y, Balakrishnan M (2008) Wastewater treatment in molasses-based alcohol distilleries for COD and color removal: a review. J Environ Manage 86(3):481–497
Tchobanoglous G, Burton FL, Stensel HD (1991) Wastewater engineering, treatment and reuse by Metcalf & Eddy. Mc Graw-Hill, New York
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Cámara Nacional de la Industria del Tequila, especially to C.P. Juan Casados Arregoitia and Lic. Francisco Soltero Jiménez for the information provided. The authors are indebted to Dana E. Erickson and Winston Smith (Peace Corps, Mexico) for the proof reading of the manuscript. The financial support from CIATEJ through CIATEJ-PI-VINAZAS/08/PT project, is gratefully acknowledged.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
López-López, A., Davila-Vazquez, G., León-Becerril, E. et al. Tequila vinasses: generation and full scale treatment processes. Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol 9, 109–116 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11157-010-9204-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11157-010-9204-9