Winery wastewater treatment using the land filter technique

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Abstract

This study outlines a new approach to the treatment of winery wastewater by application to a land FILTER (Filtration and Irrigated cropping for Land Treatment and Effluent Reuse) system. The land FILTER system was tested at a medium size rural winery crushing ∼20,000 tonnes of grapes. The approach consisted of a preliminary treatment through a coarse screening and settling in treatment ponds, followed by application to the land FILTER planted to pasture. The land FILTER system efficiently dealt with variable volumes and nutrient loads in the wastewater. It was operated to minimize pollutant loads in the treated water (subsurface drainage) and provide adequate leaching to manage salt in the soil profile. The land FILTER system was effective in neutralizing the pH of the wastewater and removing nutrient pollutants to meet EPA discharge limits. However, suspended solids (SS) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) levels in the subsurface drainage waters slightly exceeded EPA limits for discharge. The high organic content in the wastewater initially caused some soil blockage and impeded drainage in the land FILTER site. This was addressed by reducing the hydraulic loading rate to allow increased soil drying between wastewater irrigations. The analysis of soil characteristics after the application of wastewater found that there was some potassium accumulation in the profile but sodium and nutrients decreased after wastewater application. Thus, the wastewater application and provision of subsurface drainage ensured adequate leaching, and so was adequate to avoid the risk of soil salinisation.

Introduction

Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA) in many countries have promoted land treatment and reuse of sewage effluent and other wastewater to reduce pollution of natural water bodies (Greenway, 2005).

Simplified treatment systems with low energy consumption, lagoons, wetlands, land spreading/irrigation, are important techniques for effluent treatment and disposal. This form of treatment and disposal needs integration with the general landscape capacity to receive the wastewater and obviously requires that land be available (Bustamante et al., 2005). When soil conditions are suitable, land treatment of wastewater for irrigated cropping or forestry systems can be successfully practiced, especially with low salinity wastewater. However, there are two difficulties with land application of wastewater for cropping in the southeastern wine growing areas in Australia: 1) poorly drained soils leading to water logging and salinisation, hence reducing crop yields and nutrient removal, and so affecting the long-term sustainability of such sites; 2) storage requirement for wet weather and winter periods when the evapotranspiration needs for irrigated cropping falls, leading to escalated costs. The benefits and risks of using land based systems for the disposal of wastewater have been reviewed (Cameron et al., 1997, Bond, 1998, Magesan and Wang, 2003). The management of winery wastewater differs from some other effluents such as sewage in that it has high salinity, a very variable composition and its generation rate varies significantly over a daily, monthly and annual cycle.

In Australia, most of the current low cost treatments are based on evaporation ponds that can generate foul odors, insect proliferation and groundwater contamination (Quayle et al., 2006).

On-site land based wastewater disposal systems in Australia can be an attractive approach to the treatment of wastewater for medium to small scale wineries, which are often located in rural areas and represent about 75% of the total number of wineries in the industry. In the past, in Australia, winery wastewater was disposed of directly into ponds where the wastewaters were held to allow solids to settle and then either the water allowed to evaporate or applied onto soil or into watercourses. However, current environmental controls prohibit the return of such waters to watercourses. The most prevalent form of winery wastewater treatment in Australia is biological treatment through aerobic and anaerobic methods (Quayle et al., 2006). The disadvantages of these systems are the high costs and the need to dispose of sludge or other by products derived from the process.

Most wineries in Australia have land available for treatment and disposal of wastewater, making land based treatment and disposal attractive. The treated effluent can then be used for irrigation of gardens, trees and landscapes, vineyards, other crops or recycled back to the winery (with further treatment). As such this research implemented a land based wastewater treatment technique named FILTER (Jayawardane et al., 1997, Jayawardane et al., 1999), in combination with an existing pond system. The innovation of the land FILTER disposal system designed by our team with respect to other land disposal systems is based on the collection of the filtered wastewater though an intensive network of subsurface drains. As such this system both disposes of water and also provides treated water for later reuse. Since the technique had been trialled with success for the treatment of sewage water (Jayawardane et al., 1997, Jayawardane et al., 1999, Jayawardane et al., 2001a, Jayawardane et al., 2001b) we deemed it worthwhile to test the approach for the treatment of more saline wastewater such as that from wineries. The FILTER design is based on an intensive network of subsurface drains operated to minimize pollutant loads in the treated water and provide adequate leaching to manage salt in the soil profile.

The FILTER relies on the soil to act as both a physical filter and as a medium for chemical exchange and degradation processes. The technique has been trialled with success for the treatment of sewage water (Jayawardane et al., 1997, Jayawardane et al., 1999, Jayawardane et al., 2001a) and combines using the nutrients in wastewaters to grow crops, with filtration through the soil to a subsurface drainage system during periods of low cropping activity and heavy rainfall and thus provides wastewater treatment throughout the year without the need for storage ponds. This filtration phase can be combined or followed, if and when necessary, by a cropping phase to remove nutrients stored in the soil, thereby maintaining a sustainable system and eliminating the need for a separate cropping phase (Jayawardane et al., 2001a). The treated subsurface drainage water can then either be disposed of or reused.

The FILTER design and management at a given site depends on factors such as the land area available, the pollutants present in the wastewater and the daily wastewater discharge rate. A prototype system was installed at a medium size rural winery in southeastern Australia. This paper describes the principal design specifications of the pilot scale system and the analysis of the influent and effluent characteristics, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total suspended solids (TSS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), etc. and hence quantifies the removal of pollutants by the FILTER. The study also identifies potential long-term problems at the land application site and potential improvements in routine field operation to assist the development of a sustainable system.

Section snippets

Site selection and performance of the existing pond system

The trial of the experimental treatment system was undertaken at a medium size winery crushing about 20,000 tonnes of grapes per year in southern New South Wales, Australia. The region is semi-arid with ∼1800 mm reference evapotranspiration and ∼400 mm rain per year. Before implementing the experimental pilot system the wastewater treatment consisted of a coarse solid screening combined with evaporation ponds filled directly from a small solids settling pond. This treatment system was not working

Results and discussion

Overall ∼2500 m3 of wastewater was processed by the FILTER treatment system. The volumes of wastewater applied and treated drainage are shown in Table 2. The drains flowed for a few days after each wastewater application. Initially drainage rates were ∼30 m3 d−1, but tended to decrease due to infiltration difficulties. Thus, the period between irrigation events was increased to allow the soil to dry and drainage rates at the end of the trial increased to ∼45 m3 d−1.

Conclusions

The results indicate that the land FILTER system can be used to treat winery wastewater, reducing the capital and operational costs of winery wastewater treatment. Modifications to improve the overall treatment of water and sustainability would be to combine the land FILTER system with a pond treatment system. This would also provide the additional function of storing excess wastewater during peak production for land application during the off season. The land area for FILTER can then be

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge funding from the Grape and Wine Research and Development Commission of Australia and the owners and staff of Warburn Estate Wines, Griffith, NSW, Australia, for choosing to be part of an experimental design and for their invaluable assistance throughout the study.

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