Company ProfileCase Study: Sugar Alcohol Distillery—Queensland, Australia
The Problem
CSR, a sugar refining company, faced a problem in disposing of distillery slops from alcohol production associated with their sugar refineries. The volume of effluent was 2,000 cubic meters/day, COD was in excess of 100,000 milligrams/liter, and effluent temperature was over 80°C. For years, CSR had been discharging effluent into a river estuary which led to the sea. Local political pressure was mounting against this practice which caused CSR to investigate better methods for disposing of the material.The EversTech Solution
After consulting with EversTech, CSR installed our ET Process for treating their distillery slops. The ET Process uses thermophilic anaerobic digestion followed by catalytic oxidation. This allowed CSR to replace its high volume of effluent with three products that were easily disposed of: biogas released as steam, biomass which could be used as organic soil conditioner on sugarcane fields, and water which met river-dischargeable standards.
Financial Benefit
| Plant Cost | |
| The capital cost of the plant | £600,000 |
| Operational Costs (£’s) | |
| Electricity | £13,000 |
| Labour etc. | £40,000 |
| Bio-cultures | £24,000 |
| Operational and Management Fees | £25,000 |
| Total Cost per year | £102,000 |
| Benefits | |
| Effluent Charge Savings | £450,000 |
| Energy as Biogas (Fuel Oil Equivalent) | £180,300 |
| Biomass Fertiliser | £72,000 |
| Total Benefit per year | £702,300 |
| Annual Net Benefit (Annual Benefit minus Cost per year) | £600,300 |