Cyanobacteria/microalgae for distillery wastewater treatment- past, present and the future

Distilleries are considered one of the major polluting industries due to the presence of high organics and recalcitrant compounds in the effluent. The distillery wastewater (DWW) has been treated via physicochemical, biological, and a combination of different processes. This chapter provides an overview of various processes adopted for DWW treatment, their advantages and disadvantages, reactor configurations and the operating conditions. Subsequently, the phycoremediation of DWW is discussed in detail along with the mechanism of organics and recalcitrant compounds removal, optimal growth conditions of algae and various reactor configurations for algal growth. Finally, the research challenges and future directions toward the sustainable treatment of DWW are addressed.