Winery Wastewater: Challenges and Perspectives †

Abstract

This review aims to study in detail the characterization of winery wastewater (WW), the problems caused by its release into the environment without proper treatment, and the processes that can be applied for its treatment. Several works showed that the WW has a composition based on soluble sugars, organic acids, alcohols, and high molecular weight compounds. Among these, the phenolic compounds are considered to be very toxic, due to the difficulty of degradation by microorganisms, and also because they represent toxicity to humans and animals. To solve this issue, biologic treatments are considered to be cheaper and more effective for biodegradable WW, with the possibility to store biogas with anaerobic treatments. To complement biological treatments, physical-chemical processes based on adsorption, coagulation-flocculation-decantation (CFD), and advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are also discussed in this review.