Abstract

Sugarcane is one of the most important cash crops capable of producing high biomass yielding energy in the form of sugar, power and alcohol. India has the largest area of sugarcane, 4.23 million ha and yielding about 299 million tonnes of sugarcane and 15 million tonnes of sugar. Sugar industry also produces 7.5 million tonnes of molasses. Molasses serve as a raw material for alcohol production yielding 2.70 billion litres of alcohol by releasing 45 billion litres of spentwash possessing very high BOD. The sugar industry is one amongst the largest agro based industries in India letting out huge quantities of solid and liquid wastes causing environmental pollution. The existing method of disposing the solid and liquid wastes from sugar factories including distillery needs a scientific approach in order to reduce the hazardous effect on the environment, to reduce the period of composting and to improve the value of bio compost. In the present study, 30 Cellulolytic and lignolytic isolates were obtained from these waste materials and those isolates where characterized and studied for the present waste management. The results of the experiments showed that application of microbial consortium treated with sugar and distillery waste significantly improved macronutrient and micronutrient content of the compost.