Decolourizing distillery spent wash using fungal biotechnologies: from pollution to potential

Climate change and environmental pollution are among the most pressing global challenges today, with water pollution standing out as a particularly critical issue. Industrial wastewater discharge, especially from distilleries, significantly contributes to the degradation of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Molasses-based distilleries are major perpetrators, producing vast quantities of dark brown effluent known as spent wash. This colouration is largely due to the presence of melanoidin, a re