Efficient treatment of alcohol wastewater and its potential pollutant control strategies

Alcohol wastewater presents challenges such as high pollutant concentration and salinity, which can lead to environmental degradation when directly discharged. Due to their cost-effectiveness and environmentallyfriendly features, biological technologies have gained widespread application in alcohol wastewater management. These technologies can be categorized into conventional technology (CT), anaerobic digestion (AD), and functional bacteria and microalgae technology (BMT). In this review, we examine their application performance, microbial mechanisms, potential pollutants, and future outlook. The results are as follows: 1) AD and BMT show greater potential than CT for pollutant recycling. However, salinity reduction needs more attention. 2) While a substantial amount of microbial information has been revealed, there is still a lack of understanding regarding the symbiotic interactions among microorganisms or between microorganism and microalgae under conditions of high salinity and pollutant concentration. Additionally, vital microbial mechanisms such as gene enrichment, driving-factor networks, and enzyme activity characteristics remain insufficiently explored. 3) Aerobic technologies release N2O, while anaerobic technologies emit CH4. To control greenhouse gas emissions, optimizing the winemaking process, integrating constructed wetlands, and utilizing alcohol wastewater as a carbon source are suggested. Real-time monitoring is essential to prevent disinfection byproduct accumulation and highconcentration discharge. 4) Future prospects include high-value utilization of AD substrates, cost reduction, deeper understanding of BMT mechanisms, and improved detection methods based on epidemiological analysis. This work emphasizes resource reuse, prevention and control of potential pollutants in alcohol wastewater, and proposes new insights for detection methods.