The treatment of stillage (also called vinasse) from alcohol fermentation is a major cost centre potentially affecting the economic viability of distilleries. Increasingly, stringent environmental regulations in France have put enormous pressure on manufacturers of alcohol from traditional feedstocks such as beet and cane molasses. Some of the strong deterrents to be overcome are the unfavourable dilution ratio (1:10) of alcohol:stillage. In the French overseas departments (Guadeloupe, Martinique and Reunion Island), the stillage is often spread on to the fields, drained off into the sea or treated by aerobic or anaerobic treatments. Stillage from wine distilleries is treated with lime and calcium sulphate to recover tartaric acid as calcium tartrate and then spread on to the fields or treated aerobically in large lagoons. Thus the most widely accepted processing methods involve aerobic or anaerobic treatments or using stillage to fertilise crops. The former has the advantage of partial energy recovery in the form of gas used for boiler fuel. Only a few factories have this process for pollution control but it is becoming more widespread in many countries