STUDY OF WASTEWTER TREATMENT OF TEXTILE INDUSTRY

PREPARED BY
AMIL MEMON (150080717001)
AJAY ANDODARIYA (150080717002)
JAIMIN PATEL (150080717009)
KAUSHAL PATEL (150080717011)
ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERIG
In
CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

BIRLA VISHVAKARMA MAHAVIDHYALA, V.V.NAGAR

AUTONOMOUS INSTITUTE

TEXTILE INDUSTRY
The textile industry is concerned with the design and production of yarn, cloth, clothing, and
their distribution. The raw material may be natural or synthetic using products of the chemical
industry.
The textile industry is generally having three main categories:

Cellulose fibers (cotton, rayon, linen, ramie, hemp and lyocell),

Protein fibers (wool, angora, mohair, cashmere and silk) and
Synthetic fibers (polyester, nylon, spandex, acetate, acrylic, ingeo and polypropylene).

WATER USES AND WASTE WATER PRODUCED

The various processes involved in the textile industries produce large amounts of gas, liquid and
solid wastes. The textile industry uses a various types of chemicals and a large amount of water
for all of its manufacturing processes. About 200 L of water are used to produce 1 kg of textile.
Water is mainly used for: (a) the application of chemical onto textiles and (b) rinsing the
manufactured textiles. The quantity of water required varies from industry to industry depending
on the dyeing process and the type of fabrics produced.
Wet processes usually use a lot of chemicals and water. About 80-150 m3 of water are used to
produce 1 kg of fabrics. It is estimated that about 1,000-3,000 m3 of waste water is reproduced
after processing about 12-20 tonnes of textiles per day.
The water coming out after the production of textiles contains a large amount of dyes and other
chemicals which are harmful to the environment. The different industries have the level of
toxicity or harmfulness of the textile effluents.
In the textile dyeing process, there is always a portion of unfixed dye which gets washed away
along with water. The textile wastewater is found to be high in the unfixed dyes.

CHARACTERISTICS OF WASTEWATER FROM INDUSTRY

The characteristics of textile effluents vary and depend on the type of textile manufactured and
the chemicals used.
The textile wastewater effluent contains high amounts of agents causing damage to the
environment and human health including suspended and dissolved solids, biological oxygen

demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), chemicals, odor and color. Most of the
BOD/COD ratios are indicating the presence of non-biodegradable substances.
The textile effluents contain trace metals like Cr, As, Cu and Zn, which are capable of harming
the environment. Dyes in water give out a bad color and can cause diseases like hemorrhage,
nausea, severe irritation of skin and dermatitis.
The suspended solid concentrations in the effluents play an important role in affecting the
environment as they combine with oily scum and interfere with oxygen transfer mechanism in
the air-water interface.
Inorganic substances in the textile effluents make the water unsuitable for use due to the
presence of excess concentration of soluble salts. These substances even in a lower quantity are
found to be toxic to aquatic life.

TREATMENT METHODS OF WASTEWATER

Textile industry effluents discharged undergo various physico-chemical treatments such as
flocculation, coagulation and ozonation and biological treatment for the removal of nitrogen,
organics, phosphorus and metal removal.
Treatment of textile effluents involves three treatment processes:
1. Primary treatment
2. Secondary treatment and
3. Tertiary/ Advanced Methods of treatment.

1) PRIMARY TREATMENT
It is the first process in treatment of wastewater or effluent from textile industries which removes
suspended solids, excessive quantities of oil and grease and gritty materials.
The following diagram shows the steps of primary treatment of effluent:

DIAGRAM 1: PRIMARY TREATMENT PROCESSES

FIGURE 1: PRIMARY TREATMENT PROCESSES

The effluent is first screened for coarse suspended materials such as yarns, lint, pieces of fabrics,
fibers and rags using bar and fine screens. The screened effluent then undergoes settling for the
removal of the suspended particles. The floating particles are removed by mechanical scraping
systems.
The first step of screening (coarse screening), the effluent is carried out to prevent damages from
plastics, metals paper and rags. Coarse screens have an opening of 6 mm or larger. Coarse
screening is followed by fine screening (1.5-6 mm opening) and very fine screening (0.2-1.5mm
opening). Fine screening helps in the reduction of suspended solids in the effluent.
Sedimentation takes place after screening which makes use of gravity to settle the suspended
particles such as clay or silts present in the effluent. Simple sedimentation was not found to be
effective because it does not remove colloidal particles in the effluents. Another disadvantage of
the process is the large space it occupies.
Equalization ensures that the effluent have uniform characteristics in terms of pollution load, pH
and temperature.
Neutralization is done to reduce the acidic contents of the effluents. Sulphuric acid and boiler
flue gas are the most commonly used chemicals to alter the pH. A pH value of 5-9 is considered
ideal for the treatment process.
Coagulation carried out settling. Colloidal particles in the effluent carry charges on their surfaces
and addition of chemicals to the effluent changes the surface property of the colloids hence
causing them to clump together and settle. Ferrous sulphate, lime, alum, ferric sulphate and ferric
chloride are some of the most commonly used chemicals in the coagulation step. The settled
particles are collected as sludge. Disposal of sludge is one of the biggest challenges of treatment
plants.
Mechanical flocculation is a physical process which involves slow mixing of the effluent with
paddles bringing the small particles together to form heavier particles that can be settled and
removed as sludge. Some of the disadvantages with flocculation system are: (a) they are in a risk
of getting short-circuited and (b) the floc formation in the system is difficult to control. Care
should be taken that the sludge disposed from the bottom of the system would not suspend the
solids into the system again.

2) SECONDARY TREATMENT
The Secondary treatment process is mainly carried to reduce BOD, phenol and oil contents in the
wastewater and to control its color. This can be biologically done with the help of
microorganisms under aerobic or anaerobic conditions. Aerobic Bacteria use organic matter as a

source of energy and nutrients. They oxidize dissolved organic matter to CO2 and water and
degrade nitrogenous organic matter into ammonia.
Aerated lagoons, trickling filter and activated sludge systems are among the aerobic system used
in the secondary treatment. Anaerobic treatment is mainly used to stabilize the generated sludge.
The following diagram shows the processes involved in secondary treatment:

DIAGRAM 2: SECONDARY TREATMENT PROCESSES

FIGURE 2: SECONDARY TREATMENT PROCESSES

Aerated lagoons are one of the commonly used biological treatment processes. This consists of a
large holding tank lined with rubber or polythene and the effluent from the primary treatment is
aerated for about 2-6 days and the formed sludge is removed. The BOD removal efficiency is up
to 99% and the phosphorous removal is 15-25%. The nitrification of ammonia is also found to
occur in aerated lagoons. Additional TSS removal can be achieved by the presence of algae in
the lagoon. The major disadvantage of this technique is the large amount of space it occupies and
the risk of bacterial contamination in the lagoons.

Trickling filters are another common method of secondary treatment that mostly operates under
aerobic conditions. The effluent for the primary treatment is trickled or sprayed over the filter.
The filter usually consists of a rectangular or circular bed of coal, gravel, Poly Vinyl Chloride
(PVC), broken stones or synthetic resins. A gelatinous film, made up of microorganisms, is
formed on the surface of the filter medium. These organisms help in the oxidation of organic
matter in the effluent to carbon dioxide and water.
Aerobic activated sludge processes are commonly used. It involves a regular aeration of the
effluent inside a tank allowing the aerobic bacteria to metabolize the soluble and suspended
organic matters. A part of the organic matter is oxidized into CO2 and the rest are synthesized
into new microbial cells. The effluent and the sludge generated from this process are separated
using sedimentation; some of the sludge is returned to the tank as a source of microbes. A
BOD removal efficiency of 90-95% can be achieved from this process, but is time consuming.
Sludges formed as a result of primary and secondary treatment processes pose a major disposal
problem. They cause environmental problems when released untreated as they consist of
microbes and organic substances. Treatment of sludge is carried out both, aerobically and
anaerobically by bacteria. Aerobic treatment involves the presence of air and aerobic bacteria
which convert the sludge into carbon dioxide biomass and water. Anaerobic treatment involves
the absence of air and the presence of anaerobic bacteria, which degrade the sludge into biomass,
methane and carbon dioxide.

3) TERTIARY TREATMENT / ADVANCED METHODS OF TREATMENT

Textile effluents may require tertiary or advance treatment methods to remove particular
contaminant or to prepare the treated effluent for reuse. Some common tertiary operations are
removal of residual organic color compounds by adsorption and removal of dissolved solids by
membrane filtration. The wastewater is also treated with ozone or other oxidizing agent to
destroy many contaminants.

ADSORPTION

The adsorption process is used to removes color and other soluble organic pollutants from
effluent. The process also removes toxic chemicals such as pesticides, phenols, cyanides and
organic dyes that cannot be treated by conventional treatment methods. Dissolved organics are
adsorbed on surface as waste water containing these is made to pass through adsorbent. Most
commonly used adsorbent for treatment is activated carbon. It is manufactured from
carbonaceous material such as wood, coal, petroleum products etc. A char is made by burning
the material in the absence of air. The char is then oxidized at higher temperatures to create a
porous solid mass which has large surface area per unit mass. The pores need to be large enough
for soluble organic compounds to diffuse in order to reach the abundant surface area.

There are some other materials such as activated clay, silica, fly ash, etc are also known to be
promising adsorbents.

ION EXCHANGE

Ion exchange process is normally used for the removal of inorganic salts and some specific
organic anionic components such as phenol. All salts are composed of a positive ion of a base
and a negative ion of an acid. Ion exchange materials are capable of exchanging soluble ions and
cations with electrolyte solutions. For example, a cation exchanger in the sodium form when
contacted with a solution of calcium chloride will scavenge the calcium ions from the solution
and replace them with sodium ions. This provides a convenient method for removing the
hardness from water or effluent. Ion exchange resin is available in several types starting from
natural zeolite to synthetics which may be phenolic , sulphonic styrenes and other complex
compounds. The divalent ions such as calcium and magnesium in general have high affinity for
the ion exchange resins and as such can be removed with high efficiencies.
In the ion exchange process the impurities from the effluent streams is transformed into another
one of relatively more concentrated with increased quantity of impurities because of the addition
of regeneration chemicals. The process cannot be used for removal of non-ionic compounds.

MEMBRANE FILTRATION
1. REVERSE OSMOSIS :-

The process of reverse osmosis is based on the ability of cellulose acetate or nylon to pass pure
water at fairly high rates and to reject salts. To achieve this, water or waste water stream is
passed at high pressures through the membrane. The applied pressures has to be high enough to
overcome the osmotic pressure of the stream, and to provide a pressure driving force for water to
flow from the reject compartment through the membrane into the clear water compartment.
In a typical reverse osmosis system, the feed water is pumped through a pretreatment section
which removes suspended solids and if necessary, ions such as iron and magnesium which may
foul the system. The feed water is then pressurized and sent through the reverse osmosis
modules. Clear water permeates through the membrane under the pressure driving force,
emerging at atmospheric pressure. The pressure of reject stream is reduced by a power recovery,
which helps drive the high pressure pump and then is discharged.
Reverse osmosis can be used as end-of-pipe treatment and recycling system for effluent. After
primary, secondary and/or tertiary treatment, further purification by removal of organics and
dissolved salts is possible by use of reverse osmosis. RO membranes are susceptible to fouling
due to organics, colloids and microorganism. Scale causing constituents like hardness, carbonate.
Silica, heavy metals, oil etc has to be removed from the feed. As the membranes are sensitive to
oxidizing agents like chlorine or ozone, they should also be absent.

2. ULTRA FILTRATION
This process is similar to reverse osmosis. The difference between reverse osmosis and ultra
filtration is primarily the retention properties of the membranes. Reverse osmosis membranes
retain all solutes including salts, while ultra filtration membranes retain only macro molecules
and suspended solids. Thus salts, solvents and low molecular weight organic solutes pass
through ultra filtration membrane with the permeate water. Since salts are not retained by the
membrane, the osmotic pressure differences across ultra filtration membrane are negligible.
Flux rates through the membranes are fairly high, and hence lower pressures can be used.
Ultra filtration membranes may be made from cellulose acetate, polyelectrolyte complexes,
nylon and inert polymers. Hence, acidic or caustic streams may also be processed and the
process is not usually limited by chemical attack of the membranes.
3.

NANO FILTRATION

Nano filtration can be positioned between reverse osmosis and ultra filtration. Nano filtration is
essentially a lower pressure version membrane where the purity of permeate water less
important. This process is used where the high salt rejection of reverse osmosis is not necessary.
The nano filtration is capable of removing hardness elements such as calcium or magnesium
together with bacteria, viruses, and color. Nano filtration operated on lower pressure than reverse
osmosis and as such treatment cost is lower than reverse osmosis treatment.
Nano filtration is preferred when permeate with TDS but without color, COD and hardness is
acceptable. Feed water to nano filtration should be of similar qualities as in case of reverse
osmosis. Turbidity and colloids should be low. Disinfection of feed may also necessary to
remove micro-organism.
4. OZONATION
Ozone is one of the strongest oxidizers commercially available and popular for disinfection of
potable water. Besides this it has multiple applications. Large, complex organic molecules,
detergents, phenols etc. can be broken into simpler compounds by ozonation. Among the
industrial applications, oxidation of organic and inorganic, deodorization, and decolorization are
the main usages.
Ozone is an unstable gas at temperature and pressure encountered in water and waste water
treatment plants. For most industrial applications ozone has to be produced at the site. Although,
there are several methods by which ozone can generated, the corona discharge method is widely
used procedure.
An ozone generation unit incorporates a series of electrodes fitted with cooling arrangements
mounted in a gas tight container. When the source gas (air or oxygen) is passed through narrow
gap separating electrodes, the oxygen gets converted into ozone.

Ozone is applied to waste water by means of diffuser tubes or turbine mixers. Ozone doses in
level of 2 mg/l have been reported to result in virtually complete removal of color and hard
pollutants such as detergents. The treated water after sand filtration becomes clean and sparkling.

REFERENCES

Textile Industry Comprehensive Industry Document Series, COIND/59/1999-2000; Central

Pollution Control Board, East Arjun Nagar, Delhi110 032. pp 57-62.

Murugesan, P.T. (2003); Ozonation in Textile Industry A cleaner technology for treating
textile effluents, Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering, Volume I, Issue 4,
December 2003.

Keane J, D Velde (2008) The Role of Textile and Clothing Industries in Growth and
Development Strategies. Investment and Growth Programme, Overseas Development
Institute.

Lorimer J, Mason T, Plattes M, Phull S, Walton D (2001) Degradation of Dye Effluent. Pure
Appl Chem 73: 1957-1968.

Robert L, Alexander A (2008) Fishers Contact Dermatitis in: Textiles and Shoes. BC
Decker Inc, Ontario, Canada 339-401.

Moody V, H Needles (2004) Tufted Carpet: Textile Fibres, Dyes, Finishes, and Processes.
William Andrew Publishing, Norwich, USA 173-249.

Schmidt A, Bach E, E Schollmeyer (2002) The Dyeing of Natural Disperse Dyes in

Supercritical Carbon dioxide. Elsevier Sc 56: 27-35.

Kdasi A, Idris A, Saed K, Guan C (2004) Treatment of Textile Wastewater by Advanced

Oxidation Processes - A Review. Global Nest Int J 6: 222-230.

Eswaramoorthi S, Dhanapal K, Chauhan D (2008) Advanced in Textile Waste Water

Treatment: The Case for UV-Ozonation and Membrane Bioreactor for Common Effluent
Treatment Plants in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu, India. Environment with Peoples Involvement &
Co-ordination in India. Coimbatore, India.