Journal of Environmental Management 93 (2012) 154e168

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Journal of Environmental Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jenvman

Review

A review on chemical coagulation/occulation technologies for removal of colour

from textile wastewaters
Akshaya Kumar Verma, Rajesh Roshan Dash, Puspendu Bhunia*
Department of Civil Engineering, School of Infrastructure, Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, Orissa 751 013, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Textile industry is one of the most chemically intensive industries on the earth and the major polluter of
Received 13 April 2011 potable water. It generates huge quantities of complex chemical substances as a part of unused materials
Received in revised form including dyes in the form of wastewater during various stages of textile processing. The direct discharge
26 August 2011
of this wastewater into environment affects its ecological status by causing various undesirable changes.
Accepted 15 September 2011
Available online 5 October 2011
As environmental protection becomes a global concern, industries are nding novel solutions for
developing technologies that can diminish the environmental damage. However, colour removal from
textile wastewater by means of cheaper and environmental friendly technologies is still a major chal-
Keywords:
Dye
lenge. In this manuscript, several options of decolourisation of textile wastewater by chemical means
Decolourisation have been reviewed. Based on the present review, some novel pre-hydrolysed coagulants such as Pol-
Coagulation yaluminium chloride (PACl), Polyaluminium ferric chloride (PAFCl), Polyferrous sulphate (PFS) and Pol-
Flocculation yferric chloride (PFCl) have been found to be more effective and suggested for decolourisation of the
Textile wastewater textile wastewater. Moreover, use of natural coagulants for textile wastewater treatment has also been
emphasised and encouraged as the viable alternative because of their eco-friendly nature.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction processes. These efuents produce high concentrations of inorganic

Textile industries are one of the biggest users of water and
complex chemicals during textile processing at various processing
stages. The unused materials from the processes are discharged as
wastewater that is high in colour, biochemical oxygen demand
(BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), pH, temperature, turbidity
and toxic chemicals. The direct discharge of this wastewater into
the water bodies like lakes, rivers etc. pollutes the water and affects
the ora and fauna. Efuent from textile industries contains
different types of dyes, which because of high molecular weight
and complex structures, shows very low biodegradability (Hsu and
Chiang, 1997; Pala and Tokat, 2002; Kim et al., 2004; Gao et al.,
2007). Also, the direct discharge of this industrial efuent into
sewage networks produces disturbances in biological treatment
Abbreviations: BOD, biochemical oxygen demand; COD, chemical oxygen
demand; TDS, total dissolved solid; AOX, absorbable organic halides; SS, suspended
solid; TSS, total suspended solid; DS, dissolved solid; NTU, nephelometric turbidity
unit; DO, dissolved oxygen; UV, ultraviolet; nm, nanometer; AOP, advanced
oxidation process; PACl, polyaluminium chloride; PFCl, polyferric chloride; PFS,
polyferric sulphate; PAFCl, polyaluminium ferric chloride.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 91 674 2300 714; fax: 91 674 2301 983.
E-mail addresses: akshaya@iitbbs.ac.in (A.K. Verma), rrdash@iitbbs.ac.in
(R.R. Dash), pbhunia@iitbbs.ac.in (P. Bhunia).
salts, acids and bases in biological reactors leading to the increase of
treatment costs (Gholami et al., 2001; Babu et al., 2007). Moreover,
traditionally produced fabric industries generate residuals of
chemicals that evaporate into the air that we breathe or are
absorbed through our skin. Some of the chemicals such as heavy
metals either in free form in efuents or adsorbed in the suspended
solids are either carcinogenic (Tamburlini et al., 2002; Bayramoglu
and Arica, 2007) or may cause harm to children even before birth,
while others may trigger allergic reactions in some people.
Industrial emissions and the waste efuents generated from the
factories are associated with heavy disease burden (WHO, 2000,
2002) and this could be one of the reasons for short life expec-
tancy of 64 years in India compared to developed countries such as
Japan, where life expectancy is 83 years (UNICEF, 2008). Although
the industrial sector only accounts for 3% of the annual water
withdrawals in India, its contribution to water pollution, particu-
larly in urban areas, is considerable. Wastewater generation from
this sector has been estimated as 55
106 m3 per day, of which
68.5
103 m3 are dumped directly into local rivers and streams
without prior treatment (MOWR, 2000). The developing countries
contribute the largest amount of textile wastewater. For an
example, developing countries of South Asia contributed around
35% textile wastewater out of total industrial wastewater generated
by South Asian countries in 2001 (World Bank, 2005). Out of seven

0301-4797/$ e see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2011.09.012
 A.K. Verma et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 93 (2012) 154e168 155

core countries of South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives,
Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka), India is the major manufacturer of
textiles which constitute 83 composite mills and 2241 semi
composite processing units (COINDS, 2000). Hence, it can be said
that India may be the major contributor of textile wastewater in
South Asia. The textile industries in India are mainly located in
Mumbai, Surat, Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, Ludhiyana and Kanpur.
1.1. Characteristic and composition of textile wastewater
On the basis of waste and wastewater (or efuent) generation,
the textile mills can be classied into two main groups namely dry
processing mills and wet processing mills (ISPCH, 1995). In the dry
processing mills, mainly solid waste is generated due to the rejects
of cotton. In the other group, desizing, scouring, bleaching, mer-
cerising, dyeing, printing, and nishing are the main processing
stages. The wastewater generated by textile industry includes
cleaning wastewater, process wastewater, noncontact cooling
wastewater, and storm water. The amount of water used varies
widely in this industry, depending on the specic processes oper-
ated at the mill, the equipment used, and the prevailing philosophy
of water use. The components of major pollutants involved at
various stages during wet processing of cotton-based textile
industry are shown in Fig. 1. On account of the involved complexity
of different processes at different stages, textile wastewater typi-
cally contains a complex mixture of chemicals. Apart from this,
large numbers of associated hazards have also been reported by the
various chemicals used in different stages of textile processing (Lee
et al., 2006; Jadhav et al., 2007; Shi et al., 2007; Anouzla et al.,
2009).
Wet processing operations (including preparation, dyeing, and
nishing) generate the majority of textile wastewater having very
high COD, BOD, TDS and very deep colour as shown in the Table 1.
Large numbers of chemical constituents such as alkali, acids,
bleaching chemicals, enzymes, starch, dyes, resins, solvents, waxes,
oils etc. are used in the various steps during textile processing and
nally comes out in the efuent after its consumption. Desizing, or
the process of removing size chemicals from textiles, is one of the
industrys largest sources of wastewater pollutants (Bisschops and
Spanjers, 2003; Dos Santos et al., 2007). In this process, large
amount of size chemicals used in weaving processes are discarded.
Dyeing operation generates a large portion of the industrys total
wastewater. The primary source of wastewater in dyeing operations
is spent dye bath and wash water. Such wastewater typically
contains by-products, residual dyes, and auxiliary chemicals.
Additional pollutants include cleaning solvents, such as oxalic acid
(USPEA, 1997). Of the 700,000 tons of dyes produced annually
worldwide (Papic et al., 2004; Lee et al., 2006; Riera-Torres et al.,
2010), about 10e15 percent of the dyes are disposed off in efuent
from dyeing operations (Snowden-Swan, 1995; Husain, 2006; Hai
et al., 2007; Gupta and Suhas, 2009).
Dyes in wastewater may be chemically bound to fabric bers
(ATMI, 1997). Dyeing and rinsing processes for disperse dyeing
generate about 91e129 m3 of wastewater per ton of product

Constituents Process Wastewater characteristics

Yarn waste, unused
Sizing High BOD, medium COD
starch-based sizes

Enzymes, starch, BOD (34-50% of total), high

Desizing
waxes, ammonia COD, temp. (70-80 C)

Disinfectants and
insecticides Oily fats, BOD (30% of
Scouring
residues, NaOH, total), high pH, temp. (70-
surfactants, soaps, 80 C), dark colour

H2O2, AOX,
Bleaching High pH, TDS
NaOCl, organics

NaOH Mercerisation High BOD, high pH

suspended solids

Colour, metals,
High toxicity, BOD (6% of
sulphide, salts, Dyeing total), high dissolved solids,
acidity/alkalinity, high pH,
formaldehyde

Urea, solvents, High toxicity, high COD, high

Printing
colour, metals BOD, high dissolved solids,
high pH, strong colour
Chlorinated
compounds, resins, Finishing Low alkalinity, low BOD, high
spent solvents, toxicity
softeners, waxes,
acetate

Fig. 1. The component of major pollutants involved at various stages of a textile manufacturing industry (SEAM Project, 1999; Yusuff and Sonibare, 2004; Joseph, 2007; Paul, 2008;
Charoenlarp and Choyphan, 2009).
156 A.K. Verma et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 93 (2012) 154e168

Table 1
Major characteristics of real textile wastewater studied by various researchers.

pH COD (mg/L) BOD5 (mg/L) TSS (mg/L) TDS (mg/L) Colour Turbidity (NTU) References
8.8e9.4 595  131 379  110 276  76 e e e El-Gohary and Tawk, 2009
11.2 2276 660a e 47.9 e e Golob et al., 2005
5e10 1100e4600 110e180 e 50 1450e1475(ADMI) e Dos Santos et al., 2007
6.5e8.5 550e1000 e 100e400 e 7.50e25.50b 15e200 Ciabatti et al., 2010
2.7 7000 e 440 930 2140 Al-Malack et al., 1999
13.56 2968 e e e 3586 (C.U) 120 Joo et al., 2007
12e14 1500e2000 e e e Dark blue e Gozalvez-Zafrilla et al., 2008
10 1150 170 150 e 1.24436nm e Selcuk, 2005
9 750 160 e e e e Schrank et al., 2007
2e10 50e5000 200e300 50e500 e >300 (C. U) e Lau and Ismail, 2009
8.32e9.50 278e736 137 85e354 1715e6106 e e Phalakornkule et al., 2010
8.7  0.2 17900  100 5500  100 23900  50 1200  50 e e Rodrguez et al., 2008
9.30 3900 e e e e 240 Paschoal et al., 2009
7.8 810  50.4 188  15.2 64  8.5 e 0.15669nm e Haroun and Idris, 2009
13  1 2300  400 e 300  100 e e e Debik et al., 2010
6.95 3422 1112 e e 5700 Bayramoglu et al., 2004
7.86 340 210 300 e >200 (Pt-Co) 130 Merzouk, 2010
7.5  0.3 131  18 e 75  13 1885  80 e e Ustun et al., 2007
a
BOD7 and efuent is from reactive dye bath.
b
Integral of the absorbance curve in the whole visible range (400e800 nm), ADMI : American dye manufacturer institute, C.U: Colour Unit.

(Snowden-Swan, 1995). Similar processes for reactive and direct
dyeing generate even more wastewater, about 113e151 m3 per ton
of product (Snowden-Swan, 1995; Karcher et al., 2002; Riera-Torres
et al., 2010). This can be attributed by the fact that disperse dyes
show higher percentage of xation to the ber as compared to acid
and reactive dyes. Finishing processes typically generate waste-
water containing natural and synthetic polymers and a range of
other potentially toxic substances (Snowden-Swan, 1995). Textile
industries typically generate 200e350 m3 of wastewater per ton of
nished product (Ranganathan et al., 2007; Gozlvez-Zafrilla et al.,
2008) resulting in an average pollution of 100 kg COD per ton of
fabric (Jekel, 1997).
Raw textile wastewater can be characterised by measurement of
BOD, COD, colour, suspended solids (SS), dissolved solids (DS) and
heavy metals etc. Typical characteristics of textile industry waste-
water generally include a wide range of pH, COD, dissolved solids
and strong colour (El-Gohary and Tawk, 2009; Lau and Ismail,
2009; Ciabatti et al., 2010; Debik et al., 2010; Phalakornkule et al.,
2010), which may be comparable to moderate municipal waste-
water (Rott and Minke, 1999). However, the main challenge is to
eliminate the colour of wastewater, which is due to the remaining
dyes. The major characteristics of real textile wastewater have been
described in the Table 1. It has been observed from the Table 1, that
the textile wastewaters exhibit wide range of pH from 2 to 14, COD
from 50 mg/L to approximately 18,000 mg/L, TDS from 50 mg/L to
over 6000 mg/L and very strong colour. This wide variation in the
characteristics of textile wastewater is due to complexity of mate-
rials used in the textile industry during the processing of textiles.
1.2. Effects of textile wastewater
Textile wastewaters generated from different stages of textile
processing contains huge amount of pollutants that are very
harmful to the environment if released without proper treatment.
Harmful direct and indirect effects of textile wastewater have been
summarized in Fig. 2. The release of textile wastewater to the
environment causes aesthetic problems as the changed colour of
the water bodies such as lakes and rivers, after releasing of
wastewater from the industry, cannot be tolerated by the local
people. Also, the accumulation of colour hinders sunlight pene-
tration, disturbs the ecosystem of receiving water (Georgiou et al.,
2003; Merzouk et al., 2010). Ground water systems are also get
affected by these pollutants due to leaching through the soil
(Namasivayam and Sumithra, 2005; Khaled et al., 2009). Apart from
this, several dyes and their decomposition derivatives have proved
toxic to aquatic life (aquatic plants, microorganisms, sh and
mammals) (Georgiou et al., 2002; Kim et al., 2004; Ustun et al.,
2007). Additionally, fairly intensive studies has inferred that such
coloured allergens may undergo chemical and biological assimila-
tions, cause eutrophication, consume dissolved oxygen, prevent re-
oxygenation in receiving streams and have a tendency to sequester
metal ions accelerating genotoxicity and microtoxicity (Walsh et al.,
1980; Foo and Hameed, 2010). In a wider sense, sporadic and
excessive exposure to coloured efuents is susceptible to a broad
spectrum of immune suppression, respiratory, circulatory, central
nervous and neurobehavioral disorders presage as allergy, auto-
immune diseases, multiple myeloma, leukemia, vomiting, hyper-
ventilation, insomnia, profuse diarrhea, salivation, cyanosis,
jaundice, quadriplegia, tissue necrosis, eye (or skin) infections,
irritation to even lung edema (Anliker, 1986; Foo and Hameed,
2010).
1.3. Present practices for treatment of textile wastewater
The available literature shows a large number of well estab-
lished conventional decolourisation methods involving physico-
chemical, chemical and biological processes, as well as some of
new emerging techniques like sonochemical or advanced oxidation
processes. However, there is no single economically and technically
viable method to solve this problem and usually two or three
methods have to be combined in order to achieve adequate level of
colour removal (Kang and Chen, 1997; Robinson et al., 2001).
Researches on chemical coagulation/occulation, is observed as
one of the most practised technology. Regardless of the generation
of considerable amount of sludge, it is still used in developed and in
developing countries. Because the mechanism of coagulant applied
to decolourise wastewater is still not absolutely clear, colour
removal by coagulation is found in some cases very effective, in
some cases however, has been failed completely.
Hence, the objectives of this review are the analysis of various
chemical technologies developed for decolourisation of textile
wastewater, giving more stress upon chemical coagulation/occu-
lation technology, short description and critical appraisal of
decolourisation methods, comparison of their relative advantages
and disadvantages and propose for the effective and cheaper
alternatives.
 A.K. Verma et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 93 (2012) 154e168
Fig. 2. Schematic representation of the effect of textile wastewater into the environment.
2. Chemical composition and structure of colour causing dyes
in textile processing
A dye is used to impart colour to a material, of which it becomes
an integral part. An aromatic ring associated with a side chain usually
required for resonance and thus to impart colour. Characterisation of
dyes is based on their chemical structure and application. They are
composed of the atoms responsible for the dye colour called chro-
mophores as well as an electron withdrawing or donating substit-
uent that causes or intensies the colour of chromophores, called
auxochrome (Christie, 2001). Usual chromophores are eC]Ce
(ethenyl), eC]O (carbonyl), eC]Ne (imino), eCH]S (thio-
carbonyl), eN]Ne (azo), eN]O (nitroso), eNO2 (nitro) and usual
auxochromes are eNH2 (amino), eCOOH (carboxylic), eSO3H (sul-
phonyl) and eOH (hydroxyl) (Van der Zee, 2002). The intensity of
colour depends upon the number of such groups. Compounds of
benzene containing chromophore radicals are called chromogens.
Such compounds, though coloured, are not dyes, since they do not
have the afnity or the ability to unite with tissue. To be a dye,
a compound must contain not only the chromophore groups, but also
the additional group(s) called Auxochrome(s). These auxiliary groups
are responsible for imparting the property of electrolytic dissociation
157
i.e., the separation of the dye molecule into its components or atoms
and to form salts with either acid or alkali. They can also belong to the
classes of reactive, acid, basic, direct, mordant, disperse, pigment, vat,
anionic, sulphur and disperse dye (Welham, 2000). Anthraquinone
dyes possess wide range of colours in the whole visible spectrum and
constitute the second most important class of textile dyes after azo
dyes, which are used to give blue, green and violet colours (Christie,
2001; Fontenot et al., 2003). The characteristics of different dyes that
are used widely in the textile industry have been summarised in
Table 2. It has been observed from the Table 2 that reactive dyes are
widely used to colour the cotton which contribute as half of the
worldwide textile-ber market. The reactive dyes that are used for
cotton, show poorest rate of xation due to which textile efuent
possesses strong colour. The chemical structure of different azo dye,
vat dye and anthraquinone dye molecules comprising of auxochrome
and chromophore has been illustrated in Fig. 3.
3. Physico-chemical methods for removal of colour from
textile wastewaters
Plenty of Physico-chemical methods in the form of pretreat-
ment, post treatment or main treatment have been investigated by
158 A.K. Verma et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 93 (2012) 154e168

Table 2
Characterisation of different class of dyes mainly used in textile industry and its method of application (Easton, 1995; Akbari et al., 2002; Hees et al., 2002; Lau and Ismail,
2009).

Class Characteristics Substrate (bre) Dye-bre interaction Method of application

Acid Anionic, water soluble Nylon, wool, silk Electrostatic, Hydrogen bonding Applied from neutral to acidic dyebaths
Basic Cationic, water soluble Modied nylon, polyester Electrostatic attraction Applied from acidic dyebaths
Direct Anionic, water soluble Cotton, rayon, leather, nylon Intermolecular forces Applied from neutral or slightly
alkaline baths containing
additional electrolytes
Disperse Very low water solubility Polyester, poly-amide, acetate, Hydrophobic- Solid state Fine aqueous dispersions often
plastic, acrylic mechanism applied by high temperature
pressure or lower temperature
carrier methods
Reactive Anionic, water soluble Cotton, nylon, silk, wool Covalent bonding Reactive site on dye reacts with
functional group on bre to bind
dye covalently under inuence of
heat and pH(alkaline)
Sulfur Colloidal, insoluble Cotton, rayon Covalent bonding Aromatic substrate vatted with s
odium sulde and re-oxidised to
insoluble sulfur-containing
products on bre
Vat Colloidal, insoluble Cotton, rayon Impregnation and oxidation Water insoluble dyes solubilised
by reducing with sodium hydrosulte,
then exhausted on bre and re-oxidised

various researchers throughout the World. A brief discussion on
these methods along with a comprehensive discussion particularly,
on the chemical coagulation and occulation technology for colour
removal has been presented in this section.
One of the most commonly known methods is the ltration
technology. Filtration methods such as ultraltration, nano-
ltration and reverse osmosis have been used for water reuse and
the chemical recovery (Marcucci et al., 2001; Fersi and Dhahbi,
2008). In the textile industry, these ltration methods can be
used for both ltering and recycling of not only pigment rich
wastewaters, but also mercerising and bleaching wastewaters. The
specic temperature and chemical composition of the wastewaters
determines the type and porosity of the lter to be applied. Further,
the utilisation of membrane technology for dye removal from
textile wastewater is very effective as reported by various
researchers (Ledakowicz et al., 2001; Ahmad et al., 2002). However,
the main drawbacks of membrane technology are the high cost,
frequent membrane fouling, requirement of different pretreat-
ments depending upon the type of inuent wastewaters, and
production of concentrated dyebath which further needs proper
treatment before its safe disposal to the environment (Robinson
et al., 2001; Akbari et al., 2006). For membrane ltration, proper
pretreatment units for removing SS of the wastewaters are almost
mandatory to increase the life time of the membranes. These make
the process more expensive and thereby limit the application of
this expensive technology for wastewater treatment.
Another most popular method is adsorption technology. Adsorp-
tion method for colour removal is based on the afnity of various dyes
for adsorbents. It is inuenced by physical and chemical factors such as
dyeeadsorbent interactions, surface area of adsorbent, particle size,
temperature, pH and contact time (Anjaneyulu et al., 2005; Patel and
Vashi, 2010). The main criteria for selection of adsorbents are based on
the characteristics like high afnity, capacity of target compound and
possibility of adsorbent regeneration (Karcher et al., 2002). Activated
carbon is most commonly used adsorbent and can be very effective for
many dyes (Walker and Weatherly, 1997; Pala and Tokat, 2002).
However, efciency is directly dependent upon the type of carbon
material used and wastewater characteristics (Robinson et al., 2001).
The limitations of this technology are the eco-friendly disposal of
spent adsorbents, excessive maintenance costs, and pretreatment of
wastewater to reduce the SS under acceptable range before it is fed
into the adsorption column. Because of these reasons, eld scale
application of adsorption technology is limited not only for colour
removal of textile wastewaters but also for other water and waste-
water treatment.
Chemical methods mainly involve use of oxidising agents such
as ozone (O3), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and permanganate
(MnO4) to change the chemical composition of compound or group
of compounds, e.g. dyes (Metcalf and Eddy, 2003). Among these
oxidants, ozone is widely used because of its high reactivity with
dyes and good removal efciencies (Alaton et al., 2002). However, it
is also been reported that ozone is not efcient in decolourising
nonsoluble disperse and vat dyes which react slowly and take
longer reaction time (Marmagne and Coste, 1996; Rajeswari, 2000).
The decoulorisation efciency also depends upon the pH. As the pH
decreases, ozonation of hydrolysed dyes (Reactive Yellow 84)
decreases (Rein, 2001; Konsowa, 2003). It has also been reported
that the O3/UV as the more effective method for decolourising of
dyes compared to oxidation by UV or ozonation alone. However,
Perkowski and Kos, (2003) have reported no signicant differences
between ozonation and O3/UV in terms of colour removal. This may
be due to the fact that production of hydroxyl radical (HO) during
photodecomposition of ozone may improve the degradation of
organics. However, most of the UV light gets absorbed by the dyes
and hence very small amount of hydroxyl free radical can be
produced to decompose the dyes. Therefore, approximately same
colour removal efciencies using O3 and O3/UV could be expected.
In H2O2/UV process, HO radicals are formed when water con-
taining H2O2 is exposed to UV light, normally in the range of
200e280 nm (Metcalf and Eddy, 2003). The H2O2 photolysis occurs
as per the reaction shown in Equation (1).
H2 O2 UV l 200  280 nm/HO$ HO$ (1)
This process is most widely used in Advanced Oxidation Process
(AOP) technology for the decomposition of chromophores present
in the dyes (Ferroro, 2000; Kurbus et al., 2002) and consequently
relies complete decolourisation. Fenton reaction is also an example
of AOP in which hydrogen peroxide is added in an acid solution (pH
2e3) containing Fe2 ions (Equation (2)).
Fe2 H2 O2 /Fe3 HO$ HO (2)
As compare to ozonation, this method is relatively cheap and
also presents high COD reduction and decolourisation efciencies
 A.K. Verma et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 93 (2012) 154e168
Fig. 3. Structure of various azo dyes showing chromophore and auxochrome (Van der Zee, 2002; Yang and McGarrahan, 2005; Dos Santos et al., 2007; Riera-Torres et al., 2010),
Anthraquinone dye (Kim et al., 2004) and vat dye (Silvia et al., 2007).
(Van der Zee, 2002). The main drawback is high sludge generation
due to the occulation of reagents and dye molecules (Robinson
et al., 2001; Azbar et al., 2004). Most of the AOP for textile waste-
waters are highly expensive and its effectiveness varies widely with
the type of constituents present in the textile wastewaters. Also,
from the several reports it is observed that the in some cases, at
certain conditions, these technologies give very attractive results,
however, in some other cases, their application has been reported
not worthy considering the cost and complexity involved in these
technologies.
Chemical coagulation and occulation in wastewater treatment
involves the addition of chemicals to alter the physical state of
dissolved and suspended solids and facilitate their removal by
sedimentation. In some cases the alteration is slight, and removal is
affected by entrapment within a voluminous coagulate consisting
mostly the coagulant itself. Another result of chemical addition is
a net increase in the dissolved constituents in the wastewater.
Coagulation is used for removal of the waste materials in sus-
pended or colloidal form that do not settle out on standing or may
settle by taking a very long time. In water treatment, coagulation as
pretreatment is regarded as the most successful pretreatment
(Huang et al., 2009; Leiknes, 2009).
Coagulation of dye-containing wastewater has been used for
many years as main treatment or pretreatment due to its low
capital cost (Anjaneyulu et al., 2005; Golob et al., 2005). However,
the major limitation of this process is the generation of sludge and
ineffective decolourisation of some soluble dyes (Anjaneyulu
159
et al., 2005; Hai et al., 2007). Further, the sludge production can
be minimised if only a small volume of highly coloured efuent
treated directly after the dyeing bath (Golob et al., 2005). The
reasons could be the non-availability of other chemical additives
except hydrolysing and xing agents in the efuent coming from
dyeing bath. The chemical additives that are normally present in
the textile wastewaters provide hindrance to the colour removal.
If interfering chemical additives are absent in the textile waste-
water except colour causing dyes, then less coagulant dosage
might be required which in turns will reduce the sludge
production.
On account of this, coagulation of water soluble dyes is
challenging due to their high solubility. Further, due to devel-
opment of synthesis technology, large number of innovative
dyes with complex structures have been synthesised and still in
process of synthesis, which provides difculties for the selection
of appropriate coagulant (Yu et al., 2002). In general colour
removal decreases with increase in dye concentration and dye
solubility (Bouyakoub et al., 2009; Zahrim et al., 2010). There-
fore, re-evaluation of optimum conditions for coagulation of
different types of dyes is necessary. Moreover, the effectiveness
of the coagulation can be improved by appropriate selection of
coagulant, occulant aids, optimization of process parameters
such as pH, dosage of coagulant/occulant aids, mixing time,
settling time, etc. The relative advantages and disadvantages of
different physico-chemical methods have been summarised
in Table 3.
160 A.K. Verma et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 93 (2012) 154e168

Table 3
Advantages and limitations of various methods of dye removal from textile efuents.

Physical/chemical Method description Advantages Disadvantages References

methods
Ozonation Oxidation using ozone gas
Fenton reagents Oxidation using H2O2-Fe(II)
Photochemical Oxidation using mainly H2O2-UV No sludge production
Sonolysis Destruction of chemical bond by No Extra sludge production
producing free radical
using ultrasound
Adsorption Dye removal based
on solid support
Membrane ltration Physical separation
Ion exchange Ion exchange resin
Electro-coagulation Treatment based on
anode and cathode
Irradiation Treatment based on i
onizing radiation
Biological Process Treatment based on
microbiological degradation
Chemical coagulation Addition of coagulants
and occulation and occulants
Application in gaseous state,
no alteration of volume
Effective decolourisation
of both soluble and
insoluble dyes
Excellent removal of
wide variety of dyes
Removal of all types of dye
Easy regeneration
Good removal of dye
Effective oxidation at lab scale Not effective for all dyes,
Environmental friendly
Economically feasible,
excellent colour removal
Short half-life (20 min),
High cost
Sludge generation and
its handling
Formation of by-products
Requires a lot of dissolved
oxygen, High cost
Regeneration difculties,
costly disposal of adsorbent
Production of concentrated
sludge, High cost
Not effective for all dyes
High cost, less electrode
reliability
High cost
Slow Process, need of adequate Lin and Peng, 1996; Sandhya and
nutrients, narrow operating
temperature range
Sludge production
2001; Aboulhassan et al., 2006;
Hao et al., 2000; Ince and Tezcanli, 2001;
Robinson et al., 2001; Gogate and Pandi., 2004
Hao et al., 2000; Arslan and Balcioglu, 2001;
Meric et al., 2004
Konstantinou and Albanis, 2004; Hai et al., 2007
Adewuyi, 2001; Arslan-Alaton, 2003
Hao et al., 2000; Fu and Viraraghavan, 2001;
Hai et al., 2007
Marcucci et al., 2001;
Barredo-Damas et al., 2006
Slokar and Marechal, 1998;
Robinson et al., 2001; Hai et al., 2007
Chen et al., 2005; Merzouk et al., 2010;
Phalakornkule et al., 2010
Robinson et al., 2001; Hai et al., 2007
Swaminathan, 2006; Togo et al., 2008
Hao et al., 2000; Fu and Viraraghavan,
Gao et al., 2007; Ciabatti et al., 2010

Operating cost and time required for the desired degree of
treatment may be the major criteria for the selection of suitable
method. It can be observed from the Table 3 that each and every
method is associated with some type of limitations such as oza-
nation gives good colour removal but not signicant COD reduction,
also the expensive method. Good colour removal and COD reduc-
tion can be achieved by using Fentons reagent but comparatively
longer treatment time and handling of iron contaminated sludge is
the major problem. Oxidation using H2O2-UV is not very effective
since colour and COD reduction is not very signicant, moreover it
is not applicable to all types of dyes, produces large number of by-
products and also suffers from UV light penetration limitation.
Sonolysis gives good colour removal by the destruction of chemical
bond present in the dye structure with the help of free radical
production, however it requires enormous amount of dissolve
oxygen and involves high electricity cost. Good removal of wide
variety of dyes can be achieved by adsorption but regeneration is
expensive and it also necessitates costly disposal. Removal of all
types of dyes may be achieved by selecting appropriate membrane
but production of concentrated sludge and high cost of the
membrane are again major limitations. Easy regeneration and
efcient recovery of dyes may be possible in the ion exchange
method but cost of regeneration is high and the method is not
applicable to all types of dyes since, ion exchange resins are dye
specic.
Apart from these, various researchers have also proposed the
enzymatic degradation of synthetic dyes. In this direction Bhunia
et al. (2001) investigated the application of novel enzymes horse-
radish peroxidase for decomposition and precipitation of azo dyes.
The degradation rate was dependent on the pH of the wastewater.
In another study, Bumpus et al. (1991) revealed that the enzyme
from white rot fungus degraded Crystal Violet via N-demethylation
in a considerable amount. Hence, after standardisation and facili-
tation of accurate dosage, effective dye degradation performance
can be achieved. Simplicity in application and rapid modication
according to the character of dye to be removed makes it attractive
choice for decolourisation of textile wastewater. However, the
major limitation may be the denaturation of enzyme due the effect
of temperature since wastewater coming out from the textile
industry is generally having high temperature.
Both soluble and insoluble dyes can be effectively removed by
electro-coagulation process but high cost of electricity and gener-
ation of secondary pollutants from chlorinated organics, heavy
metals are the major limitations. Complete decolourisation may not
be achieved by the treatment with the help of irradiation for all
types of dyes. Though, there is no sludge production in this tech-
nology, but high cost of electricity may be the limitation. Cost
effectiveness of biological treatment process makes it attractive
which can efciently remove most of the dyes used in the textile
industry because dyes generally possess high level of adsorption on
to the activated sludge. However, longer duration of treatment,
toxicity of dyes and its low biodegradability are the major limita-
tions. Excellent colour removal may be achieved by coagulation-
occulation which can remove most of the dyes used in the
textile industry. Though the sludge production is the major limi-
tation in this process, cost effectiveness of the treatment as
compared to other methods makes it one of the attractive options
for treatment of textile wastewaters.
Addition of some chemicals (polyelectrolyte) enhances coagu-
lation by promoting the growth of large, rapid settling of ocs.
Polyelectrolytes are high-molecular-weight polymers, which
contain absorbable groups and when small dosages of poly-
electrolyte (1 mg/L to 5 mg/L) are added in conjunction with
coagulant, these are also referred as coagulant aids. The poly-
electrolyte is substantially unaffected by pH variations and serve as
a coagulant itself by reducing the effective charge on colloids. It
produces a large amount of ions in water and shows properties of
both polymers and electrolytes. The most practical benet of
polyelectrolyte is the formation of massive ocs. These massive
ocs speed up the oc settling velocity, reduce the expense of
decolourisation and also decrease the settled sludge volume
(Bidhendi et al., 2007).
Since Coagulation occulation is cost effective technology and
gives excellent colour removal for wide variety of dyes, it becomes
promising technology for decolourisation of textile wastewater.
Sludge production can also be minimised by optimising process
 A.K. Verma et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 93 (2012) 154e168 161

parameters and suitable selection of coagulant and occulant. Due
to scarcity of landll sites, the disposal of sludge becomes more
problematic and expensive. Therefore, recycle of sludge becomes
the only viable option. In this regard, the use of sludge as a building
material (Balasubramanian et al., 2006), a soil conditioner (Pearson
et al., 2004; Rosa et al., 2007; Islam et al., 2009) or as a fuel (Van der
Bruggen et al., 2005) has been studied by several researchers.
Coagulation by means of biopolymers is very effective method
for treatment of industrial wastewater. Chitosan as a bioocculant
can be successfully applied for the removal of both particulate and
dissolved substances (Renault et al., 2009). The main reasons for
the success of this biopolymer in wastewater treatment using
coagulation/occulation are, chitosan has the advantage of being
a non-toxic material, non corrosive and safe to handle (non
hazardous product, not irritating for skin and eyes) (Bolto and
Gregory, 2007; Bratby, 2007). Moreover, chitosan is also efcient
in cold water and at much lower concentration than metal salts.
The lower concentration of polymers reduces the volume of sludge
production compared to sludge obtained with alum. In addition, as
biopolymers are biodegradable, hence, the sludge can be efciently
degraded by microorganisms. Various studies have been reported
that the sludge produced from the treatment of milk processing
plant wastewater (Chi and Cheng, 2006) and kaolinite suspensions
(Divakaran and Pillai, 2001) was non-toxic and could be used to
stimulate growth in plants.
4. Chemical coagulation technologies
Chemical coagulation is a complex phenomenon involving
various inter-related parameters, hence it is very critical to dene
that how well coagulant will function under given conditions. On
the basis of effectiveness to decolourise the textile wastewater,
chemical coagulants can be categorised in the three parts as
described in the following Fig. 4.
It has been reported that pre-hydrolysed metallic salts are often
found to be more effective than the hydrolysing metallic salts such
as aluminium sulphate (alum), ferric chloride and ferric sulphate
those are readily soluble in water (Jiang and Graham, 1998). Pre-
hydrolysed coagulants such as Polyaluminium chloride (PACl),
Polyaluminium ferric chloride (PAFCl), Polyferrous sulphate (PFS)
and Polyferric chloride (PFCl) seem to give better colour removal
even at low temperature and may also produce lower volume of
sludge. In this connection, Gregory and Rossi (2001) have studied
the effectiveness of various pre-hydrolysing coagulants for the
treatment of wastewater, and reported that PACl products give
more rapid occulation and strong ocs than that of alum at
equivalent dosage. This can be attributed by the fact that these
coagulants are pre-neutralised, have smaller effect on the pH of
water and so reduce the need of pH correction. Most of the dyes
used in textile industries are of negatively charged and hence
cationic polymer is preferred over anionic and nonionic polymers
due to the better dye removal performance. However, the mecha-
nisms of these products are not well established yet. Further, to
conduct and evaluate the work, it is necessary to consider only the
most critical controlling parameters. Various authors have sug-
gested the most important parameters to be consider in coagula-
tion are pH and concentration of applied metal ions (coagulant)
such as alum (El-Gohary and Tawk, 2009), FeCl3 (Kim et al., 2003;
Bidhendi et al., 2007), MgCl2 (Tan et al., 2000; Semerjian and
Ayoub, 2003; Gao et al., 2007), polyaluminium chloride (PACl)
(Sanghi and Bhattacharya, 2005; Choo et al., 2007), lime (Mishra
et al., 2002; Georgiou et al., 2003) and ferrous sulphate and
organic polymeric coagulants (Mishra et al., 2002; Bidhendi et al.,
2007).
Apart from these, mixing speed and time (Gurses et al., 2003),
temperature and retention time (Ong et al., 2005; Naimabadi et al.,
2009) also inuence the colour removal efciency. Hence, the
optimisation of these factors may signicantly increase the process
efciency. Different coagulants affect different degrees of destabi-
lisation. The higher the valence of the counter ion, the more is its
destabilising effect and the less is the dose needed for coagulation.
If pH is below the isoelectric point of metal hydroxide while
precipitation of colloids by different coagulants supported by
suitable polymer, then the positively charged polymers will prevail
and adsorption of these positively polymers can destabilise nega-
tively charged colloids by charge neutralisation. Above the
isoelectric point, anionic polymers will predominate where particle
destabilization may take place through adsorption and bridge
formation. At high dose of metal ions (coagulant), a sufcient
degree of oversaturation occurs to produce a rapid precipitation of
a large quantity of metal hydroxide, enmeshing the colloidal
particles which are termed as sweep oc (Peavy et al., 1985). For
example, when Fe(III) salts are used as coagulants, monomeric and
polymeric ferric species are formed, the formation of which is
highly pH dependent (Abo-Farha, 2010). Some of the reported
chemical coagulation technology and their performance have been
summarised in Table 4.
The studies made by various researchers as described in the
Table 4 show that the natural pH of ferric chloride solution is acidic.
However, the effective colour removal can be achieved when the

Chemical coagulants

Hydrolysing Pre- hydrolysing Synthetic cationic

metallic salts metallic salts polymers

Ferric chloride Polyaluminium chloride (PACl) Aminomethyl polyacrylamide

Ferric sulphate Polyferric chloride (PFCl) Polyalkylene
Magnesium chloride Polyferrous sulphate (PFS) Polyamine
Alum Polyaluminium ferric chloride Polyethylenimine
(PAFCl) Polydiallyldimethyl ammonium
Polyaluminium sulphate (PAS) chloride (poly-DADMAC)

Fig. 4. Categorisation of chemical coagulants according to their effectiveness.

162 A.K. Verma et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 93 (2012) 154e168

pH is maintained near to neutral, but it again depends upon the
type of dyes to be removed (Kim et al., 2004; Guendy, 2010;
Moghaddam et al., 2010). Hence, the addition of base to maintain
the pH becomes prime requirement. Lime or NaOH can be used for
this purpose. However, addition of lime may produce extra sludge.
Whereas, addition of polyelectrolyte as a coagulant aid generally
improves the performance of coagulant. It can be seen from the
Table 4 that optimum pH for alum is near to neutral and hence
higher colour removal efciency can be obtained at this pH.
Moreover, addition of polyelectrolyte generally improves the colour
removal performance. However, generation of large amount of
sludge associated with this process makes it unattractive.
PACl products are aluminium-based coagulants. They are similar
to alum, with several important differences:
- Partially pre-neutralised (Higher basicity than alum)
- Contains Cl instead of SO2
4 -
- Contains up to three times the aluminium content
- Rapid aggregation velocity, bigger and heavier ocs
of basic efuent after treatment, may not be considered as the good
coagulants. Though, both the ferric chloride and alum give roughly
high efciency, at low concentration, colour removal efciency is
reported less for ferric chloride (Kim et al., 2004; Golob et al., 2005;
Bidhendi et al., 2007). However, signicant improvement in the
colour removal has been reported if ferric chloride used with small
amount of cationic polymer (Suksaroj et al., 2005). Very limited
information is available based on the coagulant studies using PFS.
PFS makes it attractive coagulant because it is practically soluble in
water, and forms large amount of polynucleic complex ions like
(Fe2(OH)3)3, (Fe2(OH)2)2, (Fe8(OH)20)4, which are prone to
render occulation. It is advantageous as regards the following
points:
- Fast settling of ocs
- Broad pH compatibility
Low iron contamination
- High heavy metal removal rate
- Easy dehydration of sludge etc.

Moreover, PACl shows better colour removal efciency in
a wider pH range of 7e10. The optimum pH for FeSO4 is alkaline in
the range 7e9 and gives higher colour removal at this pH range.
Various researchers have also revealed that the addition of poly-
electrolyte generally increases turbidity and volume of settled
sludge. This undesired effect may be eliminated if the used
concentration of polyelectrolyte is less than 2 mg/L (Bidhendi et al.,
2007).
The optimum pH for magnesium chloride varies between 9 and
12 (Gao et al., 2007; El-Gohary and Tawk, 2009). It gives very good
colour removal performance if used with lime. However, it gener-
ates large amount of sludge which may cause sludge disposal
problem and also involves extra cost. Alum and magnesium chlo-
ride, because of large amount of sludge generation and production
The principle mechanism for coagulation is similar to the PACl
i.e. adsorption and charge neutralisation. At high turbidity, the
coagulation may follow Sweep coagulation (Peavy et al., 1985).
Gao et al. (2001) have investigated the application of PAFCl for
the decolourisation of petrochemical wastewater and reported that
PAFCl gives better turbidity removal in 7.0e8.4 pH range and good
colour removal for suspension dyes over the other selected coag-
ulant such as PFS and PACl. In addition to the performance of better
coagulation efciency for colour removal, it also reects the ability
to quick formation of the ocs. The ability of quick formation of the
ocs and superior colour removal efciency may be due to the
reason that PAFCl combines the coagulatory advantages of both
aluminium and iron salts and hence able to form ocs rapidly with
more bulky and rapid sedimentation. This novel coagulant is not

Table 4
Effectiveness of different chemical coagulants studied by different researchers for colour removal of textile wastewater.

Name of coagulant Optimised Coagulant aids (if any) Type of dyes Optimum % Colour Reference
dose (mg/L) present pH removal
Steel industry wastewater Disperse 4.25 99 Anouzla et al., 2009
Potassium ferrate 100 Polyamine based polymer 6.5e8.5 95 Ciabatti et al., 2010
Polyaluminium Chloride (PACl) 10 7.2 99.9 Choo et al., 2007
Poly-epichlorohydrin-diamine 20 7 95 Kang et al., 2007
Alum 200 Polyacrylamide 5.3 78.9 El-Gohary and Tawk, 2009
based polymer (Cytec)
Alum 5000 Copper sulphate as catalyst 4 74 Kumar et al., 2008
Alum 20 Commercial cationic Reactive Near to 98 Golob et al., 2005
occulant (Coloc-RDeCiba) and acid neutral
Alum 7
104 5.7e6.5a 74 Patel and Vashi, 2010
Ferrous Sulphate 200 Polyelectrolyte Sulfur 9.4 90 Bidhendi et al., 2007
Ferric chloride 400 Sulfur 8.3 100 Bidhendi et al., 2007
Ferric chloride 293 Reactive and 6 71 Kim et al., 2004
disperse
Ferric chloride 56 Cationic polymer 4 92 Suksaroj et al., 2005
Magnesium chloride 400 Polyelectrolyte (Koaret PA 3230) Reactive 11 85 Tan et al., 2000
Magnesium chloride 120 Lime 11 100 El-Gohary and Tawk, 2009
Magnesium chloride 800 Hydrated lime Reactive and 12 98 Gao et al., 2007
disperse
Polyaluminium chloride (PACl) 0.1 Poly acrylamide-seed gum Reactive, 8.5 80 Sanghi et al., 2006
acid and direct
Polyaluminium chloride (PACl) 800 Anionic polyacrlamide, 7.5 75 Tun et al., 2007
Exeroc 204
Ferrous sulphate 400 Lime and Cationic polymer Reactive 12.5 90 Georgiou et al., 2003
Ferrous sulphate 1000 Anionic 9.5 60 Selcuk, 2005
polyelectrolyte (Henkel23500)
Ferrous sulphate 7
104 5.7e6.5a 85 Patel and Vashi, 2010
Ferric sulphate 7
104 5.7e6.5a 58 Patel and Vashi, 2010
a
Experiments were carried out at original pH of raw wastewater.
 A.K. Verma et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 93 (2012) 154e168
Natural coagulants
Plant based
Guar gum Chitosan
Gum Arabic
Seed extract from
Strychnos potatorum,
Moringa Oilifeira etc.
Cactus latifaria extract
Potato starch
Fig. 5. Categorisation of natural coagulants with their examples.
widely studied for textile wastewater treatment hence very limited
information is available. The principle mechanism of PAFCl is
charge neutralisation and bridging (Chen et al., 2010). Recently,
Ciabatti et al. (2010) have studied the use of potassium ferrate in
combination of polyamine based polymer for treatment of dyeing
efuents and found excellent colour removal as well as COD
reduction. Since ferrate (VI) ion is a strong oxidant in entire the pH
range, hence after reduction to Fe(III) ion or ferric hydroxide during
oxidation process, it possesses the ability to act as coagulant. Hence
potassium ferrate represents a unique dual function (Oxidant and
coagulant) chemical reagent that can be an effective alternative to
current approaches for water and wastewater treatment.
5. Coagulation with the help of natural coagulants
Chemical coagulation with the help of above discussed coag-
ulants may be the method of choice for decolourisation of textile
wastewater before being fed to the biological treatment, if
necessary. However, it has also some drawbacks as the efciency
of the treatment strongly depends on pH. Moreover, the coagu-
lation process is not always efcient enough because at different
environmental conditions such as at extreme pH and at very low
or very high temperature, it may produce very sensitive, fragile
ocs, which result in poor sedimentation. These ocs may rupture
under any type of physical forces. To improve the efciency of
coagulation process, number of high molecular weight
compounds such as polymers from synthetic or natural origin
may be recommended. These polymers can function as coagulant
itself or in the form of coagulant aids/bioocculants, depending
upon the wastewater and polymer characteristics. These polymers
are normally macro-molecular structure with variety of functional
groups which can either work as coagulants by destabilising the
charged stable particles mainly through the process of adsorption
and neutralisation or can work as coagulant aids by attaching the
destabilised particles with the functional groups by interparticle
bridging. Here organic polymeric compounds are advantageous
over inorganic materials, which posses several novel characteris-
tics such as their ability to produce large, dense, compact ocs
that are stronger and have good settling characteristics (Renault
et al., 2009). In contrast to some traditionally used coagulant
such as alum, organic polymers are benecial because of the
163
Animal based Micro-organism based
Xanthan gum
lower coagulant dosage requirement, efciency at low tempera-
ture and produce small volume of sludge whereas inorganic
polymers and chemical coagulants generally involve higher cost,
less biodegradability and toxicity. For example, acrylamide is very
much toxic and gives severe neurotoxic effects (Bratby, 2007).
Toxicity effect due to cationic polymers to the plants has been
established long back (Gao et al., 2001). In this connection, Bolto
and Gregory (2007) also reported that anionic and nonionic
polymers are generally less toxic as compared to cationic poly-
mers especially to aquatic organisms. The major advantage of
natural polymer is its non-toxicity to the environment and
biodegradability. Therefore, the efuent after natural polymer
treatment can be treated by biological means, if required. This
efuent will not pose any harm to the biological organisms, as is
offered, if it is treated by means of synthetic coagulants. Not only
this, the sludge generated by the natural polymers can further be
treated biologically or can be disposed off safely as soil condi-
tioners because of their non-toxicity. Hence, there is an urgent
need to establish the use of natural low cost polymers for textile
wastewater treatment.
In the view of this, many researchers have studied the effec-
tiveness of various natural coagulants (Joshi and Nanoti, 1999)
extracted from plants or animals (Christman, 1967) for the treat-
ment of textile wastewater. These natural coagulants may also
prove their effectiveness if used as coagulant aids along with the
chemical coagulants. Most of the natural coagulants fall under the
category of polysaccharides, hence also termed as polymeric
coagulants. On the basis of the origin of production, natural coag-
ulant can be divided in to three categories as shown in Fig. 5. Unlike
synthetic coagulants, natural coagulants generally exhibit two
types of mechanism namely i) adsorption and charge neutralisa-
tion, and ii) adsorption and interparticle bridging. As their molec-
ular weight is high and contain long chained structure, therefore
offers a large number of available adsorption sites. Adsorption and
charge neutralisation refers to the sorption of two oppositely
charged ions, while interparticle bridging occurs when poly-
saccharide chain of coagulant sorbs the particulates (Miller et al.,
2008). The existence of adsorption and interparticle bridging
between dye molecules and polysaccharides is due to the interac-
tion of p- electron system of dyes and OH group of poly-
saccharides (Fig. 6), which was rst suggested by Yoshida et al.
164 A.K. Verma et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 93 (2012) 154e168
Fig. 6. Schematic representation of intermolecular interaction between p- electron
from dye molecule and hydroxyl group of polysaccharide (Yoshida et al., 1964).
(1964) and then reviewed by Blackburn and Burkinshaw (2002)
and Yin (2010).
5.1. Plant based polymers as coagulants
Various plant extracted polymers such as starch, guar gam, gum
arabic, nirmali seeds, tannin, Moringa oleifera and cactus etc. are
generally well known as coagulants within the scientic commu-
nity. These polymers have large number of industrial application as
these are polysaccharides and possess various commercial appli-
cations such as in paper industry, as food additives etc. By virtue of
the effectiveness of natural polymer as coagulant, Sanghi et al.
(2006) have investigated the use of Ipomeoa dasysperma seed
gum and guar gum as coagulant aids along with PACl and found 86%
and 87% removal of acid dye at the PACl dosage of 1 mg/L and
I. dasysperma seed gum and guar gum dosage of 5 mg/L each, at
optimum pH of 9.5. Signicant removals of the order 73% and 80%
were also been reported for direct dye at the same dosage of
coagulant and coagulant aid and at the same pH of 9.5.
Adinol et al. (1994) have reported that polysaccharide extrac-
ted from Strychnos potatorum (Nirmali) seeds can effectively reduce
upto 80% turbidity of kaolin solution. M. oleifera, known as drum-
stick tree is widely found throughout India, Asia, some parts of
Africa and America. The trees bark, root, fruit, owers, leaves seeds
and gum are also used as medicines. The seed of these trees is also
used as coagulant and/or occulants in the water and wastewater
treatment. Beltrn-Heredia et al. (2009) have investigated the use
of M. oleifera seed extract for the removal of anthraquinone dye and
reported 95% dye removal at the coagulant dose of 100 mg/L and at
pH 7. Further, Lea (2010) has investigated the effectiveness of M.
oleifera seed extract for the treatment of turbid water and found
99.5% turbidity removal at the dosage of 400 mg/L. Typically,
increased dosage of seed extract does not enhance the dye removal
after maximum adsorption is reached. It might be due to the fact
that no more new sites for adsorption remain available at the
surface of seed extract. M. oleifera seeds are also considered as an
excellent biofuel source for making biodiesel.
Gum Arabic, also known as Gum Acacia is highly branched with
beta-Galactose backbone having high molecular weight of
250,000e750,000 Da, water and fat soluble polysaccharide. The
coagulation studies with this novel natural coagulant are yet to be
established. Although the mechanism of coagulation with natural
coagulants has not been extensively investigated but the presence
of hydroxyl groups along the polysaccharide chain provides a large
number of available adsorption sites that might lead to the inter-
particle bridging between polysaccharide and dye molecule as
shown in Fig. 7.
Paulino et al. (2006) studied the removal of methylene blue with
the help of hydrogel formed by modied Gum Arabic, polyacrylate
and polyacrylamide and reported that 98% of dye removal can be
achieved at pH 8 with maximum adsorption capacity of 48 mg of
the dye per gram of hydrogel. However, use of gum arabic and guar
gum for colour removal due to the widely used dyes in the textile
industries are yet to be established. In connection with application
of natural coagulants, various researchers (Kumar, 2000; No and
Fig. 7. Schematic representation of the interaction of dye molecule with (a) Guar Gum
and (b) Gum Arabic.
Meyers, 2000; Kurita, 2006; Renault et al., 2009) have studied the
effectiveness of animal extracted polymer as coagulants for
industrial wastewater treatment.
5.2. Animal based polymers as coagulants
Chitosan is a linear copolymer of D-glucosamine (deacetylated
unit) and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (acetylated unit) produced by
the deacetylation of chitin, a natural polymer of major importance
(Roberts, 1992; Kurita, 2006). The degree of deacetylation can be
determined by NMR spectroscopy. Chitin is the structural element
in the exoskeleton of crustaceans (crabs, shrimps etc.) and in the
endoskeleton of other invertebrate.
Chitosan possesses several intrinsic properties such as non-
toxicity, its biodegradability and its outstanding chelation
behavior that make it an effective coagulant and/or occulant for
removal of contaminant in the dissolved state. Various studies for
treatment of industrial wastewater using chitosan have been
carried out during late 70s by Bough and coworkers (Bough, 1975,
1976; Bough et al., 1978). They have investigated the effectiveness
of chitosan for coagulation and recovery of suspended solids (SS) in
processing of waste from variety of food processing industries and
found that this novel coagulant is very much effective for efcient
reduction of COD as well as removal of SS and turbidity. Numerous
works claim that chitosan involved in a dual mechanism including
coagulation by charge neutralisation and occulation by bridging
mechanism (No and Meyers, 2000; Guibal and Roussy, 2007). The
possible interactions between dye molecules and chitosan have
been shown in Fig. 8. Zhang et al. (1995) have used carboxymethyl
chitosan for printing and dyeing wastewater treatment. The
experimental results showed that, carboxymethyl chitosan in
wastewater decolourisation and COD reduction, are superior over
other commonly used polymer occulants. Szygula et al. (2009)
reported approximately 99% colour removal from the simulated
textile wastewater containing Acid Blue 92 at an optimum chitosan
dosage of 100 mg/L maintaining optimum pH of 9. In continuation
of this, Mahmoodi et al. (2011) investigated the effectiveness of
chitosan for removal of Acid Green 25 and Direct Red 23 and re-
ported approximately 75% and 95% dye removal respectively in
10 min at optimum pH 2 maintaining the stirring speed of 200 rpm.
5.3. Microorganism based polymer as coagulant
Xanthan gum is a polysaccharide, derived from the bacterial
coat of Xanthomonas campestris, used as food additive and rheology
modier (Davidson, 1980). It is produced by the fermentation of
glucose by the X. campestris bacterium. After fermentation, the
polysaccharide is separated from the growth medium with the help
 A.K. Verma et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 93 (2012) 154e168
Fig. 8. Schematic representation of the formation of chitosan from chitin polysaccharide and its interaction with dye molecules.
of solvent separation technique, dried and ground into a ne
powder (Cohan, 2010). The use of xanthan gum for the treatment of
textile wastewater is not been reported in the literature yet. Due to
complex structure and higher molecular weight of xanthan gum
(250,000e750,000 Da), as compared to guar gum (about
220,000e250,000 Da), it may also be considered as one of the
promising coagulant and/or coagulant aids for the treatment of
textile wastewater. Hence, extensive study is required to be con-
ducted to establish the various facts about effectiveness of xanthan
gum for the treatment of textile wastewater. The possible mecha-
nism of coagulation by interparticle bridging as observed for guar
gum can also be observed for xanthan gum (Fig. 9).
It can be summarised from the above discussions that plant
extracted coagulant may be encouraged over animal extracted
coagulant for the treatment of textile wastewater due to the fact
that non plant sources possess limited potential for the mass
production as compared to the plant sources. Extra involvement of
Fig. 9. Schematic representation of possible interaction between xanthan gum and dye
molecule.
165
cost in the processing of microorganism based coagulant may not
be an attractive option. Application of plant based coagulants will
become more attractive if the coagulants producing plants are
indigenous.
The main advantage of coagulation and occulation is decol-
ourisation of the waste stream due to the removal of dye molecules
from the dyebath efuents, and not due to a partial decomposition
of dyes, which can lead to an even more potentially harmful and
toxic aromatic compound. The major disadvantage of coagulation/
occulation processes is the production of sludge. However, the
sludge amount could be minimised if only a low volume of the
highly coloured dyebath could be eliminated by chemical treat-
ment directly after the dyeing process (Golob et al., 2005).
6. Future scope of research
Very limited work has been carried out on the decolourisation of
textile wastewater containing multiple dyes of different classes
along with the various chemical additives which are used during
textile processing. Also the effectiveness of most of the pre-
hydrolysed coagulants for decolourisation of textile wastewater
containing multiple dyes is yet to be established. Considering the
industries dependencies on the cost effective chemical coagulation
and occulation technologies for their coloured wastewater treat-
ment, it is required to conduct more and more future research to
come up with best coagulants or combinations of coagulants along
with coagulant aids which can produce very promising results even
at a wider variations of pH and other interfering agents of the
textile wastewaters. Investigation of the effectiveness of more
number of natural coagulants is also need to be assessed. This
assessment may be carried out using natural polymers as coagulant
aids as well as coagulant itself. Effectiveness of natural coagulants
also required to be carried out against simulated as well as raw
textile wastewater.
7. Conclusion
All decolourisation methods described in this review have some
advantages as well as some drawbacks, and their selection will
mostly governed by the textile wastewater characteristics like class
and concentration of dyes, pH, organic contents, heavy metals, etc.
Among different physical, chemical, biological, and advanced
166 A.K. Verma et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 93 (2012) 154e168
chemical oxidation technologies, chemical coagulation and oc-
culation is still a cost-comparative alternative for the treatment of
industrial textile wastewaters and is widely practiced by the small
to large scale industries. Among chemical coagulation and occu-
lation technologies, comparatively, pre-hydrolysed coagulants such
as PACl, PFCl, PFS and PAFCl may be considered as the better
coagulants because of their superior colour removal even at small
dosage and affectivity at wider pH range of wastewater. Ferrous
sulfate may also be considered as a better coagulant over other
hydrolysing metallic salts. Additionally, due to some novel prop-
erties of natural coagulants such as non-toxic, biodegradability,
environment friendly, ability to encapsulate etc., these may also be
considered as the promising coagulants as well as coagulant aids
for textile wastewater treatment specially at rst stage, which will
not hinder the biological treatment (if required) because the
residual coagulant may act as nutrient for the microorganisms.
However, till date the applicability of these natural coagulants for
the textile wastewater is very limited. More and more studies
required to evaluate their application for colour removal of textile
wastewaters particularly, their behaviour at high pH of textile
wastewaters.
Acknowledgement
The authors wish to thank all the reviewers for their valuable
suggestions for improving the quality of the manuscript and
Department of Civil Engineering, School of Infrastructure, Indian
Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, India, for providing facilities
for carrying out research work in the related area.
References
Abo-Farha, S.A., 2010. Comparative study of oxidation of some azo dyes by different
advanced oxidation processes: fenton, fenton-like, photo-fenton and photo-
Fenton-Like. Journal of American Science 6 (10), 128e142.
Aboulhassan, M.A., Souabi, S., Yaacoubi, A., Baudu, M., 2006. Improvement of paint
efuents coagulation using natural and synthetic coagulant aids. Journal of
Hazardous Materials B138, 40e45.
Adewuyi, Y.G., 2001. Sonochemistry: environmental science and engineering
applications. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 40, 4681e4715.
Adinol, M., Corsaro, M.M., Lanzetta, R., Parrilli, M., Folkard, G., Grant, W.,
Sutherland, J., 1994. Composition of the coagulant polysaccharide fraction from
Strychnos potatorum seeds. Carbohydrate Research 263, 103e110.
Ahmad, A.L., Harris, W.A., SyaieOoi, B.S., 2002. Removal of dye from wastewater of
textile industry using membrane technology. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Jurnal Teknologi 36 (F), 31e44.
Akbari, A., Desclaux, S., Rouch, J.C., Aptel, P., Remigy, J.C., 2006. New UV-
photografted nanoltration membranes for the treatment of colored textile
dye efuents. Journal of Membrane Science 286, 342e350.
Akbari, A., Remigy, J.C., Aptel, P., 2002. Treatment of textile dye efuent using
a polyamide-based nanoltration membrane. Chemical Engineering Protocols
41, 601e609.
Al-Malack, M.H., Abuzaid, N.S., El-Mubarak, A.H., 1999. Coagulation of polymeric
wastewater discharged by a chemical factory. Water Research 33, 521e529.
Alaton, I.A., Balcioglu, I.A., Bahnemann, D.W., 2002. Advanced oxidation of a reactive
dye bath efuent: comparison of O3, H2O2/UV-C and TiO2/UV-A processes.
Water Research 36, 1143e1154.
Anjaneyulu, Y., Chary, N.S., Raj, D.S.S., 2005. Decolourization of industrial efuents-
available methods and emerging technologies-a review. Reviews in Environ-
mental Science and Biotechnology 4, 245e273.
Anliker, R., 1986. In: Richardson, M. (Ed.), Toxic hazard assessment of chemicals. The
Royal Society of Chemistry, London.
Anouzla, A., Abrouki, Y., Souabi, S., Sa, M., Rhbal, H., 2009. Colour and COD removal
of disperse dye solution by a novel coagulant: application of statistical design
for the optimization and regression analysis. Journal of Hazardous Materials
166 (2e3), 1302e1306.
Arslan, I., Balcioglu, A., 2001. Degradation of Remazol Black B dye and its simulated
dyebath wastewater by advancedoxidation processes in heterogenous and
homogeneous media. Coloration Technology 117, 38e42.
Arslan-Alaton, I., 2003. A review of the effects of dye-assisting chemicals on
advanced oxidation of reactive dyes in wastewater. Coloration Technology 119,
345e353.
ATMI, 1997. American Textiles Manufacturers Institute, Comments on draft of this
document.
Azbar, N., Yonar, T., Kestioglu, K., 2004. Comparison of various advanced oxidation
processes and chemical treatment methods for COD and colour removal from
a polyester and acetate ber dying efuent. Chemosphere 55, 35e43.
Babu, B.R., Parande, A.K., Raghu, S., Kumar, T.P., 2007. Cotton textile processing:
waste generation and efuent treatment. Textile technology. The Journal of
Cotton Science 11, 141e153.
Balasubramanian, J., Sabumon, P.C., Lazar, J.U., Ilangovan, R., 2006. Reuse of textile
efuent treatment plant sludge in building materials. Waste Management 26,
22e28.
Barredo-Damas, S., Alcaina-Miranda, M.I., Iborra-Clar, M.I., Bes-Pi, A.,
Mendoza, J.A., Iborra-Clar, A., 2006. Study of the UF process as pretreatment of
NF membranas for textile wastewater reuse. Desalination 200, 745e747.
Bayramoglu, G., Arica, M.Y., 2007. Biosorption of benzidine based textile dyes Direct
Blue 1 and Direct Red 128 using native and heat-treated biomass of Trametes
versicolor. Journal of Hazardous Materials 143 (1e2), 135e143.
Bayramoglu, M., Kobya, M., Can, O.T., Sozbir, M., 2004. Operating cost analysis of
electrocoagulation of textile dye wastewater. Separation and Purication
Technology 37, 117e125.
Beltrn-Heredia, J., Snchez-Martn, J., Delgado-Regalado, A., Jurado-Bustos, C.,
2009. Removal of Alizarin Violet 3R (anthraquinonic dye) from aqueous solu-
tions by natural coagulants. Journal of Hazardous Materials 170, 43e50.
Bhunia, A., Durani, S., Wangikar, P.P., 2001. Horseradish peroxidase catalysed
degradation of industrially important dyes. Biotechnology and Bioengineering
72, 562e567.
Bidhendi, GR.N., Torabian, A., Ehsani, H., Razmkhah, N., 2007. Evaluation of indus-
trial dyeing wastewater treatment with coagulants and polyelectrolyte as
a coagulant aid. Iranian Journal of Environmental Health, Science and Engi-
neering 4, 29e36.
Bisschops, I.A.E., Spanjers, H., 2003. Literature review on textile wastewater char-
acterisation. Environmental Technology 24, 1399e1411.
Blackburn, R.S., Burkinshaw, S.M., 2002. A greener approach to cotton dyeing, Part
2: application of 1:2 metal complex acid dyes. Green Chemistry 4, 261e265.
Bolto, B., Gregory, J., 2007. Organic polyelectrolytes in water treatment. Water
Research 41, 2301e2324.
Bough, W.A., 1975. Coagulation with Chitosan-an aid to recovery of by products
from egg breaking wastes. Poultry Science 54, 1904e1912.
Bough, W.A., 1976. Chitosan-a polymer from seafood wastes for use in treatment of
food processing wastes and activated sludge. Process Biochemistry 11, 13e16.
Bough, W.A., Salter, W.L., Wu, A.C.M., Perkins, B.E., 1978. Inuence of manufacturing
variables on the characteristics and effectiveness of chitosan products.
Biotechnology and Bioengineering 20, 1931e1943.
Bouyakoub, A.Z., Kacha, S., Lartiges, B.S., Bellebia, S., Derriche, Z., 2009. Treatment of
reactive dye solutions by physicochemical combined process. Desalination and
Water Treatment 12 (1e3), 202e209.
Bratby, J., 2007. Coagulation and Flocculation in Water and Wastewater Treatment,
second ed.. IWA Publishing.
Bumpus, J.A., Mileski, G., Brock, B., Ashbaugh, W., Aust, S.D., 1991. Biological
oxidations of organic compounds by enzymes from a white rot fungus. Inno-
vative Hazardous Waste Treatment Technologies 3, 47e54.
Charoenlarp, K., Choyphan, W., 2009. Reuse of dye wastewater through colour
removal with electrocoagulation process. Asian Journal on Energy and Envi-
ronment 10 (4), 250e260.
Chen, X., Shen, Z., Zhu, X., Fan, Y., Wang, W., 2005. Advanced treatment of textile
wastewater for reuse using electrochemical oxidation and membrane ltration.
Water South Africa 31, 127e132.
Chen, T., Gao, B., Yue, Q., 2010. Effect of dosing method and pH on color removal
performance and oc aggregation of polyferricchloride-polyaminedual-
coagulant in synthetic dyeing wastewater treatment. Colloids and Surface A:
Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 355, 121e129.
Chi, F.H., Cheng, W.P., 2006. Use of chitosan as coagulant to treatwastewater from
milk processing plant. Journal of Polymers and the Environment 14, 411e417.
Choo, K.H., Choi, S.J., Hwang, E.D., 2007. Effect of coagulant types on textile
wastewater reclamation in a combined coagulation/ultraltration system.
Desalination 202, 262e270.
Christie, R., 2001. Colour Chemistry. The Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge,
United Kingdom.
Christman, R.F., 1967. Report for Kypro Co. Bellvina, Washington.
Ciabatti, I., Tognotti, F., Lombardi, L., 2010. Treatment and reuse of dyeing efuents
by potassium ferrate. Desalination 250, 222e228.
Cohan, Wendy, 2010. Could xanthan gum Sensitivity be Complicating your Celiac
disease Recovery?. www.celiac.com.
COINDS, 2000. Comprehensive Industry Documents Series on Textile Industry.
Central Pollution Control Board, India. 59.
Davidson, L.R., 1980. Handbook of Water Soluble Gums and Resins. McGraw Hill,
NewYork.
Debik, E., Kaykioglu, G., Coban, A., Koyuncu, I., 2010. Reuse of anaerobically and
aerobically pre-treated textile wastewater by UF and NF membranes. Desali-
nation 256, 174e180.
Divakaran, R., Pillai, V.N.S., 2001. Flocculation of kaolinite suspensions in water by
chitosan. Water Research 35, 3904e3908.
Dos Santos, A.B., Cervantes, F.J., Van Lier, J.B., 2007. Review paper on current tech-
nologies for decolourisation of textile wastewaters: perspectives for anaerobic
biotechnology. Bioresource Technology 98, 2369e2385.
Easton, J.R., 1995. The dye makers view. In: Cooper, P. (Ed.), Colour in Dyehouse
Efuent. Society of Dyehouse and Colour, Bradford, England, pp. 9e21.
 A.K. Verma et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 93 (2012) 154e168
El-Gohary, F., Tawk, A., 2009. Decolourisation and COD reduction of disperse and
reactive dyes wastewater using chemical-coagulation followed by sequential
batch reactor (SBR) process. Desalination 249, 1159e1164.
Ferroro, F., 2000. Oxidative degradation of dyes and surfactant in the Fenton and
photo-Fenton treatment of dye house efuents. Coloration Technology 116
(5e6), 148e153.
Fersi, C., Dhahbi, M., 2008. Treatment of textile plant efuent by ultraltration and/
or nanoltration for water reuse. Desalination 222, 263e271.
Fontenot, E.J., Lee, Y.H., Matthews, R.D., Zhu, G., Pavlostathis, S.G., 2003. Reductive
decolorisation of a textile reactive dyebath under methanogenic conditions.
Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology 109, 207e225.
Foo, K.Y., Hameed, B.H., 2010. Decontamination of textile wastewater via TiO2/
activated carbon composite materials. Advances in Colloid and Interface Science
159, 130e143.
Fu, Y., Viraraghavan, T., 2001. Fungal Decolorization of dye wastewaters: a review.
Bioresource Technology 79, 251e262.
Gao, B., Yue, Q., Miao, J., 2001. Evaluation of polyaluminium ferric chloride (PAFC) as
a composite coagulant for water and wastewater treatment. Water Science and
Technology 47 (1), 127e132.
Gao, B.Y., Yue, Q.Y., Wang, Y., Zhou, W.Z., 2007. Color removal from dye-containing
wastewater by magnesium chloride. Journal of Environmental Management 82,
167e172.
Georgiou, D., Melidis, P., Aivasidis, A., Gimouhopoulos, K., 2002. Degradation of azo-
reactive dyes by ultraviolet radiation in the presence of hydrogen peroxide.
Dyes and Pigments 52, 69e78.
Georgiou, D., Aivazidis, A., Hatiras, J., Gimouhopoulos, K., 2003. Treatment of cotton
textile wastewater using lime and ferrous sulfate. Water Research 37,
2248e2250.
Gholami, M., Nasseri, S., Fard, M.R.A., Mesdaghinia, A., Vaezi, F., Mahvi, A.,
Naddaf, K., 2001. Dye removal from efuents of textile industries by ISO9888
method and membrane technology. Iranian Journal of Public Health 30, 73e80.
Gogate, P.R., Pandi, A.B., 2004. A review of imperative technologies for wastewater
treatment: hybrid methods. Advances in Environmental Research 8, 553e597.
Golob, V., Vinder, A., Simonic, M., 2005. Efciency of coagulation/occulation
method for treatment of dye bath efuents. Dyes and Pigments 67, 93e97.
Gozlvez-Zafrilla, J.M., Sanz-Escribano, D., Lora-Garca, J., Len Hidalgo, M.C., 2008.
Nanoltration of secondary efuent for wastewater reuse in the textile
industry. Desalination 222, 272e279.
Gregory, J., Rossi, L., 2001. Dynamic testing of water treatment coagulants. Water
Science and Technology, Water Supply 1 (4), 65e72.
Guendy, H.R., 2010. Treatment and reuse of wastewater in the textile industry by
means of coagulation and adsorption techniques. Journal of Applied Sciences
Research 6 (8), 964e972.
Guibal, E., Roussy, J., 2007. Coagulation and occulation of dye containing solutions
using a biopolymer (chitosan). Reactive and Functional Polymers 67, 33e42.
Gupta, V.K., Suhas, 2009. Application of low-cost adsorbents for dye removal-
a review. Journal of Environmental Management 90, 2313e2342.
Gurses, A., Yolcin, M., Dogar, D., 2003. Removal of remazol red RB by using Al (III) as
coagulant- occulant; effect of some variables on settling velocity. Water, Air
and Soil Pollution 146 (1e4), 297e318.
Hai, F.I., Yamamoto, K., Fukushi, K., 2007. Hybrid treatment systems for dye
wastewater. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology 37,
315e377.
Hao, O.J., Kim, H., Chiang, P.C., 2000. Decolorisation of wastewater. Critical Reviews
in Environmental Science and Technology 30, 449e505.
Haroun, M., Idris, A., 2009. Treatment of textile wastewater with an anaerobic
uidized bed reactor. Desalination 237, 357e366.
Hees, U., Freche, M., Kluge, M., Provost, J., Weiser, J., 2002. Developments in textile
ink jet printing with pigment inks. In: Image Science and Technology NIP 18
Digital Printing Conference, San Diego, pp. 242e245.
Hsu, T.C., Chiang, C.S., 1997. Activated sludge treatment of dispersed dye
factory wastewater. Journal of Environmental Science and Health 32,
1921e1932.
Huang, H., Schwab, K., Jacangelo, J.G., 2009. Pretreatment for low pressure
membranes in water treatment: a review. Environmental Science and Tech-
nology 43, 3011e3019.
Husain, Q., 2006. Potential applications of the oxidoreductive enzymes in the
decolorization and detoxication of textile and other synthetic dyes from
polluted water: a review. Critical Reviews in Biotechnology 26, 201e221.
Ince, N.H., Tezcanli, G., 2001. Reactive dyestuff degradation by combined sonolysis
and ozanation. Dyes and Pigments 49, 145e153.
Islam, M.M., Halim, M.A., Islam, M.S., Islam, M.S., Biswas, C.K., 2009. Analysis the
plant nutrients and organic matter in textile sludge in Gazipur, Bangladesh.
Journal of Environmental Science and Technology 2 (1), 63e67.
ISPCH, 1995. Industrial Safety and Pollution Control Handbook. 2nd reprint, second
ed. A joint publication of National Safety Council and Associate (Data)
Publishers Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad, pp. 451e466.
Jadhav, J.P., Parshetti, G.K., Kalme, S.D., Govindwar, S.P., 2007. Decolourization of azo
dye methyl red by Saccharomyces cerevisiae MTCC 463. Chemosphere 68,
394e400.
Jekel, M., 1997. Wastewater Treatment in the Textile Industry. In: Treatment of
Wastewaters from Textile Processing. TU Berlin. Schriftenreihe Biologische
Abwasserreiigung des Sfb 193, Berlin, pp. 15e24.
Jiang, J.Q., Graham, N.J.D., 1998. Pre-polymerised inorganic coagulants and phos-
phorus removal by coagulation-a review. Water SA 24, 237e244.
167
Joo, D.J., Shin, W.S., Choi, J.H., Choi, S.J., Kim, M.C., Han, M.H., Ha, T.W., Kim, Y.H.,
2007. Decolorization of reactive dyes using inorganic coagulants and synthetic
polymer. Dyes and Pigments 73, 59e64.
Joseph, E.I., 2007. Wastewater treatment in the textile industry. Pakistan Textile
Journal, 60e66.
Joshi, V.A., Nanoti, M.V., 1999. Laboratory studies on Tarota as coagulant aid in water
treatment. Indian Journal of Environmental Protection 19 (6), 451e455.
Kang, S.F., Chen, M.C., 1997. Coagulation of textile secondary efuents with fentons
reagent. Water Science and Technology 36 (12), 215e222.
Kang, Q., Gao, B., Yue, Q., Zhou, W., Shen, D., 2007. Residual color proles of reactive
dyes mixture during a chemical occulation process. Colloids and Surfaces A:
Physicochemical and Engineering Aspect 299, 45e53.
Karcher, S., Kornmuller, A., Jekel, M., 2002. Anion exchange resins for removal of
reactive dyes from textile wastewaters. Water Research 36, 4717e4724.
Khaled, A., El-Nemr, A., El-Sikaily, A., Abdelwahab, O., 2009. Treatment of articial
textile dye efuent containing direct yellow 12 by orange peel carbon. Desali-
nation 238, 210e232.
Kim, T., Park, C., Shin, E., Kim, S., 2003. Effects of Cl-based chemical coagulation on
electrochemical oxidation of textile wastewater. Desalination 155, 59e65.
Kim, T.H., Park, C., Yang, J., Kim, S., 2004. Comparison of disperse and reactive dye
removals by chemical coagulation and fenton oxidation. Journal of Hazardous
Materials 112 (1e2), 95e103.
Konsowa, A.H., 2003. Decolorization of wastewater containing direct dye by
ozonation in a batch bubble column reactor. Desalination 158, 233e240.
Konstantinou, I.K., Albanis, T.A., 2004. TiO2-assisted photocatalytic degradation of
azo dyes in aqueous solution: kinetic and mechanistic investigations-a review.
Applied Catalysis B: Environmental 49, 1e14.
Kumar, M.N.V.R., 2000. A review of chitin and chitosan applications. Reactive and
Functional Polymers 46, 1e27.
Kumar, P., Prasad, B., Mishra, I.M., Chand, S., 2008. Decolorization and COD reduc-
tion of dyeing wastewater from a cotton textile mill using thermolysis and
coagulation. Journal of Hazardous Materials 153, 635e645.
Kurbus, T., Slokar, Y.M., Marechal, A.M., 2002. The study of the effects of the vari-
ables on H2O2/UV decolouration of vinylsulphone dye: Part II. Dyes And
Pigments 54, 67e78.
Kurita, K., 2006. Chitin and chitosan: funtional bioploymers from marine crusta-
ceans. Marine Biotechnology 8, 203e226.
Lau, W.J., Ismail, A.F., 2009. Polymeric nanoltration membranes for textile dye
wastewater treatment: preparation, performance evaluation, transport
modelling, and fouling control- a review. Desalination 245, 321e348.
Lea, M., 2010. Bioremediation of turbid surface water Using Seed extract from
Moringa oleifera tree. Current Protocols in Microbiology 1G.2.1e1G.14, Supple-
ment 16.
Ledakowicz, S., Solecka, M., Zylla, R., 2001. Biodegradation, decolourisation and
detoxication of textile wastewater enhanced by advanced oxidation processes.
Journal of Biotechnology 89, 175e184.
Lee, Y.H., Matthews, R.D., Pavlostathis, S.G., 2006. Biological decolorization of
reactive anthraquinone and phthalocyanine dyes under various oxida-
tionereduction conditions. Water Environment Research 78, 156e169.
Leiknes, T.O., 2009. The effect of coupling coagulation and occulation with
membrane ltration in water treatment: a review. Journal of Environmental
Sciences 21 (1), 8e12.
Lin, S.H., Peng, F.C., 1996. Continuous treatment of textile wastewater by combined
coagulation, electrochemical oxidation and activated sludge. Water Research
30, 587e592.
Mahmoodi, N.M., Salehi, R., Arami, M., Bahrami, H., 2011. Dye removal from col-
oured textile wastewater using chitosan in binary systems. Desalination 267,
64e72.
Marcucci, M., Nosenzo, G., Capannelli, G., Ciabatti, I., Corrieri, D., Ciardelli, G., 2001.
Treatment and reuse of textile efuents based on new ultraltration and other
membrane technologies. Desalination 138, 75e82.
Marmagne, O., Coste, C., 1996. Colour removal from textile plant efuents. American
Dyestuff Reports 85, 15e21.
Meric, S., Kaptan, D., Olmez, T., 2004. Color and COD removal from wastewater
containing reactive black 5 using Fentons oxidation process. Chemosphere 54,
435e441.
Merzouk, B., Madani, K., Sekki, A., 2010. Using electrocoagulationeelectrootation
technology to treat synthetic solution and textile wastewater, two case studies.
Desalination 250, 573e577.
Metcalf, Eddy, 2003. Wastewater Engineering Treatment and Reuse, fourth ed.
McGraw-Hill, New York.
Miller, S.M., Fugate, E.J., Craver, V.O., Smith, J.A., Zimmerman, J.B., 2008. Towards
understanding the efcacy and mechanism of Opuntia spp. as a natural coag-
ulant for potential application in water treatment. Environmental Science and
Technology 42, 4274e4279.
Mishra, A., Srinivasan, R., Dubey, R., 2002. Flocculation of textile wastewater by
plantago psyllium mucilage. Macromolecular Materials and Engineering 287,
592e596.
Moghaddam, S.S., Moghaddam, M.R.A., Arami, M., 2010. A comparison study on
Acid Red 119 dye removal using two different types of waterworks sludge.
Water Science and Technology 61, 1673e1681.
MOWR, 2000. Annual Report on Wastewater Generation, India.
Naimabadi, A., Attar, H.M., Shahsavani, A., 2009. Decolorization and biological
degradation of azo dye reactive Red2 by anaerobic/aerobic sequential process.
Iranian Journal of environmental Health, Science and Engineering 6 (2), 67e72.
168 A.K. Verma et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 93 (2012) 154e168
Namasivayam, C., Sumithra, S., 2005. Removal of directred 12B and methylene blue
from water by adsorption onto Fe(III)/Cr(III) hydroxide, an industrial solid
waste. Journal of Environmental Management 74, 207e215.
No, H.K., Meyers, S.P., 2000. Application of chitosan for treatment of wastewaters.
Reviews of Environmental Contamination & Toxicology 163, 1e28.
Ong, S.A., Toorisaka, E., Hirata, M., Hano, T., 2005. Decolorization of azo dye (Orange
II) in a sequential UASBeSBR system. Separation and Purication Technology
42, 297e302.
Pala, A., Tokat, E., 2002. Color removal from cotton textile industry wastewater in an
activated sludge system with various additives. Water Research 36 (11),
2920e2925.
Papic, S., Koprivanac, N., Bozic, A.L., Metes, A., 2004. Removal of some reactive dyes
from synthetic wastewater by combined Al(III) coagulation/carbon adsorption
process. Dyes and Pigments 62, 291e298.
Paschoal, F.M.M., Anderson, M.A., Zanoni, M.V.B., 2009. The photoelectrocatalytic
oxidative treatment of textile wastewater containing disperse dyes. Desalina-
tion 249, 1350e1355.
Patel, H., Vashi, R.T., 2010. Treatment of textile wastewater by adsorption and
coagulation. E-Journal of Chemistry 7 (4), 1468e1476.
Paul, J., 2008. Removal of COD and colour from textile wastewater using limestone
and activated carbon. M.S Thesis, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Paulino, A.T., Guilherme, M.R., Reis, A.V., Campese, G.M., Muniz, E.C., Nozaki, J.,
2006. Removal of methylene blue dye from an aqueous media using superab-
sorbent hydrogel supported on modied polysaccharide. Journal of Colloid and
Interface Science 301, 55e62.
Pearson, J., Lu, F., Gandhi, K., 2004. Disposal of woul scouring sludge by composting.
AUTEX Research Journal 4, 147e156.
Peavy, H.S., Rowe, D.R., Tchobanoglous, G., 1985. Environmental Engineering.
McGraw-Hill International Edition, New Delhi.
Perkowski, J., Kos, L., 2003. Decolouration of model dye house wastewater
with advanced oxidation processes. Fibres and Textiles in Eastern Europe 11,
67e71.
Phalakornkule, C., Polgumhang, S., Tongdaung, W., Karakat, B., Nuyut, T., 2010.
Electrocoagulation of blue reactive, red disperse and mixed dyes, and applica-
tion in treating textile efuent. Journal of Environmental Management 91,
918e926.
Project, S.E.A.M., 1999. Textile Sector Report: Cleaner Production Opportunities.
(Egypt).
Rajeswari, K.R., 2000. Ozonation treatment of textile dyes wastewater using plasma
ozoniser. Ph.D thesis, University Malaysia, Malaysia.
Ranganathan, K., Jeyapaul, S., Sharma, D.C., 2007. Assessment of water pollution in
different bleaching based paper manufacturing and textile dyeing industries in
India. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 134, 363e372.
Rein, M., 2001. Advanced oxidation processes-current status and prospects, proc.
estonian acad. Science Chemistry 50, 59e80.
Renault, F., Sancey, B., Badot, P.M., Crini, G., 2009. Chitosan for coagulation/occu-
lation processes-an eco-friendly approach. European Polymer Journal 45,
1337e1348.
Riera-Torres, M., Gutierrez-Bouzan, C., Crespi, M., 2010. Combination of coagu-
lationeocculation and nanoltration techniques for dye removal and water
reuse in textile efuents. Desalination 252, 53e59.
Roberts, G.A.F., 1992. Chitin Chemistry. MacMillan, London.
Robinson, T., Mcmullan, G., Marchant, R., Nigham, P., 2001. Remediation of dyes in
textile efuent: a critical review on current treatment technologies with
proposed alternatives. Bioresource Technology 77, 247e255.
Rodriguez, A., Ovejero, G., Romero, M.D., Daz, C., Barreiro, M., Garcia, J., 2008.
Catalytic wet air oxidation of textile industrial wastewater using metal sup-
ported on carbon nanobers. Journal of Supercritical Fluids 46, 163e172.
Rosa, EV.C., Mater, L., Souza-Sierra, M.M., Ro rig, L.R., Vieira, L.M., Radetski, C.M.,
2007. Textile sludge application to non-productive soil: physico-chemical and
phytotoxicity aspects. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 68, 91e97.
Rott, U., Minke, R., 1999. Overview of wastewater treatment and recycling in the
textile processing industry. Water Science and Technology 40, 37e144.
Sandhya, S., Swaminathan, K., 2006. Kinetic analysis of treatment of textile
wastewater in hybrid column upow anaerobic xed bed reactor. Chemical
Engineering Journal 122, 87e92.
Sanghi, R., Bhattacharya, B., 2005. Comparative evaluation of natural poly-
electrolytes psyllium and chitosan as coagulant aids for decolourisation of dye
solutions. Water Quality Research Journal of Canada 40, 97e101.
Sanghi, R., Bhatttacharya, B., Dixit, A., Singh, V., 2006. Ipomoea dasysperma seed
gum: an effective natural coagulant for the decolorisation of textile dye solu-
tions. Journal of Environmental Management 81, 36e41.
Schrank, S.G., Dos Santos, J.N.R., Souza, D.S., Souza, E.E.S., 2007. Decolourisation
effects of Vat Green 01 textile dye and textile wastewater using H2O2/UV
process. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry 186,
125e129.
Selcuk, H., 2005. Decolourisation and detoxication of textile wastewater by
ozonation and coagulation processes. Dyes and Pigments 64, 217e222.
Semerjian, L., Ayoub, G.M., 2003. High pH magnesium coagulation occulation in
wastewater treatment. Advances in Environmental Research 7, 389e403.
Shi, B.Y., Li, G.H., Wang, D.S., Feng, C.H., Tang, H.X., 2007. Removal of direct dyes by
coagulation: the performance of preformed polymeric aluminum species.
Journal of Hazardous Materials 143, 567e574.
Silvia, G.S., Jean, N.R., Danillo, S.S., Elayne, E.S.S., 2007. Decolourisation effects of vat
green 01 textile dye and textile wastewater using H2O2/UV process. Journal of
Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry 186, 125e129.
Slokar, Y.M., Marechal, A.M.L., 1998. Methods of decolouration of textile waste
waters. Dyes and Pigments 37, 335e356.
Snowden-Swan, L.J., 1995. Pollution prevention in the textile industries. In:
Freeman, H.M. (Ed.), Industrial Pollution Prevention Handbook. McGraw-Hdl,
Inc., New York.
Suksaroj, C., Heran, M., Allegre, C., Persin, F., 2005. Treatment of textile plant
efuent by nanoltration and /or reverse osmosis for water reuse. Desalination
178, 333e341.
Szygula, A., Guibal, E., Palacin, M.A., Ruiz, M., Sastre, A.M., 2009. Removal of an
anionic dye (Acid Blue 92) by coagulation-occulation using chitosan. Journal of
Environmental Management 90, 2979e2986.
Tamburlini, G., Ehrenstein, O.V., Bertollini, R., 2002. Childrens health and envi-
ronment: a review of evidence. In: Environmental Issue, 129. WHO/European
Environment Agency, WHO, Geneva, pp. 22e31.
Tan, B.H., Teng, T.T., Omar, A.K.M., 2000. Removal of dyes and industrial dye wastes
by magnesium chloride. Water Research 34, 597e601.
Togo, C.A., Mutambanengwe, C.C.Z., Whiteley, C.G., 2008. Decolourisation and
degradation of textile dyes using a sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB)-biodigester
microora co-culture. African Journal of Biotechnology 7 (2), 114e121.
Tun, L.L., Baraoidan, W.A., Gaspillo, P.D., Suzuki, M., 2007. A study on the relative
performance of different coagulants and the kinetics of COD in the treatment of
a textile bleaching and dyeing industrial wastewater. ASEAN Journal of Chem-
ical Engineering 7, 49e60.
UNICEF, 2008. At a glance: Czech Republic Statistics, basic indicators. http://www.
unicef.org/infobycountry/crepublic_statistics.html.
USEPA, 1997. EPA Ofce of Compliance Sector Notebook Project. Prole of the Textile
Industry, Washington.
Ustun, G.E., Solmaz, S.K.A., Birgul, A., 2007. Regeneration of industrial district
wastewater using a combination of Fenton process and ion exchange-A case
study. Resources Conservation and Recycling 52, 425e440.
Van der Bruggen, B., Cornelis, G., Vandecasteele, C., Devreese, I., 2005. Fouling of
nanoltration and ultraltration membranes applied for wastewater regener-
ation in the textile industry. Desalination 175, 111e119.
Van der Zee, F.P., 2002. Anaerobic azo dye reduction. PhD Thesis. Wageningen
University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Walker, G.M., Weatherly, L.R., 1997. Adsorption of acid dyes on to granular activated
carbon in xed beds. Water Research 31, 2093e2101.
Walsh, G.E., Bahner, L.H., Horning, W.B., 1980. Toxicity of textile mill efuents to
freshwater and estuarine algae, crustaceans and shes. Environmental Pollu-
tion (Series A) 21, 169e179.
Welham, A., 2000. The theory of dyeing (and the secret of life). Journal of the
Society of Dyers and Colourists 116, 140e143.
WHO, 2000. Air Quality Guidelines, second ed. World Health Organization, Europe
Regional Ofce, Copenhagen.
WHO, 2002. Water Pollutants. World Health Organization: biological agents, dissolved
chemicals, non-dissolved chemicals, Sediments, heat. WHO CEHA, Amman, Jordan.
World Bank, 2005. World Development Indicators Table 3.6: Water pollution,
Table 3.11: Urban Environment.
Yang, C.L., McGarrahan, J., 2005. Electrochemical coagulation for textile efuent
decolorization. Journal of Hazardous Materials B127, 40e47.
Yin, C.Y., 2010. Emerging usage of plant-based coagulants for water and wastewater
treatment. Process Biochemistry 45, 1437e1444.
Yoshida, Z.I., Osawa, E., Oda, R., 1964. Intermolecular hydrogen bond involving a p-
base as the proton acceptor, I. Detection by the refractive index method. Journal
of Physical Chemistry 68, 2895e2898.
Yu, Y., Zhuang, Y.Y., Li, Y., Qiu, M.Q., 2002. Effect of dye structure on the interaction
between organic occulant PAN-DCD and dye. Industrial & Engineering
Chemistry Research 41 (6), 1589e1596.
Yusuff, R.O., Sonibare, J.A., 2004. Characterization of textile industries efuents in
Kaduna, Nigeria and pollution implications. Global Nest: the International
Journal 6 (3), 212e221.
Zahrim, A.Y., Tizaoui, C., Hilal, N., 2010. Evaluation of several commercial synthetic
polymers as occulant aids for removal of highly concentrated C.I. Acid Black
210 dye. Journal of Hazardous Materials 182, 624e630.
Zhang, Q.H., Tang, X., Luo, T.C., 1995. Carboxymethyl chitosan treatment of dyeing
wastewater. Journal of Environmental Pollution and Control 17 (50), 7e9.