Wat. Sci. Tech. Vol. 24, No. I, pp. 97-103, 1991.

0273-1223/91 $0·00 + ·50

Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved. Copyright © 1991 IAWPRC

TEXTILE INDUSTRY WASTEWATERS

TR�AT�ENT

Petr Grau

Water Technology and Environmental Engineering, Prague Institute of

Chemical Technology, CS-16628 Prague, Czechoslovakia

ABSTRACT

Effective water and waste management strategies enable us to decrease water

consumption and pollution load of wastewaters. Typical examples of low-waste
technologies are lanolin recovery in wool scouring, hydroxide I'ecovery in
cotton mercerizing, recovery of synthetic sizes and reuse of dye baths.

wastewaters are treated by a sequence of physical- chemlca� an4J:>iological

processes. Traditionally, '

coagulation/flocculation (C .. r-)
has been . favored as
the first treatment step followed by biological treatment as the second step.
More recently a reverse sequence of treatment has been utilized in several
cases with success.

Novel technolugies have been developed such as catalytic oxidation,

decoloration by ozone, adsorption/desorption. Their practical use is, however,
stUI rare.

Joint treatment with municipal wastewaters has been favored wherever possible.

KEY WORDS

water consumption, water and wastewater management strategies, physical

chemical treatment, biological treatment, decoloration.

INTRODUCTION

Textile industry is represented by numerous technologies, techniques and

materials. Natural materials such as wool, cotton, linen and others are
completely processed in textile factories. Synthetic fibers such as
polyester (PES), polyamide (PAD), polyacrilonitrile (PAN), polyothylene (POE),
polypropylene (POP), viscose (VS and others are produced in chemical
factories. Their wet processing in textile factories is enerally limited to
dyeing and final appretation.

WATER AND WASTE MANAGEMENT

consumption of water

consumption of water is specific to the type or textile material and

technique. It is expressed ["or metric ton of material processed or for one

JIST 24:1-H

97

Downloaded from https://iwaponline.com/wst/article-pdf/24/1/97/101692/97.pdf

by guest
 98 P. GRAU

metre of fabric. Bartusek et al. 1985 extensively reviewed water consumption

in the textiie illdustry.

In general, modern continuous processes consume less water than traditional

3
3 requires 120
batch processes. For example dyeing of wool in open vessels m /t
of water while continuous dyeing requires only 5 m /t. There is a general
tendency to save water and to minimize the quantity of wastewaters. To what
extent this tendency will translate into a general increase of concentration
of wastewaters cannot be predicted.

TABLE 1 water consumption in Wool processing

Process Specific Water

consumption

Scouring 20- 60
Carbonization 20- 35
Bleaching 120-200
Dyeing 4-300
Rinsing 30-150
Printing 280-520
3
Figures are m per metric ton of material

TABLE 2 Water consumption in Cotton Processing

Process Specific water

Consumption

bleaching
-in batches 160-220
3
-continuous 15- 35 m /m
mercerizing 120-220
3
7- 15 m /m
dyeing 60- 80 3
12- 15 m /m
3
printing 15- 25 m /m
3
Figure are m per metric ton of material
unless stated otherwise in the table.

Effective water' and waste management strategies

Several principles are applied to achieve effective water management. Most of

them contribute to water saving. Some of them can be also considered as low-
waste technologies decreasing pollution load of the wastewaters.

Typical examples of effective strategies are:

- direct recycling of water in the same process or in other processes;

- recycling of wastewaters after intermediate treatment;
- recycling of wastewaters after final treatment;
- reuse of treated municipal or industrial wastewaters;
- replacement of water by solvents that can be regenerated;
- increasing fiber affinity to textile auxiliaries, dyes, retarding and
softening agents, carriers:
- improving removabill ty or degradability of auxiliaries and other chemicals
wi th the aift to facilitate wastewater I'euse and recycling;
- minimizing salinity of wastewaters.

Examples of low-waste technology

1. Wool scouring

Raw wool contains sheep wax (lanolin), perspiration. soil. dust and further

Downloaded from https://iwaponline.com/wst/article-pdf/24/1/97/101692/97.pdf

 Textile industry wastewaters treatment 99

impurities of plant and animal origin. scouring in a special deterg ent bath
removes all these natur'al impur'ities. Scouring in cycle is based on finding
that the used detergent bath after partial removal of wax and suspended solids
can be recycled to scouring and i", evun more efficient than the fr'esh
one.

Partial separation of wax and suspended solids is performed by multistage

centrifugation (Bartusek et al. 1985, War'ner 1985). Sludge separ'ated in the
first stage is either directly dewatered or discharged into the wastewater
tr'eatment plant for' processing. Wax separated in the third stage
centrifuge (raw lanolin) can be subsequently refined and commercialized.
Water, containing a residual concentration of lanolin of about 5 g/l, is
re(:ycled to (:(lI.II' ing.

Further r'emoval of lanolin from wastewaters can be achieved by several

methods. Continuous solvent extraction (hexanol, Chloroform,
trichlorethylene, gasoline) can decrease lanolin concentration by 90 or
more percent and recover high-quality lanolin.

2. Cotton mercel'izing

Cotton is mercerized by sodium hydroxide at concentrations of22 to 26 to

impart a silky finish, tenacity and better affinity to dyes. Recovery of
sodium hydroxide by counter curTent r'insing and evaporation can dec rease
wastewater alkalinity by 60-70 , Fur'ther improvement is necessary to
enable more extensive wastewater' recycling and reuse (Chiasson 1985),

3. Desizing of effluents

Size ar'e macro - molecular Ub tan e of gelatinou appearan e a

p
lie
d
before
weaving (modified cellulose, carboxymethyl starch, polyvinyl
acetate, polyacrylate). Fully synthetic sizes can be :reC;Qvered from
wa tewater by ultr'afiltr'ation (Artzt 1985, Janak 1987)'. It has been
reported that ultrafiltration for' the recovery of PYA sizes is pI'ofitable,
break-even periods being 0. 8 to 3 yeal's. This is superior' to C/F
pretreatment that cannot recover the sizes and contributes to salinity of
treated water.

4. Reuse of dye baths

Coloration of textile wastewaters is a common problem. The dyes are in

genel'al biologically non-degradable 01' slowly degradable. Furthermore, the
costs of attractive dyes are high and their recovery can be therefore
profitable. By recovery can be also saved a part of wastewatel' treatment
costs. Exhausted dye baths contain up to 50 g/l total solids, 30-40 g/l COD
and less than 4 g/l BOD5. Ultr'afiltration and reverse osmosis have been
r'eported applicable to concentrate exhausted dye baths for reuse. Reverse
osmosis appeal'ed to be the most promising technique for recovering dyes. For
instance the consumption of indigo used to dye jean fabric can be lowered
to 80 .

wastewater' tr'eatment

A great variability of raw materials, pl'ocesses, dyes and chemicals imply the
specificity of each case. In contrast, a permanent modernization of textile
processing technologies and techniques I'equires flexible treatment processes
that can be easily modified to ever changing conditions.

Frequently it has to be decided whether textile wastewaters will be treated

separately or in combination with other industry or municipal wastewaters.

Downloaded from https://iwaponline.com/wst/article-pdf/24/1/97/101692/97.pdf

 100 p, GRAU

separate textile wastewaters treatment

Pretreatment commonly includes:

- lowering the concentration of suspended solids;

- removal of oils and fats;
- equalization of flows and concentrations;
- cooling;
- neutralization.

Mechanical pretreatment does not substantially differ fl'om common wastewater

treatment practice. In addition to screens also sieves are regulal'ly used for
capture of short fibers.

Removal of grease is generally more difficult from warm wastewaters. With the
exception of sheep wax the concentration of gl'ease in textile wastewatel's is
quite low.

Equalization is commonly combined with cooling. Equalization tanks are stirred,

mostly by aeration. For' subsequent biological treatment it is important to
safeguard some loading also during weekends. This can be simply achieved by
segregation of highly concentrated wastewaters which amount for 50-80 of total
pollution load but only for 1-3 % of total volume. Thus concentrated wastewaters
can be stored in low volumes.

Neutralization is necessary in cotton mills using mercel'1z1ng. Alkaline

wastewaters are neutralized by inorganic acids (hydrochloric, sulfuric) or by
combustion gases. Neutralization by combustion gases offer's several
advantages. Oper'ation costs of neutrulization by combustion gases are
extremely low. Fly-ash washed out from gases contributes to adsorption of
dyes. Another advantage is a removal of sulful' and nitrogen oxides from the
gases and consequently simultaneous air pollution control. Obviously, many
;
benefits are achieved. In contrast, subsequent aeration st i-i P-S o tf. free carbon
dioxide and pH increases to 9. In spite of that such wastewater can be
biologically treated.

A frequently discussed question is what is the proper sequence of the

subsequent treatment. Biological treatment cannot completely remove coloration
of water. Thus physical-chemical treatment is always necessal'y. Reports are
available on either combination. Coagulation prior' to biological treatment may
be advantageous for alkaline wastewaters (Bartusek et al. 1986, Kolb et al.
1987). Cheap waste ferrous sulfate can be effectively used at higher' pH.
Simultaneously, sulfate anioll neutrali:.:es th"" wa�t<.'wat /"'

Average efficiency of mechanical treatment followed by C/F in Czechoslovakia

is (Bartusek at al.1985):

-removal of BOD 40-66

5
-removal of COD 36-40
cr
-decoloration 80-90 Yo.

Also sulfides and some heavy metals ar'e pl'ecipitated and adsorbed on ferTous
hydroxide flocs. Decoloration is efficient. macro-molecular sizes are removed
and concentration of organic substances is significantly lowered. Batch C/F
performed in sequencing parallel tanks is generally more efficient than continuous-
flow treatment.

Anionic and non-ionogenic polymeric flocculants used at concentrations of

3
0. 6-3 g/m accelerate sedimentation. Final volume of sludge and COD removal
efficiency are, however. unchanged.

Re ently separation of C/F sludge by flotation has attl'acted considerable

attention (Kalos 1986). It is interesting to note that the tensides present in
textile wastewaters in higher concentrations hinder sedimentation. On the
contrary, flotation is enhanced. The concentl'ation of solids in flotated
sludge reaches 2-7 . Compared to the requil'ed detention timo in a clarifier

Downloaded from https://iwaponline.com/wst/article-pdf/24/1/97/101692/97.pdf

 Textile industry wastewaters treatment 101

of about 2-3 h, the detention time in a flotator is about half an hour.

Flotation is less sensitive to fluctuation of temperature and salinity.

A common disadvantage of C/F pl'eceding biological tr'eatment is a higher

pr'oduction of chemical sludge which does not dewater easily. F ilter presses
can be, however, applied with relative success. Filtration cake contains 22-
35 of solids and its consistency is spadeable. Experiments have been
reported to dispose of the sludge as an additi ve in red bricks and cement
production.

Another pr'ocess which can be successfully applied prior to biological

treatment is catalytic oxidation. Several technologies have been
commercialized under trade marks Katox, Rapid-Sorb, others by Scholl AG. Katox
uses oxidation by air catalyzed by activated cal'bon impregnated by oxides of
some heavy metals. Katox can be followed by C/F (Katox AK). The process is
efficient. Some author's who investigated the process neglect major oxidation
effect of the catalyzer and explain the efficiency by combined efficiency of
adsorption and biological action (Bartusek et al.1985).

Treatment by activated sludge process with addition of powdered activated

carbon (PAC) similar efficiency (Burkhard 1987). The efficiency of
treatment by activated sludge process without addi tion of PAC has been shown
to be low er

Biological treatment pr'ior to peT is more vulnerable. Pretreatment has to be

better controlled in regard to toxicity and pH. Also bulking might be more
pr'onounced in cases where sizes based on modified starch ar'e employed. Partial
decolol'ation is achieved by adsor'ption of dyes on activated sludge. It has
been shown that adsorption behavior of activated sludge is similar to that of
activated carbon for acid, reactive, direct, disperse and basic: dyes. The
propor·tion between concentr'ations of BOD and dyes in most textile wastewatel's
i such that not enough activated :>ludge is grown to be sufficient for' f
ul
decoloration (Chudoba 1979). Second stage, after biological\tre tment, has to
be PCT.

A variety of biological treatment processes have been employed, including

biofiltel's, RBC's, activated sludge pl'ocess and other's (Chudoba 1979,
Hlavicova et al.1985). Anaerobic treatment was successfully used already in the
sixties (Grishin<:< 1964).

Aftel' biological tr'eatment ferrous sulfate cannot be used because pH is close

to neutral. Alum or' fel'ric salts ar'e mor'e suitable as primary coagulants. The
dose of coagUlants and consequently also the quantity of the chemical sludge
after' biological tr'eatment are smaller' compar'ed to those pr'ior' to biological
treatment.

Decoloration, especially of reactive and acid dyes can be achieved by

chlorination or ozonation (Green and Sokol 1985). While decoloration with
chlorine is more efficient at lowel' pH, ozone efficiency is pH independent.

Several adsorbents have been investigated for color r'emoval (McKay et al.
1987, Posey and Kim 1987). In practice, however, C/F is still more favored
(Ankudowicz 1986, Kolb 1987).

.Joint treatme.nt ",i th m unici pal wa te",a te.r·s

Joint treatment with municipal wastewater's is consider'ed to be the optimum

altelTlative. In gener'al, combined tl'eatment with municipal wastewaters has
been favored wherever' applicable. By combined treatment, specially if textile
wa tewater's for'm one quarter' or less of the total volume, many difficulties
are solved, such as flow, alkalinity and temperature extremes and
fluctuations. Also decolor'ation is more efficient and cheaper.

Municipal wastewaters supply nitrogen and phosphorus. The proportion between

concentration of BOD and dyes is more favorable than in textile wastewaters. Total
production of activated sludge is thus greater and mOI'e adsorptive

Downloaded from https://iwaponline.com/wst/article-pdf/24/1/97/101692/97.pdf

 102 P. GRAU

(:aj)a(:ity i€l aVailable.. Al o I=.rimary €le.wage. olid ad ol'b dye . In a

n
a
er
o
b
ic
digestion of sludge some dyes are biodegraded.

In spite of these positive features in many cases the final effluent is still
colored. It is practically impossible to estimate beforehand decoloration
efficiency of joint treatment. Even pilot experiments do not guarantee perfect
prediction of decoloration. Permanent changes of palette, types of dyes and
fibers introduce unpredictable stochasticity. Flexible pretreatment or
postreatment is thus a necessity.

CONCLUSIONS

Contemporary development of textile industry is characterized by utilization

of continuous, water- saving processes. In addition, wastewater is after
intermediate treatment recycled and reused. Low-waste technology is
represented by several technological improvements, s uch as lanolin recovery in
wool scouring, hydroxide recovery in cotton mercerizing, recovery of synthetic
sizes and reuse of dye baths.

wastewater treatment technology research and development focuses on

decoloration. separate wastewater treatment needs in general an efficient
decoloration. Traditionally, coagulation/flocculation has been frequently
utilized. Novel technologies are represented by catalytic oxidation,
ozonation, and adsorption/desorption.

Joint treatment with muclicipal wastewaters minimizes the need of chemicals for
decoloration. Dyes are adsorbed on activated sludge, produced in larger
quantity on excessive substrate from municipal wastewaters.

Surprisingly enough, application of anaerobic treatment has been relatively

scarcely reported.

REFERENCES

Ankudowicz W. (1986). water Pollution Control in the Polish Textile Industry

(Pol . Technik Vlokienniczy, 35,4,93.
Artzt P.et al. (1985). Improving the Yield of Raw Materials by Reclamation of
wastes in a Cotton Combing Mill (Ger . Textil Praxis Int. 40,5,485.
Athanasopoulos N. (1986). Cotton Fabric Desizing and Scouring wastewater
Treatment in Upflow Anaerobic Filter. Biotechnol. Lett., 8,377.
Bartusek P.et al. (1985). VastelUaters in Textile Industry. (Czech , p.260.
SNTL Prague.
Bartusek P. et al. (1986). Ways of Improving the Efficiency of
Mechanical/Chemical Textile Effluent Treatment by USing Biological
Treatment Techniques (Czech . Textil, 41,4,133.
Burkhard G. (1987). Solving the Problem of waste Treatment in the Textile
Finishing Industry (Ger . Textilueredlung, 22,242.
Chiasson M. (1985). Evaluation of the Production Capacity of a Caustic
Recovery Plant by Microcomputer Simulation. Canadian Textile J. , 102,8,76.
Chudoba J. (1979). Biological Wastewater Treatment from Wool Scouring and
Dyeing (Czech . Proc. Conf. on Textile and Leather VastelUaters, Brno, 3-20.
Green J.M., Sokol C. (1985). Using Ozone to Decolorize Dyeing Plant
wastewater. Amer. Dyestuff Rep. , 74,4,67.
Grishina E. E. (1964). Experience with Anaerobic Treatment of Wool Scouring
Wastewaters (Russ . Vodosnab. i Sanit. Technika, 12,24.
Hlavicova M.et al. (1985). Biological Treatment of Textile Wastewaters in
a Rotating Disc Reactor (Czech . Textil. 40,140.
Janak P. (1987). Recirculation of Chemicals in the Textile Industry by means
of Ultrafiltration (Czech . Textil, 42,183.
Kalos S.S. (1986). Utilization of Sludge Flotation in Cotton Dyeing and
Finishing (Russ . Text. Promyshl. 5,58.
Kolb M. et al. (1987). Decolorization of Textile Wastewater Using
Iron (I I /Calcium Hydroxide. Result of a Large-Scale Experiment. Korresp.
AblUaSser, 34,3,238.
McKay G. et al. (1987). Desorption and Regeneration of Dye Colors from

Downloaded from https://iwaponline.com/wst/article-pdf/24/1/97/101692/97.pdf

 Textile industry wastewaters treatftent 103

Low-Cost Materials. Vater. Res. 21,375.

MCKay G. et al. (1987 . Equilibriwn Studies During the Removal of Dyestuffs
Aqueous Solutions Using Baggasse Pith. Vater. Res. 21,1513.
Posey R.J., Kim B.R. . Solvent Regeneration of Dye-Laden Activated
Carbon. J.Vater �llut.Control Fed., 59,47.
Warner J. J. (1985 . Dirt Recovery from Wool-Scouring Effluent by D
ec
a
ne
tr
centrifuge. Textile Res., 55,2,133.

Downloaded from https://iwaponline.com/wst/article-pdf/24/1/97/101692/97.pdf

by guest