Journal of Textile Science & Engineering

Performance Assessment of Recycled Alum Sludge in the Treatment of Textile Effluent Containing Dye

Abstract

Mbodi TN

Textile industry is considered as one of the most polluting sectors in terms wastewaters volume of discharge and effluent composition, such as dye, which represents an environmental hazard when discharged without any proper treatment. A study was conducted to investigate the capability of the use of recycled alum sludge (RAS) as an alternative treatment for the reduction of colour, chemical oxygen demand (COD), total dissolved solids (TDS) and pH adjustment from dye based synthetic textile industry wastewater. The coagulation/flocculation process was studied for coagulants of Alum-RAS ratio of 1:1, 1:2 and 0:1 and the results were evaluated against the removal efficiency of fresh alum in the treatment synthetic wastewater. Fresh alum recorded a colour removal efficiency of 89 ± 2%, while 78 ± 3%, 86 ± 3%, 82 ± 2% were recorded during the treatment with coagulants with mix ratios of 0:1, 1:1 and 1:2, respectively. Evidences have demonstrated that that reusing the alum sludge as a low-cost material pre-treatment method into the coagulation/flocculation process can offer some advantages such as high removal efficiency for disperse dye and economic savings on overall treatment of the industry wastewater.