Anaerobic treatment of textile dyeing wastewater

• Published in: Water science and technology 2003-01, Vol.47 (10), p.55-59
• Main Authors: STERN, S. R, SZPYRKOWICZ, L, RODIGHIERO, I
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activated sludge; Aerobic treatment; Anaerobic digestion; Anaerobic microorganisms; Anaerobic processes; Anaerobic treatment; Applied sciences; Bacteria, Anaerobic - physiology; Baths; Biofilters; Biological and medical sciences; Biological treatment of waters; Bioreactors; Biotechnology; Color removal; Coloring Agents - metabolism; Colour; Decoloring; Decolorization; Dyes; Efficiency; Effluent treatment; Effluents; Environment and pollution; Evaluation; Exact sciences and technology; Experiments; Filtration; Fresh water; Freshwater; Freshwater environments; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Industrial applications and implications. Economical aspects; Industrial wastewaters; Inland water environment; Kinetics; Methods; Microorganisms; Nucleotide sequence; Organic loading; Plants (botany); Pollution; Polyamines; Reaction kinetics; Reactors; Removal; Sludge; Stability; Sulfur; Textile Industry; Textile industry wastewaters; Waste Disposal, Fluid - methods; Wastewater; Wastewater treatment; Wastewaters; Water Pollutants - metabolism; Water Pollution - prevention & control; Water Purification - methods; Water treatment and pollution
• ISSN: 0273-1223; 1996-9732
• DOI: 10.2166/wst.2003.0537

Aerobic treatment commonly applied to textile wastewater results in good or even excellent removal of organic load. This is not, however, accompanied by an equally good removal of colour. Traditional or advanced chemical methods of decolourisation are costly and not always reliable in justifying an interest in microbial decolourisation. Among several processes anaerobic methods seem most promising. In this paper, the results of a study conducted in two pilot-scale plants comprising anaerobic fixed bed biofilters of 15 L and 5 m3 operating as continuous reactors are presented, along with evaluation of the microbial kinetics. As is shown the process proved efficient in a long-term study with no stability problems of the biofilters. The six-month performance of the pilot plant confirmed also that the pre-treated wastewater could be applied in the operation of dyeing. For the majority of the colours applied in the factory no problems were encountered when the dyeing baths were prepared by substituting 90% of fresh water to the effluent treated by a sequence of activated sludge processes: anaerobic-aerobic.