Worldwide environmental problems associated with the textile industry are typically those associated with water pollution caused by the discharge of untreated effluent and those because of the use of toxic chemicals, especially during processing. The effluent is of critical environmental concern since it drastically decreases oxygen concentration due to hydrosulfides and blocks the passage of light through the water body, detrimental to the water ecosystem. Textile effluent is a cause of a significant amount of environmental degradation and human illnesses. About 40 % of globally used colorants contain organically bound chlorine, a known carcinogen.
Researchers around the globe are trying to develop various methods to tackle these issues. However, major of the developed methods are not continuous.
Recently, NIT Andhra Pradesh Researchers have developed a continuous reactor to treat textile industrial effluent using a nano coupled advanced oxidation process. The students have initiated this research towards the mission of Clean Water by recycling the pollutants from Tirupur, Tamil Nadu.
Dr. Padmanaban, Assistant Professor Department of Biotechnology, NIT Andhra Pradesh, said, “The key challenge towards the treatment of textile dye effluent is the presence of salts and high concentration of dyes which interferes the process of degradation. It is beneficial if a technology is developed by using the salts which are innately present in the effluent. By keeping this as the strategical point, the team has developed an Advanced Oxidation Process which works well in the high saline conditions towards the complete removal of textile dyes.
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The thermal activation of salts results in the generation of reactive radicals. The process focuses on the simultaneous generation of hydroxyl and sulfate radicals which catalyzes the removal of dye pollutants. The removal rate was almost doubled by adding Ferrous tagged biochar nanocomposite, which acts as a heterogeneous catalyst.
Based on the developed process, an integrated reactor was designed to remove textile dyes continuously. Thus, such a method could solve the textile waste effluent problem, and currently, it is one of the main requirements for Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh amid depleting water resources.
