Pilot Plant Experiences Using Activated Sludge Treatment Steps for the Biodegradation of Textile Wastewater

Considering both the volume and the effluent composition, the textile industry wastewater is rated as the most polluting among all industrial sectors. Important pollutants are present in textile effluents; they are mainly recalcitrant organics, colour, toxicants and inhibitory compounds (Khelifi et al., 2008). Textile industries however, have caused serious environmental problems because of the wastewater produced. Most textile industries produce wastewater with relatively high BOD, COD, suspended solids and color. The wastewater may also contain heavy metals depending on the type of coloring substances used. In general, the objective of textile industry wastewater treatment to reduce the level of organic pollutants, heavy metal, suspended solids and color before discharge into the river. Coloring substances are used for dyeing and printing processes. The wastewater from these two processes is the most polluted liquid waste in a textile industry. Biological, chemical, physical or the combination of the three treatment technologies can be used to treat textile industry liquid waste (Suwardiyno and Wenten, 2005). It has been proven that some of these dyes and/or products are carcinogens and mutagens (Manu and Chaudhari 2003). A part from the aesthetic deterioration of the natural water bodies, dyes also cause harm to the flora and fauna in the natural environment (Kornaros and Lyberatos 2006). So, textile wastewater containing dyes must be treated before their discharge into the environment (Forgas et al., 2004). Numerous processes have been proposed for the treatment of coloured waste water e.g., precipitation, flocculation, coagulation, adsorption and wet oxidation (Hongman et al., 2004; Thomas et al., 2006). All these methods have different colour removal capabilities, capital costs and operating speed. Among these methods coagulation and adsorption are the commonly used; however, they create huge amounts of sludge which become a pollutant on its own creating disposal problems (Nyanhongo et al., 2002). Among low cost, viable alternatives, available for effluent treatment and decolourization, the biological systems are recognised, by their capacity to reduce biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) by conventional aerobic biodegradation (Forgas et al., 2004; Kornaros and Lyberatos 2006; Balan and