Post-treatment of textile industry effluent by adsortion with granular activated carbon for removal of COD and color

• Grant number: 17/25967-2
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2018
• Effective date (End): February 28, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Davi Gasparini Fernandes Cunha
• Grantee: Matheus Gimenez Saraiva
• Home Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The textile industry is an important activity for the economy of many countries, including Brazil. However, the liquid effluents released by this activity, if untreated or treated insufficiently, can impose significant impacts to the environment and the possible degradation of the water quality of the receiving water bodies. Such effluents usually present high color and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) due to the use of dyes to dye the fabric. Another important characteristic of the effluent of this industry is the volume produced, due to the high consumption of water during the production process. Taking into account such characteristics, it is necessary to seek treatment and post-treatment alternatives to improve the quality of the effluent to be released into the receiving water body. Due to the low biodegradability of the dyes, the efficiency of conventional biological treatment alternatives (e.g., activated sludge) may be limited for color and COD removal. It might be necessary to include physico-chemical processes. Among these processes, adsorption with activated carbon(AC) has shown satisfactory performance for removal of color and organic matter. This project will evaluate the performance of three granular activated carbons produced from different precursors in fixed bed columns for the post-treatment of a textile industry effluent from São Carlos (SP) for additional color and COD removal. For this, the AC will be characterized by: Iodine Number (IN), which indicates the ability of the AC to adsorb molecules of small molecular weight, and Methylene Blue Index (MBI), which evaluates the ability of the AC to adsorb molecules with dimensions in the mesopore range. The columns will be operated for at least two months, with a rate of 100 m³/d.m2. At the end of the project, it is expected to offer subsidies for the post-treatment of the textile industry effluents and to evaluate the potential of the use of AC produced from different matrices for similar applications aiming at the removal of color and COD of wastewaters. (AU)