Reuse of effluent water obtained in different textile finishing processes

Abstract: The use of clean water in textile finishing is both common and very expensive. Effluent water subjected to advanced methods of physical, chemical, and biological treatment could be used for this purpose. However, information obtained from industry and the literature shows that effluent water obtained from different finishing processes may be reused without being totally purified. In this paper, a method is proposed to determine the viability of reusing effluent water obtained from different textile finishing processes of cotton fabrics after just basic treatments. These treatments include; filtering, airing, pH regulating and ion exchange. Effluent water obtained in different textile finishing processes was analysed in terms of pH value, COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), SS (Suspended Solids), colour, hardness and conductivity. Effluent water for treatment and the process where the treated water was reused were determined by means of the proposed method, based on a multiple criteria decision making approach. A laboratory scale trial was conducted to investigate the efficiency of treatment.