Challenging "Colorful" Pollution: A Complete Experimental Record of Advanced Textile Wastewater Treatment

How many liters of water are required to produce one kilogram of clothing? The answer may surprise you.
On average, the water consumption varies significantly depending on the material and manufacturing process of different garments. Producing one kilogram of clothing requires approximately 8,000 to 10,000 liters of water.

To give you a clearer idea, let’s take an ordinary 250-gram pure cotton T-shirt as an example:

• The cotton material alone consumes about 2,500 liters of water.

• Including processes such as spinning, weaving, dyeing, and finishing, the total water consumption can reach nearly 3,000 liters.
  This is equivalent to approximately three years of drinking water for one person.

If massive water consumption represents a plunder of water resources in terms of "quantity," then textile wastewater pollution signifies a destruction of water resources in terms of "quality." The high chromaticity, high COD, refractory organic matter, and toxicity generated during production are core reasons why textile industrial wastewater has become one of the most difficult-to-treat and severe sources of water pollution globally.

This article will take you through a complete laboratory simulation to delve into the treatment of YIMEI textile wastewater, exploring the methods used to transform turbid, colorful wastewater into clear, transparent water.

Source of Project Wastewater:
Jeans processing factory, Indonesian client.

Experimental Procedure (Video Available)

1. Adjust pH: Adjust the wastewater pH to the optimal range for the reaction.

2. Add Chemicals: Add chemicals in a specific sequence and proportion while maintaining continuous stirring.

3. Slow Stirring & PAM Addition: Observe the floc formation process.

4. Reaction Termination & Sedimentation: Check the pH value and allow the mixture to settle.
   
   

1. Decolorization Effect

• High Decolorization Rate: Efficient flocculating decolorants (e.g., GT-H04) can achieve a decolorization rate of 80% to over 99.9% for printing and dyeing wastewater.

• Mechanism: Cationic groups combine with anionic groups of dye molecules to form hydrophobic insoluble salts, or promote coagulation and sedimentation of dye molecules through charge neutralization, adsorption, and sweep flocculation.

2. COD Removal Effect

• Significant Removal Rate: COD removal typically reaches 50% to 90%.

3. Practical Advantages

• Low Sludge Production: The formed flocs are dense, settle rapidly, and generate relatively less sludge, simplifying subsequent treatment.

• Wide Applicability: Suitable for wastewater treatment in industries such as printing, dyeing, and leather, particularly effective for high-chroma and high-COD wastewater.

• Cost-Effectiveness: Compared to traditional methods (e.g., sodium hypochlorite decolorization), it reduces treatment costs without secondary pollution.