Dye removal from textile waste water through the adsorption by pumice used in stone washing

Because the waste production is inevitable in almost all industries, the elimination of these wastes is a requirement in terms of environmental regulations and welfare of all the creatures in the future. In this study, the use of the waste pumice stones of a denim washing mill is intended to eliminate the pollutant by a waste material and obtain economic benefits by converting it to the adsorbent. The pollutants in the effluents obtained from three different localisations of waste water treatment system of the same factory were removed through the adsorption. The experimental studies were carried out in three different steps; characterisation of adsorbent before and after adsorption; adsorption isotherm studies and biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD) measurements. Characterisation studies showed that the waste pumice has almost the same structural properties with unused one except the existence of some organic residues coming from washing process. The results of adsorption studies conducted at the adsorbent concentrations changing from 5 to 35 g/l revealed that the decolourisation was initial dye-concentration dependent. According to the BOD and COD measurements, the supernatants obtained at the end of adsorption could be assumed as somewhat polluted and this result indicates that the organic impurities other than indigo were also removed through the adsorption. © AUTEX