Treatment of textile wastewater using adsorption and adsorbents

The textile industry is one of the most flourishing and sustained sectors, globally. However, it is also considered a polluting industry around the world. Managing and treating the effluents generated from the dyeing, printing, and finishing processes in an environmentally friendly manner is a significant challenge to the commercial industry. Dyes and specific auxiliaries are toxic, carcinogenic, and allergic. They have the potential to cause mutations and skin irritation and can have devastating effects on our ecosystem. It is therefore essential that we treat dyes and auxiliaries, which is a tough task due to the complex structure of these chemicals. Various synthetic dyes and pigments are ordinarily utilized in the textile-processing industry. Therefore, there is a definite requirement for effluent treatment that is cost-effective to reduce color substances and auxiliaries from wastewater. Adsorption has proven to be a more versatile and efficient process that is widely accepted. This chapter deals with the treatment of textile effluent that contains dyes, chemicals, and metal ions using adsorption and adsorbents. The adsorbents can be obtained from agricultural wastes and industrial byproducts such as ashes, sawdust, lignin, sunflower shells, corn cobs, clays, activated carbon, etc.