WATER MANAGEMENT IN TEXTILE PROCESSING INDUSTRY

Abstract

With the increasingly important requirement for textile manufacturers to decrease pollution in textile production, the use of enzymes in the chemical processing of fibres and textiles is rapidly gaining wider recognition because of their non-toxic and eco-friendly characteristics. They can be safely used in a wide selection of textile processes such as de-sizing, scouring, bleaching, dyeing and finishing, where the alternatives are very harsh chemicals whose disposal into the environment causes many problems. The textile industry plays an important role in the economy of the country like India and it accounts for around one third of total export. Out of various activities in textile industry, chemical processing contributes about 70% of pollution. It is well known that cotton mills consume large volume of water for various processes such as sizing, de-sizing, scouring, bleaching, mercerization, dyeing, printing, finishing and ultimately washing. Due to the nature of various chemical processing of textiles, large volumes of waste water with numerous pollutants are discharged. Since these streams of water affect the aquatic eco-system in number of ways such as depleting the dissolved oxygen content or settlement of suspended substances in anaerobic condition, a special attention needs to be paid. Keywords: Textile Processing, Waste Water, Recycling, Reuse, ETP.