Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

OPTIMIZATION OF DOSKE OF FILYASH AS AN ADSORBENT FOR THE COLOUR REMOWIL OF TEXTILE FACTORY EFFLUENT

R. Malathy and N. Raikumar

Abstract

Fly ash, which is a waste generated in Thermal Power Plants can be used to treat the wastewater. In this study, an attempt is made to make use of fly ash as an adsorbent to reduce the pollutant concentration in the dyeing industry wastewater. This may be one of the cost effective technology to treat the wastewater discharged in these regions. In this experimental investigation, synthetic sample of dye solution is prepared and fly ash is used to adsorb the pollutants in the synthetic samples. For this purpose, systems of batch adsorbers are developed to make use of fly ash as an adsorbent. Optimum dosage of fly ash is determined by mixing the fly ash with synthetic samples and by varying the concentration of dyes, settlement time and pH of the solution. The optical density is tested for the synthetic samples before and after adsorption through the fly ash. The percentage reduction in optical density for the synthetic samples are found and compared with before and after treatment. The concentration of the dyes mixed with water is found to reduce when it is treated with fly ash.