Installation and operation of a production scale membrane filtration system to treat and reuse waste water from a dyehouse

摘要

The waste water from the dyeing of cotton and poly-cotton blends is characterized by high levels of salts and color. The discharged salts are felt to contribute to effluent toxicity and the color is aesthetically unacceptable in the receiving streams. The system of selective membrane filtration offers a method to address both of these problems. By treating only the waste water having the most color and salt concentration, the expensive membrane equipment can be considerably downsized. The volume of the color to be removed is drastically reduced as filtrate material. At these low volumes of color more economical means of removal can be employed. The membranes are designed so that the color and other pollutant materials are rejected but the salt solution is allowed to pass through the membrane. This produces clean water containing the recovered salt suitable for reuse, greatly reducing the salt content of the effluent. After the successful completion of a small pilot scale system, the installation and operation of a production sized system was desired prior to the full incorporation of this technology.