Treatment of Dye Waste using Phytoremediation

Abstract

Textile industries are rapidly developing nowadays. There are many dyeing industries situated at Tirupur. The wastewater from these industries were directly discharged into Noyyal river without any treatment, hence the aquatic eco-system was affected. This water is rich in heavy metals used for coloring purpose. This increases the toxicity of river water. By using the process of phytoremediation, the concentration of toxicity of heavy metals is reduced. Phytoremediation is done on varying concentrations of wastewater as 50, 60 and 70%. The tests are done in the time intervals of 24 h such as 24, 48, etc., up to 120 h. Availability of Eichhornia crassipes commonly known as water hyacinth is tremendous in ponds in and around Tirupur. In this study, the authors have used water hyacinth for phytoremediation. By using water hyacinth it is seen that the concentration of metals like iron, chromium and sulfate is reduced notably. The biochemical oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand are reduced in the percentage of 50–60 and 70–85% respectively. Thus, water hyacinth can be effectively used for phytoremediation