Title of Invention

A PROCESS AND A PLANT FOR RECOVERING PURIFIED WATER AND GLAUBER SALT FROM TEXTILE EFFLUENTS AND RECYCLING THE SAME TO THE DYEING PROCESS

Abstract ABSTRACT A process for recovering purified water and glauber salt from textile effluents, such as RO reject and dye bath water, for recycling to the dyeing process, the said process comprising the steps of collecting the treated dyebath and RO reject in a collection tank; evaporating the resultant mixture by applying steam to obtain pure water condensate which is fed to the boiler and to the dyehouse; characterized by the step of crystallizing the concentrate by vacuum evaporation at a temperature of 12°C and at a density of 1.2 gm/cc to form crystals of glauber salt and filtering the salt crystals slurry to obtain wet crystals which is centrifuged, dried and recycled to the dyehouse and the filtrate with contaminated salt is solar evaporated.
Full Text

The present invention relates to a process and a plant for recovering purified water and glauber salt from textile effluents and recycling the same to the dyeing process resulting in zero effluent discharge.
Use of pigments or dye dispersions to dye textile materials is well known. The dyeing process takes place in a dye house which contains the dyestuffs which needs to be applied to the textile materials. In the conventional dyeing process, sodium chloride is added to the dyestuffs in the dye bath for exhaustion of all the dyes from the dye bath to the textile materials. The salt dissolves in water and pushes the dyestuff towards the textile fabric / yams for more absorption. Without the use of the salt, the amount of dyestuff required will be more for a given shade.
The effluent discharged from the dye house is highly contaminated and therefore causes water pollution and land pollution. It is also harmful to the environment. In the past several measures have been taken to control or minimize the pollution caused by the effluent discharged from the dye house of a textile industry.
In a conventional process shown in Fig. 1 for treating the effluent of a dye house, the dye bath water and the wash water which are discharged from the dye house (101) are collected in one or more equalization tanks (102, 103). The effluent is mixed with chemicals and subjected to coagulation and flocculation. The resulting mixture is passed to settling tanks (106, 107) where the floes settle down as sludge and drain to sludge filter beds (110). The supernatant water is filtered by sand filters (108, 109) and the filtered water is discharged outside of

the factoiy. This treated water still contains dissolved salts and therefore it is not fully free from contamination.
Within the textile industry there is a pressing need to develop a cost-effective process for the purification of the effluent discharged from the dyeing process so that the effluent discharged from the textile industry is free from contamination. So far no attempts have been made to recover the purified water and the salt from the effluent for reuse in the dyeing process.
The object of the present invention is to provide a process for treating the effluent discharged in dyeing textile materials by which the treated water and the glauber salt are recovered from the effluent and recycled to the dyeing process.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a plant for treating the effluent discharged in dyeing textile materials.
The above mentioned objects are achieved by using sodium sulphate deca hydrate (Nai SO4.IO H2O), which is known as glauber salt in the process of dyeing the textile materials. When glauber salt is used in the dyeing process, the purified water and the salt are recovered from the effluent by the purifying process of the present invention and the purified water and the glauber salt are recycled to the dyeing process.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a process for recovering purified water and glauber salt from textile effluents, such as RO reject and dye bath water, for recycling to the dyeing process, the said process comprising the

steps of collecting the treated dyebath and RO reject in a collection tank; evaporating the resultant mixture by applying steam to obtain pure water condensate which is fed to the boiler and to the dyehouse; characterized by the step of crystallizing the concentrate by vacuum evaporation at a temperature of 12°C and at a density of 1.2 gm/cc to form crystals of glauber salt and filtering the salt crystals slurry to obtain wet crystals which is centrifuged, dried and recycled to the dyehouse and the filtrate with contaminated salt is solar evaporated.
The present invention also provides a plant for recovering purified water and glauber salt from textile effluents namely, RO reject and dyebath water for recycling to the dyeing process, the said plant comprising a dyebath collection tank for collecting the dyebath from the dyehouse and the reject of the RO plant; multiple effect evaporator for evaporating the RO reject and treated dyebath by steam to obtain pure condensate water which is fed back to the dyehouse and to the boiler; concentrate collection tank for collecting the concentrate from the evaporator and decolouring the same; crystallizer for vacuum evaporating the concentrate under a temperature of 12°C and a density of 1.2 gm/cc to crystallize sodium sulphate deca hydrate glauber salt crystals; filter for filtering the slurry of the crystallized salt to obtain wet crystals which is centrifuged, dried and recycled to the dyehouse, in a known manner.
One of the preferred embodiment of the present invention is described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :
Figure 1 shows a conventional plant for purifying the effluents of the textile dyeing process.
Figure 2 shows a preferred embodiment of a plant for purifying the effluents of the textile dyeing process according to the present invention.

The dyeing of textile fabric takes place in the dye house (1) by dyeing in
a dye bath which contains the dyestuff and glaubersalt. Subsequently, the
material is rinsed with water. The dye house discharges wash water and dye
bath as effluents. The wash water is collected in the equalization tanks (2,3)
which may be a concrete tank. The wash water collected in this equalization
tank is kept under agitation with air so that different batches of wash water
collected from the dye house are equalized in respect of pH, salt concentration
and colour. At a given point of time, one of the equalization tanks will be
collecting and equalizing the wash water and the other tank will be supplying
equalized wash water to the next stage of purification. The wash water is
then mixed with a mixture of chemicals such as lime solution,

polyaluminium chloride solution and polyelectrolyte solution in a contact channel (4). The chemical mixer (5) is provided to supply the said mixture of chemicals. The wash water mixed with chemicals flows to settling tanks (6, 7) where the floes settle down as sludge and drain to sludge filter bed (8). The supernatant water flows out to sand filters (10,11) through a secondary clarifier (9). The filtrate obtained in the sludge filter bed is recycled to the settling tanks and the wet sludge is solar dried to obtain dry sludge. In the secondary clarifier the micro sludge is separated and discharged to sludge filter bed (8). The supernatant water is filtered in the sand filters (10, 11) to obtain treated water.
The treated water flows to outlet tank (13) where it is further treated with chlorine dosed from chlorine dosser (12). The chlorinated water is collected in a tank (14) and kept under aeration. The treated water is fed to iron removal fiUer (16) for removal of traces of iron present therein. The treated water which is free of iron is fed to multigrade filter (17) which consists of layers of pebbles and layers of graded sand to remove colloids and suspended solids. Then the water is passed through a activated carbon filter (18) in which the traces of chlorine and organic matter are adsorbed. Finally, the treated water is fed to reverse osmosis (RO) plant (19) where the water is dechlorinated, dosed with antiscalants, pH adjusted, filtered through micron cartridge filters and then pumped through RO membranes to obtain pure water. This pure water is fed back to the dye house for reuse in the dyeing process.
The dye bath and the reject of the RO plant are collected at the dye bath collection tank (20) and treated with chemicals, antiscalants and decolourisers. The treated dye bath is fed to multiple effect evaporator (21) for evaporation by application of steam using thermo-compressor. The pure condensate water obtained is recycled as feedwater to boiler (26) and to dye house (1). The concentrate from the multiple effect evaporator is collected in a collection tank (23) and subsequently decolourised. When the density of the liquid concentrate reaches 1.2 gm/cc, it is

transferred to crystalliser (24). In the crystalliser the liquid concentrate is subjected to flash vaporization under vacuum thereby cooling the liquid to 12°C. At the temperature of 12°C and under the density of 1.2 gm/cc, the sodium sulphate deca hydrate, i.e. glauber salt, crystallizes. The crystallized sodium salt is filtered in a filter (25) to get wet crystals, which is centrifuged, dried and recycled to the dye house (1). The filtrate with contaminated salt is discharged for solar evaporation.
The present invention not only purifies the effluent of the textile dyeing process, it also recovers the purified water and the glauber salt from the effluent for recycling to the dyeing process.
The process of the present invention is applicable to all types of dyestuffs range such as reactive dyes, vat dyes, sulphur dyes and disperse dyes which are commonly used in textile dyeing.
The iron removal filter (16) is a mild steel cylindrical tank stacked with manganese dioxide (Mn02). In the dye bath collection tank (20) the dye bath is treated with chemicals such as sodium hydroxide and poly electrolyte, antiscalant such as scalan 9000 and decolouriser such as colorex.
Further, the present invention provides the following advantages :
The consumption of dyes are reduced by 15% in dark shade and 5% to 10% in medium shade since the RO permeate is less than 100 mgm/litre, TDS (Total Dissolved Solids).
The usage of chemicals such as water softening agent is avoided in the dyeing process, since the hardness of the purified water obtained after RO is less than 20 mgm/litre.

Less consumption of dyes and chemicals leads to upto 50% reduction in sludge formation.
The right shade is obtained in the first attempt of dyeing for 90% of batches when the purified water is used. This rate is below 60% when available ground water is used for dyeing process.
By using the purified water, two washes per batch, one prior to dyeing and the other at the end of the dyeing process, are avoided resulting in 15% saving in water requirement. The purified water minimizes the corrosion and scale formation in sensitive parts like flow sensors, temperature sensors etc., which leads to less maintenance cost, less breakdown and more output.
When the condensate water of upto 10 ppm TDS is used as boiler feed water, the efficiency remains stable since no scale on the tubes form and hence maintenance cost is less. This may result in 20% saving in the fuel cost compared to normal water use.
This invention has provided for the first time, a combination of process and a plant for treating wastewater of a textile dyeing house, and recycling the purified water and recovered salt for direct reuse in the dyeing process to ultimately result in zero effluent discharge outside the dye house / factory premises to provide a breakthrough solution to the environmental pollution problems faced by the textile dyeing industry caused by land and water contaminations in turn caused by the discharge of effluents outside the dye house / factory premises.

This invention, as described above, is the first attempt ever made to purify the RO reject to obtain purified water and recovered salt for recycling and direct reuse in the dyeing process.
This invention, as described above, is the first attempt ever made to recover and recycle the salt present in the textile effluent and thus paving the way for zero effluents discharge. Achievement of zero effluents discharge by recovering and recycling 100% of the salt used in the dyeing process was possible only by using glauber salt (Na2SO4.I0 H2O) in place of sodium chloride (NaCl) that is conventionally used for dyeing.
The property of glauber sah (Na2SO4.I0 H2O) which crystallizes with 10 molecules of H2O at 12°C enables to achieve the object of the present invention. At this temperature, no other salt crystallizes and hence 100% pure glauber salt is obtained.
According to the present invention, the advantage of the property of glauber salt has been made use of to recover two valuable products fi-om RO reject, namely, water and glauber salt in the purest form for recycling and direct reuse in the dyeing process.
The present invention provides a solution to the RO project problem by reusing the entire RO reject and recovering from it water and glauber salt in the purest form for recycling and direct reuse in the dyeing process.
It will be appreciated that there are no doubt many variations in detail possible with a novel process and plant according to the invention without departing from the spirit and / or scope of the claims.


I CLAI M :
1. A process for recovering purified water and glauber salt from textile effluents, such as RO reject and dye bath water, for recycling to the dyeing process, the said process comprising the steps of collecting the treated dyebath and RO reject in a collection tank; evaporating the resultant mixture by applying steam to obtain pure water condensate which is fed to the boiler and to the dyehouse; characterized by the step of crystallizing the concentrate by vacuum evaporation at a temperature of 12°C and at a density of 1.2 gm/cc to form crystals of glauber salt and filtering the salt crystals slurry to obtain wet crystals which is centrifuged, dried and recycled to the dyehouse and the filtrate with contaminated salt is solar evaporated.
2. A plant for recovering purified water and glauber salt from textile effluents namely, RO reject and dyebath water for recycling to the dyeing process, the said plant comprising a dyebath collection tank (20) for collecting the dyebath from the dyehouse and the reject of the RO plant; multiple effect evaporator (21) for evaporating the RO reject and treated dyebath by steam to obtain pure condensate water which is fed back to the dyehouse (1) and to the boiler (26); concentrate collection tank (23) for collecting the concentrate from the evaporator and decolouring the same; crystallizer (24) for vacuum evaporating the concentrate under a temperature of 12°C and a density of 1.2 gm/cc to crystallize sodium sulphate deca hydrate glauber salt crystals; filter (25) for filtering the slurry of the crystallized salt to obtain wet crystals which is centrifuged, dried and recycled to the dyehouse (1), in a known manner.

3. The plant according to claim 2, wherein the multiple effect evaporator is
operated by application of steam using thermocompressor.
4. A process for recovering purified water and glauber salt from textile
effluents for recycling to the dyeing process substantially as herein
described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
5. A plant for recovering purified water and glauber salt from textile
effluents for recycling to the dyeing process substantially as herein
described with reference to the accompanying drawings.


Documents:

0747-che-2003 abstract duplicate.pdf

0747-che-2003 abstract.pdf

0747-che-2003 claims duplicate.pdf

0747-che-2003 claims.pdf

0747-che-2003 correspondence others.pdf

0747-che-2003 correspondence po.pdf

0747-che-2003 description (complete) duplicate.pdf

0747-che-2003 description (complete).pdf

0747-che-2003 drawings duplicate.pdf

0747-che-2003 drawings.pdf

0747-che-2003 form-1.pdf

0747-che-2003 form-19.pdf

0747-che-2003 form-26.pdf

0747-che-2003 form-3.pdf

0747-che-2003 others.pdf

747-CHE-2003 CORRESPONDENCE-OTHERS 03-11-2009.pdf


Patent Number 199170
Indian Patent Application Number 747/CHE/2003
PG Journal Number 27/2006
Publication Date 07-Jul-2006
Grant Date 31-Mar-2006
Date of Filing 17-Sep-2003
Name of Patentee SHRI. LAKSHMANASWAMY GOUNDER PALANISWAMY
Applicant Address KUMARAPALAYAM, TONGATTIPALAYAM (VIA) TIRUPUR 641 665
Inventors:
# Inventor's Name Inventor's Address
1 NESHRI. LAKSHMANASWAMY GOUNDER PALANISWAMY KUMARAPALAYAM, TONGATTIPALAYAM (VIA) TIRUPUR 641 665
PCT International Classification Number C02F1/44
PCT International Application Number N/A
PCT International Filing date
PCT Conventions:
# PCT Application Number Date of Convention Priority Country
1 NA