Updated : December 2020
Textile industry contributes to 20% of the total industrial water pollution. Of the several processes across the value chain, dyeing and finishing are the major consumers of water followed by harmful chemicals and dyes which results in the generation of huge amounts of hazardous textile wastewater. While several conventional treatment methods such as physical and chemical are being followed, challenges exist in the sustainable disposal of sludge generated owing to their toxicity.
In order to sustainably manage the textile wastewater sludge at affordable costs, SeaChange Technologies, in collaboration with Fashion for Good, Arvind Limited, Bestseller, C&A and PVH Corp has developed a system to evaporate the effluent, safely oxidise toxic organic contaminants and capture dissolved and suspended minerals in a single step process, thus eliminating sludge generation.
Read more: Textile wastewater sludge management - a novel sustainable solution
Sustainable textile sludge elimination
Energy efficient textile sludge oxidisation
Energy efficient textile wastewater vapourisation
Single step cyclone separator for textile sludge oxidisation
Ionization techniques for textile sludge oxidisation
The process uses less energy, thereby minimizing emissions. It eliminates the generation of sludge and the associated disposal and environmental challenges. The company is also exploring use of renewable energy and heat exchange solutions in the process.
A pilot phase has also been carried out for three months at Arvind Limited to test and evaluate the feasibility of widescale implementation of the system.
The company has won the 2020 Global Change Award by H&M Foundation.