Briefing: Usage of textile dye waste water in concrete

Abstract

About 2 000 000 billion litres of water is consumed globally every year. The amount of potable water available is reducing due to pollution of various water bodies. The textile industry waste water is one of the sources of pollution. There are problems associated with handling dye waste water, with the treatment process, and with several environmental problems that also occur. On the other hand, about 700 million litres of potable water is used for the production of concrete. Using the waste dye water in concrete reduces the overall water consumption and at the same time it provides a solution to the dye waste water disposal problem, making it beneficial in socioeconomic as well as environmental terms. This study explored the possibility of 100% replacement of potable water with textile dye waste water in cement concrete. The preliminary study indicated that the fresh and hardened properties of concrete made using potable water and textile dye waste water (untreated water) are comparable.

Editorial

“…This briefing paper is quite timely in addressing an important and multi-faceted sustainability issue: the amount of potable water available is fast depleting due to pollution of various water bodies; treating wastewater resulting from textile dyeing processes is not easy and has several environmental problems; the amount of potable water used in the production of concrete is quite significant. The preliminary study by Badjatya et al (2015) concludes that the fresh and hardened properties of concrete made using potable water and textile dye wastewater are quite comparable, holding promise for future research.Continuing with the sustainability theme, the second briefing paper by Senthil Kumar and Baskar (2015) presents results from an experimental investigation on the shear strength of concrete prepared with electronic waste (E-waste) as coarse aggregate. It is unfortunate that imported E-waste plastics are still being disposed of as landfill or incinerated in most developing countries due to a lack of adequate infrastructure to efficiently recycle and beneficially reuse them.…”

“…This briefing paper is quite timely in addressing an important and multi-faceted sustainability issue: the amount of potable water available is fast depleting due to pollution of various water bodies; treating wastewater resulting from textile dyeing processes is not easy and has several environmental problems; the amount of potable water used in the production of concrete is quite significant. The preliminary study by Badjatya et al (2015) concludes that the fresh and hardened properties of concrete made using potable water and textile dye wastewater are quite comparable, holding promise for future research.…”

“…The first briefing paper by Badjatya et al (2015) explores the possibility of replacing 100% potable water in cement concrete with textile dye waste water; a win-win scenario for both the concrete industry as well as the textile industry if the proposed solution actually works. This briefing paper is quite timely in addressing an important and multi-faceted sustainability issue: the amount of potable water available is fast depleting due to pollution of various water bodies; treating wastewater resulting from textile dyeing processes is not easy and has several environmental problems; the amount of potable water used in the production of concrete is quite significant.…”