The application of membrane processes in process water preparation for textile industry

Basic advantages arising from the application of membrane processes as compared with tradiontional treatment are production of water of invariable quality, smaller quantity of added chemical substances and lower energy consumption. Several factors contribute to the successful fabrication of a high-performance membrane system. Pretreatment prior to membrane filtration is extremely important. The nature and thoroughness of the pretreatment, in many cases, determine the overall plant performance. The textile industry is characterised by its fairly high specific water consumption. The process water demand is specific to the type of textile processing operation, the type of material or final product and the specific machine or technique used. A number of textile manufacturing processes are chemical wet processing operations necessary to properly prepare, purify, colour or finish the product and for some processes, the quality of process water is very important. For this reason, the demand for membrane systems to produce high quality process water for the textile industry is very strong. In this study, membrane systems have been clarified; manufacturing processes and process water requirements of textile industry have been explained; and four textile plants, which use membrane systems to treat their process water, and systems? performance have been examined. The first investment and operating costs have been calculated for membrane systems and demineralisation system and the prices of unit water production have been compared. Keywords: membrane systems, textile industry, process water treatment.