Sustainable Wastewater Mana agement in Industrial Laundries

Abstract

A rapid rise of global population has led to the intensive production of laundry wastewater. Industrial laundries release effluents in large volumes containing many contaminants, which causes the effluent to be loaded with suspended solids while displaying variable chemical and physical values. In consequence, the laundry wastewater has highly toxic properties and imposes negative impacts on the environment, such as water bodies pollution and eutrophication. On average, the laundry business uses around 15 L of freshwater to process 1 kg of linen. A conventional laundry with the capacity of 10 t linen/d produces a total amount of 150 m3 of wastewater daily. Due to the rising amount of discharge effluent, the adequate wastewater treatment is necessary in order to minimize the environmental impact. This review begins with an assessment of the amounts and chemical composition of laundry effluents, which varies depending on the location. Then it evaluates the available treatment technologies. Understanding of the basic treatment methods is fundamental for the development of an effective treatment system, that would typically consist of multi-processes (physicochemical, biological, or combination of both). Such systems would ideally treat, purify, and recover water and valuable substances from the detergent. The outcome of this review is a general overview and evaluation of available recovery technologies for laundry wastewater treatment and recommendations for their further development.