Textile wastewater treatment via membrane distillation

Abstract

Due to the skyrocketed population growth and to meet clean water requirements, it is mandatory to develop techniques for proper conversion of wastewater and seawater into clean water. Textile industries generate a massive amount of wastewater. Processing of wastewater obtained from textile wastewater is more significant because of the pollutants present in the wastewater. Conventional separation processes like physical treatment, chemical treatment, and biological treatment are not pertinent in the current situation because of their lower separation efficiencies. Non-conventional separation processes are playing critical roles in ensuring the highest separation possible till date. Of these, membrane distillation (MD), which works based on trans-membrane vapor pressure difference, gives nearly 100% rejection. Thus, the present review highlights the latest work related to the separation of wastewater from the textile industries. This review also studies the limitations in terms of membrane fouling in the field of MD. Lastly, future work regarding membrane modification, MD integration, and MD commercialization are discussed. It is believed that these integrated membrane-driven separation processes will be rendered into relevant innovations in this field.