Characteristics of textile printing and dyeing wastewater:
—— Industry problems of "high water volume, high pollution, and high volatility"
Large water volume: 70-200m³ of water are used for every ton of fabric produced, which is equivalent to 10-30 20m³ water trucks fully loaded to transport the dyeing and finishing water for this ton of fabric. The amount of water used for textile dyeing and finishing in the world is about 5×10⁹ cubic meters per year, which is equivalent to the capacity of 200,000 standard Olympic swimming pools. Such a huge amount of water determines that printing and dyeing factories must be equipped with large-flow collection pipe networks, equalization tanks and efficient treatment equipment to ensure that the dual goals of production and environmental protection are easily achieved.
High-color, high-concentration organic pollution: Dyes, auxiliaries, printing and dyeing slurries and other organic matter content is extremely high, chemical oxygen demand (COD) is usually above 2,000-5,000mg/L; biochemical oxygen demand (BOD₅) is 800-1,500mg/L; color can reach 500-2,000 degrees, and conventional biochemical treatment is difficult to completely remove.
High salt, high suspended solids: bleaching, color fixation and other processes produce a large amount of sodium salts, sulfates, and chlorides, which can make the conductivity exceed 6,000μS/cm; the suspended solids (SS) content can reach 200-500mg/L, which can easily cause membrane blockage and sedimentation system overload.
pH and temperature fluctuate violently: The pH range of process wastewater is often between 4.0-11.0, and the temperature can be as high as 40-60℃. Direct discharge will seriously damage the activity and efficiency of downstream biological treatment units.
Large fluctuations in water quality and obvious impact loads: With the dyeing batches and process switching, the wastewater volume fluctuations can reach a peak-to-valley ratio of more than 3:1, and the instantaneous COD concentration may exceed 10,000mg/L, which poses a great challenge to the stable operation of subsequent treatment facilities.