Charcoal as an adsorbent for textile wastewater treatment

Environmental problems due to the textile industry are mainly associated with the need for large amounts of fresh water and discharging highly polluted wastewater. This wastewater contains several types of pollutants, such as dispersants, leveling agents, salts, carriers, acids, alkali, and various dyes. The wastewater quality is variable and depends on the kind of process that generates the effluent. In addition, color is the first recognizable pollutant, which has a negative effect on the ecosystem. Many methods are available for removing the contaminant; among the various methods, adsorption is significantly important and is the major method adopted in chemical and process industries. In recent times, there has been a drastic increase in the use of various types of charcoals as adsorbent. This review article focuses on textile wastewater; adsorption; preparation of charcoals and its activated forms using various materials; and treatment of textile wastewater using various types of charcoals. Treatment of real and synthesized wastewater (i.e., dye solution) is included and a feasibility study of utilizing charcoal is performed by comparing adsorption capacities or percentage removal.