Re-utilisation conditions of wastewaters from textiles industries

The simulation is an important tool for the analysis of the possibilities in the re-utilisation among the steps of the industrial production process. The analysis of technical and economical viability come from the definition of the strategies for direct re-utilisation of water and water re-utilisation using regenerative processes or with dilution from industrial water supply streams. Considering the complexity of the contaminant matrix of textile effluents, the definition of the global parameters, such as organic mass and colour, is essential to make the analysis procedure viable in the industrial process. This paper aims to give an efficient tool for industrial purpose, which can give a quickly prediction when configuration changes are suggested by industrial engineers in the continuous washing process. The new suggested conditions are introduced in the algorithm. Using the conservation balances, guaranteeing the global mass conservation, it is possible to obtain the total organic mass and water consumption in this new configuration and to compare with previous results to choose the best option for the process. A case study is presented using a computational algorithm where the best conditions were obtained for the re-utilisation of the streams in the textile industry. The proposed simulation model for continuous washing processes showed to be efficient in the optimisation of process with recycle, being possible to simulate several possibilities of reuse for a single case. The new configuration of streams has been analysed, giving higher reduction of water consumption (16.15%) and of organic mass (1.43%) compared to the previous case. The developed software is an important tool for the industrial engineers.