Apparel Export driven Countries like India, South America and China widely threatens the Water Resources (Rivers) with the Dye Effluents. A Recent research by Cornell University explores the possibility to use the Natural fibers to remove Toxins from Dyed Solution.
Fiber made from the native Colombian “Fique” Plants (Botonical Name: Frucraea andina), were processed and then used to degrade dyes in water.
The report claims that, with an Inexpensive process that uses Natural Fiber from “Fique” Plant embedded with the Nano Particles ‘almost’ completely removes the water of Toxic Textile Dyes in Minutes! For this Study they have used Indigo Blue Dye Effluent.
The study, published in the Journal Green Chemistry, The paper reports how Colombian fique plant fibers, commonly used to make coffee bags, are immersed in a solution of sodium permanganate and then treated with ultrasound. As a result, manganese oxide molecules grow in the tiny cellulose cavities. Manganese oxides in the fibers react with the dyes and break them down into non-colored forms.
The treated fibers removed 99 percent of the dye from water within minutes. Furthermore, the same fibers can be used repeatedly—after eight cycles, the fibers still removed between 97 percent and 99 percent of the dye.
The researchers claims that “This is the first evidence of the effectiveness of this simple technique,” and “It uses water-based chemistry, and it is easily transferable to real-world situations.” The researchers are testing their process on other types of pollutants, other fibers and composite materials. With this findings products like “Low Cost Filtering Materials” can be developed to treat polluted water.
The Above research deals with the Indigo dyes only, many dyeing operation involves various Chemical dyes. Expert Opinion and Comments are invited!
Source: Cornell University [Original Article Published]
Source: Futurity [Shared Resource]
