A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TREATMENT OF TEXTILE WASTE-WATER

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) AND PRIORITY

The present application does not claim priority from any other patent application(s).

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of textile wastewater treatment in textile industries. More specifically, the present invention relates to the removal of toxic dyes from textile wastewater using natural weed adsorbents.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

During the last few decades, all major economies of the world have witnessed urbanization and thereby tremendous growth in the industrial sector. During this phase, majority of industries are producing and releasing effluents in water beds without considering the adverse effects on the aquatic environment. As a result, of this human race we are in the midst of a global water crisis. Wastewater produced from textile, electroplating, dye manufacturing, fertilizer, paper pulp mills and tannery industries is generated on a large scale and poses a high water pollution load. Mixing of this untreated or partially treated wastewater into aquatic reservoirs depletes the water quality gradually. (Bioresource Technology, (81): 87-90, Journal of Hazardous Materials, (102): 257-275, Electronic Journal of Biotechnology, (8): 43-53, Arabian Journal of Chemistry, (4): 361-377, American Journal of Analytical Chemistry, (4): 420-425, Materials, (7): 333-364 and Global Journal of Environmental Science and Management 1(2):109-116).

Textile industries is one of the significant contributors to water pollution, wherein the dyes are the primary contaminants. Various health hazards, like kidney failure, skin and eye allergies, respiratory irritation, including carcinogenicity have been reported due to exposure of these textile dyes.

Azo anionic dyes such as Remazol Brilliant Red 3BS (RBR 3BS) are reported to be toxic for aquatic fauna and to humans. Remazol Brilliant Red 3BS is an azo anionic dye-containing five sulfonic acid groups and one azo group linkage. The molecular formula of the said dye is C31H19CIN7O19S6 .5Na, with a molecular weight of 1136.32 and having absorbance maxima at 540 nm. The said dye is having the following molecular structure and represented below as Formula (1):

Formula (1)

In state of the art, it has been reported that the presence of azo linkage in the dye is responsible for the toxic character of azo anionic dyes. The extensive exposure to these dyes may cause dysfunctioning of the respiratory organ(s) and skin allergies.

In one embodiment, other azo anionic dyes having sulfonic acid groups in their molecular structure may also be treated and adsorbed on surface-treated biosorbents.

Along with azo dyes, a textile effluent consists of many other toxic substances and chemicals like auxiliary chemicals, alkalis, salts, redox reagent, sulphates etc. contaminating the aqueous environment. Such direct discharge of dyes containing textile effluent into water streams poses a potential environmental threat and therefore need to be potentially addressed.

In state of the art, several wastewater treatment methods have been proposed for the textile effluent treatment. Some of these treatments include flocculation-coagulation, froth flotation, chemical-precipitation, membrane filtration, ion-exchange, photo-degradation, irradiation- ozonisation, reverse osmosis and electrochemical destruction (Global J. Environ. Sci. Manage., 2(2): 135-144).

In state of the art adsorption with activated charcoal coupled with various techniques is referred as most preferred technique, which is capable of treating the effluent. However, the existing methods are incapable of complete purification of effluent by existing coupled techniques. In state of the art the effluent treatment technique require complicated set-ups, complex procedures, high energy requirements, huge running and regeneration cost associated with commercial grade activated charcoals, which limits the usage of said technique. Also, the precipitating agents employed in such techniques create secondary water pollution and are not cost effective. Accordingly therefore, there is an urgent need to develop an efficient textile wastewater effluent treatment system and method thereof, which is readily adoptable at industrial level with ease in scale-up. Hence, the present inventors were motivated to pursue their research to develop the said system in a substantially cost effective and eco-friendly manner and to obviate the problems associated with the various prior art process(s).

OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION

The main object of the present invention is to provide a textile wastewater effluent treatment system, which is simple, economical, user- friendly and commercially viable.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a process in said textile wastewater effluent treatment system using atleast one of the abundantly available weeds, water hyacinth ( echornia crassapies ) or congress grass (parthenium hysterophorus), which would be easy to implement on commercial scale, and to avoid excessive use of reagent(s) and solvent(s), which makes the present invention eco-friendly as well.

Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a process in the said textile wastewater effluent treatment system, wherein the coarse contaminants having micron size ranges from 50 to 2000 microns can be removed in an efficient manner.

Still another objective of the present invention is to provide an efficient process for the removal of a dye of formula (I) from the textile effluent in the said textile wastewater effluent treatment system, which makes the process industrially more suitable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Before the present system, processes, method and products are described in the said proposed invention, it is to be understood that the disclosed invention is not limited to the specific process, methods and products as described herein, as there can be multiple possible embodiments which hare not expressly illustrated in the present disclosure but may still be practicable within the scope of invention. It is also to be understood that the terminology used in the description is for the purpose of describing the particular versions or embodiments only and is not intended to limit the scope of the present application.

The instant invention describes a surface modified weed bio- sorbents, which are produced from unwanted and waste matter weeds and can be employed in any effluent treatment system. The instant invention further describes the method of implementing the said wastewater effluent treatment system.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a textile wastewater effluent treatment system. The said system may comprise a setup of wastewater treating units. The system may comprise a coarse filtration unit configured to filter and remove suspended particles from a textile wastewater effluent to obtain a coarse filtered textile wastewater effluent. The said system may comprise a first fine filtration unit configured to filter and remove fine particles from the coarse filtered textile wastewater effluent and to obtain a first time fine filtered wastewater. The said system may comprise a surface modified weed bio-sorbent unit comprising a natural weed selected from at least one of water hyacinth ( echornia crassapies) or congress grass ( parthenium hysterophorus), wherein the surface modified weed biosorbent unit is configured to decolorize and remove a textile dye present in the first time fine filtered wastewater to further obtain an anionic dye removed wastewater. The said system may comprise an aeration unit configured to expel dissolved gasses present in the anionic dye removed wastewater and to obtain an aerated wastewater. The said system may comprise a solar energy assisted electrolytic precipitator unit configured for precipitation of organic, metallic and organometallic compounds to remove additional effluent moieties from an aerated wastewater and to obtain a effluent moiety removed wastewater. The said system may comprise a second fine filtration unit configured to remove and filter fine particles from the effluent moiety removed wastewater and to obtain a second time fine filtered wastewater. The said system may comprise a germicidal treatment unit configured to remove germs and to control bacterial growth from the second time fine filtered wastewater and to obtain a germicidal treated wastewater. The said system may comprise a pH neutralizing unit configured to neutralize the germicidal treated wastewater to obtain a neutralized wastewater. The said system may comprise a third fine filtration unit configured to remove and filter remaining fine particles from the neutralized wastewater and to obtain a purified wastewater free from contaminants.

In another embodiment, a process for textile wastewater treatment is disclosed. The said process is described hereafter. The said process may comprise sequential steps for textile wastewater treatment. The said process may comprise a step of filtering a textile wastewater effluent via a coarse filtration unit to obtain a coarse filtered textile wastewater effluent. The said process may further comprise a step of fine filtering of the coarse filtered textile wastewater effluent by a first filtration unit to obtain a first time fine filtered wastewater. Further, the said process may comprise a step of adsorbing an anionic dye present in the fine filtered wastewater by a surface modified weed bio-sorbent unit comprising at least one of a water hyacinth ( echornia crassapies ) and a congress grass (parthenium hysterophorus) to decolorize and remove the anionic dye from the fine filtered textile wastewater effluent to obtain an anionic dye removed wastewater. The said process may further comprise a step of aerating the anionic dye removed wastewater, by an aeration unit to expel dissolved gases present in the anionic dye removed wastewater to obtain an aerated wastewater.

The said process may further comprise a step of removing additional effluent moieties from the aerated wastewater by a solar energy assisted electrolytic precipitation unit to obtain an effluent moiety removed wastewater. Further, the process may comprise a step of fine filtering the effluent moiety removed wastewater by a fine filtration unit to obtain a second time fine filtered wastewater. The said process may further comprise a step of removing germs from the second fine filtered wastewater by a germicidal treatment unit. The said process may further comprise a step of neutralizing the germicidal treated wastewater by a pH neutralization unit to obtain a germicidal treated wastewater. Furthermore, the said process may comprise a step of fine filtering the neutralized wastewater by a third fine filtration unit to obtain a purified wastewater free from contaminants.

In yet another embodiment, a natural adsorbent for removal of textile dye from a wastewater effluent is disclosed herein. The natural adsorbent may comprise a surface modified natural weed selected from at least one of water hyacinth ( echornia crassapies ) and congress grass ( parthenium hysterophorus), wherein the surface modified weed is pretreated with a quaternary ammonium salt.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying Figures. In the Figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the Figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer like features and components.

Figure 1 depicts a system (100) configured for textile wastewater effluent treatment, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 2 depicts a process (200) for textile wastewater effluent treatment, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 3 depicts a dye decolorization pattern for surface-treated Water hyacinth weed biosorbents in case of synthetically prepared dye solution, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 4 depicts a dye decolorization pattern for surface-treated Water hyacinth weed biosorbents in case of real effluent, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 5 depicts a dye decolorization pattern for surface -treated parthenium hysterophorus weed biosorbents in case of synthetically prepared dye solution, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 6 depicts a dye decolorization pattern for surface-treated parthenium hysterophorus weed biosorbents in case of real effluent, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 7 depicts a surface modification treatment process flow chart for Water hyacinth weed, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 8 depicts a Surface modification treatment process flow chart for parthenium hysterophorus weed , in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 9 depicts a setup for solar assisted electrolytic precipitation of an effluent.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The words“comprising”,“having”,“containing”,“inclu ding” and other forms thereof, are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items.

It must also be noted that, the singular forms“a”,“an”, and“the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictated otherwise, although any methods similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of embodiments of the present disclosure, the exemplary methods are described. The disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the disclosure, which may be embodied in various forms.

Various modifications to the embodiment may be readily apparent to those skilled in the art and the generic principles herein may be applied to other embodiments. However, one of ordinary skill in the art may readily recognize that the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments illustrated but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features described herein.

No terminology in this application should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential or critical. The use of any and all examples, or example language (e.g., "such as") provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate example embodiments and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the claims appended hereto unless otherwise claimed.

Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. Where a specific range of values is provided, it is understood that each intervening value, to the tenth of the unit of the lower limit unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, between the upper and lower limit of that range and any other stated or intervening value in that stated range, is included therein. All smaller sub ranges are also included. The upper and lower limits of these smaller ranges are also included therein, subject to any specifically excluded limit in the stated range.

The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter. Indeed, the invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements.

The present invention relates to a system and a method of a textile wastewater effluent treatment system. The instant invention also relates to a surface modified weed bio-sorbents which is produced from unwanted and waste matter weeds employed in an effluent treatment system. The main purpose of the disclosed invention, wherein according to one of the implementation is to employ a waste weed material, which is abundantly available in nature, to purify textile wastewater by converting it into a usable form. Thereby, the purified water can be further used in industries for cooling, water jacketing, reprocessing and for other purposes.

The said system of the present invention the process thereof is a user friendly, cost effective, efficient, simple and energy efficient. The present invention mainly discloses a textile water effluent treatment method using surface treated natural bio-sorbent weeds. The system follows a process comprising sequentially designed steps configured by a sequentially set-up textile wastewater effluent treatment units for treating the wastewater effluents.

The disclosed system and process may become helpful to reduce down a residual chemical oxygen demand (COD), total dissolved solids (TDS) and electrical conductivity (EC) of textile effluent. There is no addition of any precipitating agents/chemicals making the technique more clean, cost-effective and avoids the secondary water pollution.

Referring to Fig 1, a textile wastewater effluent treatment system (100) is illustrated in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The system (100) may comprise a setup of textile wastewater treatment units. The system (100) may comprise a coarse filtration unit (101).

The coarse filtration unit (101) is configured to filter and remove coarse contaminants, wherein the coarse contaminants are suspended particles, cotton fibres, waste particles and other coarse contaminants present in the textile wastewater effluent, wherein the size of suspended particles ranges from 50 microns to 2000 microns. In another embodiment, the coarse filtration unit (101) may comprise a filter media selected from a coarse filtration media roll, a filter paper or a membrane filter.

In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the said textile wastewater effluent treatment system (100) may further comprise a first fine filtration unit (102), a second fine filtration unit (106) and a third fine filtration unit (109). The fine filtration units (102, 106, 109) are configured to remove and filter fine particles and a fine particulate matter from the textile wastewater effluent. In an example, the fine filtration unit (102, 106, 109) may comprise a whatmann-42 filter paper, bed filters or a sand packed filters of 2.5m pore size for removal of fine suspended particles from a textile wastewater effluent. In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the freely and abundantly available weeds may be used as a biosorbent in treatment of the textile wastewater effluent. The weeds are eco-friendly as being of a natural origin. A surface modified weed bio -sorbent unit (103) may be incorporated in the textile wastewater effluent treatment system (100). A surface modified weed bio-sorbent unit (103) may comprise a surface modified bio-sorbent weed having an improved adsorption efficiency.

In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the said textile wastewater effluent treatment system (100) may comprise a surface modified weed bio-sorbent unit (103). The surface modified weed bio-sorbent unit (103) may comprise natural weed adsorbent selected from at least one of water hyacinth ( echornia crassapies ) or congress grass (parthenium hysterophorus).

In another embodiment of the present invention, embodiment, wherein the said surface modified weed bio-sorbent unit (103) comprising at least one of water hyacinth ( echornia crassapies ) or congress grass {parthenium hysterophorus) may be configured to decolorize an effluent and to remove a textile dyes present in the wastewater effluent using an adsorption technique. In further embodiment, the surface modified weed bio-sorbent unit (103) comprising at least one of water hyacinth {echornia crassapies) or congress grass {parthenium hysterophorus) may be configured to decolorize and to remove an anionic textile dye present in the effluent using an adsorption technique. Examples of an anionic textile dye present in the effluent may be azo-anionic dyes similar to a Remazol Brilliant Red 3BS dye.

In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the least one weed selected from water hyacinth {echornia crassapies) and congress grass {parthenium hysterophorus ) adsorbent material may be pre-treated by a quaternary ammonium salt. In one embodiment, the quaternary ammonium salt used for pre-treating the bio-sorbent weed is N-Cetyl, NNN trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB), which is a quaternary ammonium surfactant. CTAB has straight-chain alkyl group side chain, which is having less hindrance during surface binding. Similarly, CTAB is available in solid form and having a bactericidal activity that is useful during effluent treatment.

In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the textile wastewater treatment system (100) may comprise an aeration unit (104). The aeration unit which is a part of wastewater effluent treatment system (100) may be configured to expel the dissolved gasses present in the effluent responsible for foul odour of waste water.

In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the said textile wastewater effluent treatment system (100) may comprise an electrolytic precipitation unit (105). In another embodiment of the present invention, the electrolytic precipitation unit (105) is a solar energy assisted electrolytic precipitation unit (105). The solar energy assisted electrolytic precipitation unit (105) is further represented in implementation (900) of Figure 9. In another embodiment, the implementation (900) of the solar energy assisted electrolytic precipitation unit (105) comprises one or more solar panels (901), a charge controller (902), a lead-acid battery (903), a DC to AC current converter (904) and an electrolytic precipitator (905) for treating effluent (906) pre-treated by aeration unit (104) .

Referring to Figure 9 of the present invention, wherein the said solar energy assisted electrolytic precipitation unit (105) may comprise one or more 12V/20W solar panel, 230 V AC electrolytic precipitator or an electrolyser. The solar energy assisted electrolytic precipitation unit (105) may be configured to carry out at least 3 cycles of 10 minutes duration.

In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the said solar energy assisted electrolytic precipitation unit (105) may be configured for precipitation of organic compounds, organo-metallic compounds, heavy metals, dissolved iron, copper, potassium and sodium salts.

In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the said textile wastewater effluent treatment system (100) may comprise a germicidal treatment unit (107). In further embodiment, the germicidal treatment unit (107) is an ultraviolet (UV-C) light germicidal treatment unit (107) configured to remove germs and to control bacterial growth from the effluent wastewater.

In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the steps of filtration, decolorization, aeration, solar energy assisted electrolytic precipitation, UV germicidal treatment were carried out at room temperature (27°C), and normal atmospheric pressure at original pH of effluent i.e. about 10.

In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the said textile wastewater treatment system (100) may comprise a pH neutralization unit (108). The pH neutralization unit (108) is configured to neutralize a treated wastewater effluent. In pH balance treatment, the pH of effluent is adjusted to 7.0 ± 1.0. Referring to Figure 2, a process (200) for textile wastewater effluent treatment is depicted in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The process may comprise sequential steps for effluent wastewater treatment.

The process (200) for textile wastewater effluent treatment may comprise a step of coarse filtering (201) a textile wastewater effluent, via a coarse filtration unit (101) to obtain a coarse filtered textile wastewater effluent. In another embodiment of the present invention wherein, the step of coarse filtering (201) may be carried out to remove suspended particles and cotton fibres. The size of suspended particles may range from 50 microns to 2000 microns. In yet another embodiment, the step of coarse filtering (201) may be carried out by using a regular filter paper or filter media selected from a coarse filtration media roll, a commercially used filter paper and a membrane filter.

The process (200) for textile wastewater effluent treatment of the instant invention may comprise a step of a fine filtering (202) the coarse filtered textile wastewater effluent, via a first filtration unit (102) to obtain a first time fine filtered wastewater. In another embodiment of the present invention, the step of first fine filtering (202) may be carried out to filter and remove fine suspended particles from a textile wastewater effluent. In another embodiment, the step of fine filtering (202) may be carried out by using a whatmann-42 filter paper, bed filters or a sand packed filters of 2.5m pore size for removal of fine suspended particles from a textile wastewater effluent.

The process (200) for textile wastewater effluent treatment of the instant invention may comprise a step of adsorbing (203), an anionic dye present in the fine filtered wastewater, by a surface modified weed biosorbent unit (103) comprising at least one of a water hyacinth ( echornia crassapies ) and a congress grass (parthenium hysterophorus). The step of adsorbing (203) may be carried out to decolorize and remove the anionic dye from the fine filtered textile wastewater effluent to obtain an anionic dye removed wastewater. In another embodiment, the step of adsorbing (203) may be carried out for a predetermined duration ranging from 20 to 24 hours.

In another embodiment of the instant invention, the surface modified biosorbent used to carry out the step of adsorbing (203) is prepared by drying (203 a), powdering (203 b) and sieving (203 c)) at least one of a root, a stem and leaves of at least one of water hyacinth or congress grass plant and further treating (203 a) with a quaternary ammonium salt, wherein the quaternary ammonium salt is N-Cetyl, NNN trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB).

The process (200) for textile wastewater effluent treatment of the instant invention may comprise a step of aerating (204) an anionic dye removed wastewater by an aeration unit (104) to expel dissolved gases present in the anionic dye removed wastewater and to obtain an aerated wastewater. In another embodiment, the step of aerating (204) may be carried out for 12 hrs, wherein the air flow may be maintained for 2.5 ml/min.

The process (200) for textile wastewater effluent treatment of the instant invention may comprise a step of removing (205), additional effluent moieties from the aerated wastewater, by an electrolytic precipitator unit (105), wherein the electrolytic precipitator unit (105) is a solar energy assisted precipitator unit. In another embodiment of the instant invention, the step of removing (205) additional effluent moieties may be carried out in 3 cycles per 10 minutes duration.

The process (200) for textile wastewater effluent treatment of the instant invention may comprise a step of fine filtering (206) the effluent moiety removed wastewater by using a second fine filtration unit (106) to obtain a second time fine filtered wastewater. In another embodiment of the instant invention, the step of fine filtering (206) may be carried out to filter and remove remaining fine suspended particles from a textile wastewater effluent. In another embodiment of the instant invention, the step of second fine filtering (206) may be carried out by using a whatmann-42 filter paper, bed filters or a sand packed filters of 2.5m pore size for removal of fine suspended particles from a textile wastewater effluent.

The process (200) for textile wastewater effluent treatment may comprise a step of removing (207), germs from the second fine filtered wastewater, by an ultraviolet (UV-C) germicidal treatment unit (107) to obtain a germicidal treated wastewater. The step of removing (207) may be carried out to eradicate and control bacterial growth into the wastewater effluent.

The process (200) for textile wastewater effluent treatment of the instant invention may comprise a step of neutralising (208), of the germicidal treated wastewater, by a pH neutralisation unit (108) to obtain a neutralized wastewater. In one embodiment, the step of neutralising (208) by a pH neutralisation unit (108) may be carried out as a pH balance treatment by using a pH adjustment buffer or a hydrochloric acid/sodium hydroxide based neutralisation technique. The process (200) of the instant invention may comprise a step of fine filtering (209), the neutralized wastewater by a third fine filtration unit (109), to obtain a purified wastewater free from contaminants. In another embodiment, the step of fine filtering (209) may be carried out to filter and remove remaining superfine or fine suspended particles from a textile wastewater effluent. In another embodiment the step of third fine filtering (209) may be carried out by using a whatmann-42 filter paper, bed filters or a sand packed filters of 2.5m pore size for removal of fine suspended particles from a textile wastewater effluent.

In another embodiment of the instant invention, a natural adsorbent for removal of anionic textile dye from a wastewater effluent is disclosed. The natural adsorbent may comprise a surface modified natural weed selected from at least one of a water hyacinth ( echornia crassapies ) or congress grass (parthenium hysterophorus). In another embodiment, the surface modified natural weed selected from at least one of water hyacinth ( echornia crassapies ) and congress grass {parthenium hysterophorus ) is pre-treated with a quaternary ammonium salt. The quaternary ammonium salt may be selected as N-Cetyl, NNN trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB).

The natural adsorbent of the instant invention for removal of anionic textile dye from a wastewater effluent is pre-treated in such a way that the natural adsorbent may be configured to decolorize and remove anionic textile dye present in the wastewater effluent by using an adsorption technique.

In another embodiment of the instant invention, wherein water hyacinth natural adsorbent comprising a surface modified bio-sorbent is prepared by drying (203 a), powdering (203 b) and sieving (203 c)) a root, a stem and leaves of at least one of water hyacinth or congress grass plant and further treating with (203 a) a quaternary ammonium salt, wherein the quaternary ammonium salt is N-Cetyl, NNN trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB).

The invention of the present disclosure is further described by following examples:

Experimental Details

In another implementation of the present invention, several factors were studied, which may associate with adsorption studies, which includes the parameters such as pH, adsorbent dosage, dye concentration, contact time, reaction temperature, particle size, agitation speed.

Example 1

Referring to Figure 7, a surface modification process (700) of water hyacinth weed is disclosed.

Fresh water hyacinth plants (701) were collected (by weight about 5kg) and washed thoroughly with tap water to remove all earthy and dirt matter and at last with distilled water. The roots (702), stem (703), and leaves (704) of plants were cut down and separated. All separated plant parts have been dried in natural sunlight for 5 days and finally subjected to oven drying at l05°C for 24hrs. Dried material has been further ground with in-house mixer and sieved using “Indian standards (IS): 355 sieves”. The raw adsorbents such as untreated root adsorbent (705), untreated stem adsorbent (706), untreated leaf adsorbent (707) thus obtained, were stored in airtight containers.

N-Cetyl-N,N,N-trimethyl ammonium bromide or CTAB (708), a quaternary ammonium salt (QAM) solution was used as an activation agent for surface treatment. lOg of raw adsorbent powders of roots (705), stem (706), and leaves (707) of Water hyacinth were separately treated with 100 ml 0.5%w/v aqueous solution of activation agent (708) at room temperature for 30min. Treated adsorbents were then separately filtered (709-1, 709-2, 709-3) using Whatmann-42, and dried (710) at l05°C for 3hrs. Dried surface-treated adsorbents QAM treated water hyacinth root adsorbent (711-1), QAM treated water hyacinth adsorbent (711-2), QAM treated parthenium hysterophorus leaf adsorbent (711-3) namely were further stored in airtight containers.

Example 2

Referring to Figure 8, a surface modification process (800) of parthenium hysterophorus weed is disclosed.

Fresh parthenium hysterophorus plants (801) were collected (by weight about 5kg) and washed thoroughly with tap water to remove all earthy and dirt matter and at last with distilled water. The roots (802), stem (803), and leaves (804) of plants were cut down and separated. All separated plant parts have been dried in natural sunlight for 5 days and finally subjected to oven drying at l05°C for 24hrs. Dried material has been further ground with in-house mixer and sieved using“Indian standards (IS): 355 sieves” . The raw adsorbents such as untreated root adsorbent (805), untreated stem adsorbent (806), untreated leaf adsorbent (807) thus obtained, were stored in airtight containers.

N-Cetyl-N,N,N-trimethyl ammonium bromide or CTAB (808), a quaternary ammonium salt (QAM) solution was used as an activation agent for surface treatment. lOg of raw adsorbent powders of roots (805), stem (806), and leaves (807) of parthenium hysterophorus were separately treated with lOOml 0.5% w/v aqueous solution of activation agent (808) at room temperature for 30min. Treated adsorbents were then separately filtered (809-1, 809-2, 809-3) using Whatmann-42, and dried (810) at 105 °C for 3 hrs. Dried surface-treated adsorbents QAM treated parthenium hysterophorus root adsorbent (811-1), QAM treated parthenium hysterophorus stem adsorbent (811-2), QAM treated parthenium hysterophorus leaf adsorbent (811-3) namely were further stored in airtight containers.

Example 3

Experimental conditions

For dye decolorization of synthetically prepared dye solution (Test 1)

0.2g of respective surface activated biosorbent adsorbent as prepared in Example 1 was dissolved in 50 ppm 40ml dye solution. The solution was stirred for 30min of shaking at 100RPM. The solution was kept for 2.5hrs after stirring. The solution was filtered through Whatmann 42 filter paper. The solution filtered through Whatmann 42 filter paper was used to determine percentage (%) dye decolorization with the help of UV-Visible spectrophotometer at 540nm.

For dye decolorization of real effluent

0.4g of respective surface activated biosorbent adsorbent was dissolved in 40ml real effluent solution. The solution was stirred for 30min of shaking at 100RPM. The solution was kept for 24hrs after stirring. The solution was filtered through Whatmann 42 filter paper. The solution filtered through Whatmann 42 filter paper was used to determine % dye decolorization with the help of UV-Visible spectrophotometer at 540 nm. The percentage (%) dye decolorization of synthetically prepared solution and a real effluent was observed and represented in Table 1 for the water hyacinth Weed.

Table 1

In an another implementation of the present invention, the visual comparison of a dye decolorization pattern for surface-treated water hyacinth weed biosorbents in case of synthetically prepared dye solution is represented in Figure 3. The visual comparison of a dye decolorization pattern for surface-treated water hyacinth weed biosorbents in case of real effluent is represented in Figure 4.

Based on the result obtained in the case of water hyacinth weed, the surface-treated stem biosorbent has been concluded as a promising adsorbent material and therefore the present inventors were motivated to pursue the said invention.

Example 4

Experimental conditions

For dye decolorization of synthetically prepared dye solution ( Test 2)

A 0.2g of respective surface activated biosorbent adsorbent as prepared in Example 2 was dissolved in 50 ppm 40ml dye solution. The solution was stirred for 30min of shaking at 100 RPM. The solution was kept for 2.5hrs after stirring. The solution was filtered through Whatmann 42 filter paper. The solution filtered through Whatmann 42 filter paper was used to determine percentage (%) dye decolorization with the help of UV-Visible spectrophotometer at 540 nm.

For dye decolorization of real effluent

0.4g of respective surface activated biosorbent adsorbent was dissolved in 40ml real effluent solution. The solution was stirred for 30min of shaking at 100 RPM. The solution was kept for 24hrs after stirring. The solution was filtered through Whatmann 42 filter paper. The solution filtered through Whatmann 42 filter paper was used to determine % dye decolorization with the help of UV- Visible spectrophotometer at 540 nm.

The percentage (%) dye decolorization of synthetically prepared solution and a real effluent was observed and represented in Table 2 for the parthenium hysterophorus weed.

Table 2

In another implementation of the present invention, the visual comparison of a dye decolonization pattern for surface-treated parthenium hysterophorus weed biosorbents in case of synthetically prepared dye solution is represented in Figure 5. The visual comparison of a dye decolorization pattern for surface-treated parthenium hysterophorus weed biosorbents in case of real effluent is represented in Figure 6.

Based on the result obtained in the case of parthenium hysterophorus weed , the surface-treated stem biosorbent has been concluded as a promising adsorbent material and worth considering to pursue the said invention.

Example 5

Based on the data of Example 1 , Example 2 and the visual representation in Figures

3 and 4, Figures 5 and 6 the stem of water hyacinth and stem of parthenium hysterophorus is narrowed down as a promising adsorbent material and compared with commercial-grade activated charcoal (as a control, which is used in textile industries for dye decolorization purpose) under identical experimental conditions.

0.4g of respective surface activated adsorbent (charcoal, a stem of Water hyacinth and a stem of parthenium hysterophorus) was dissolved in 40ml real effluent solution in three different sets. The solution was stirred for 30min of shaking at 100 RPM. The solution was kept for 24hrs after stirring. The solution was filtered through Whatmann 42 filter paper. The solution filtered through Whatmann 42 filter paper was used to determine percentage (%) dye decolonization with the help of UV- Visible spectrophotometer at 540 nm.

Table 3

Thus, based on the preliminary experiments from singular dye solutions, surface treated stem biosorbent material made up from water hyacinth and parthenium hysterophorus found superior for dye decolonization of real textile effluent over activated charcoal.

Example 6

In another implementation of the present invention, untreated textile wastewater effluent was tested before and after the above-said treatment. Surface treated stem of water hyacinth and parthenium hysterophorus has been used as a biosorbent and tested against activated charcoal, which is commercially used to treat the effluent. The effluents and the biosorbents of example 1 to 4 were further evaluated to obtain parameter such as percentage (%) decolonization, odor, pH, electrical conductivity, chemical oxygen demand (COD), total dissolved solid (TDS). The results are summarized as in the Table 4.

Table 4

operating settings for the individual parameters may be achieved by the function to get the maximum output, which was tested experimentally to further strengthen the results.

The said system, method and natural adsorbent details as described in present invention may comprise the following advantages:

• The disclosed natural bio-sorbent is cost effective, economical and abundantly available.

• The sequential setup of the said wastewater effluent treatment system is simple, concise, compact, eco-friendly and energy efficient. The percentage (%) decolorization with surface treated stem of parthenium hysterophorus and water hyacinth found superior than activated charcoal.

• The said wastewater effluent treatment system involves the all over reduction in COD value, electrical conductivity, TDS and pH.

• In the said wastewater effluent treatment system no additional chemicals were involved precipitation of several contaminants, as the precipitation was carried out using solar assisted electrolytic precipitating unit.

• The disclosed natural adsorbent shows maximum decolorization and adsorption of anionic dye and higher percentage (%) decolorization and percentage (%) removal of dye from the textile wastewater effluent.

• The process of the present invention avoids excess usages of reagent(s) and organic solvent(s), thereby promoting green chemistry and ensuring a cleaner surrounding by putting lesser load on environment. • The process of the present invention involves recyclable materials, which can be reused and thus makes the process more economical and industrially & commercially viable.

In accordance with the embodiments of the present invention, the disclosed system, process and adsorbent for wastewater effluent treatment may be used in multiple applications including but not limited to:

• Paint, pigment and dyeing industries

• Tanning industries and

• Textile industries etc.

The embodiments, examples and alternatives of the preceding paragraphs or the description and drawings, including any of their various aspects or respective individual features, may be taken independently or in any combination thereof. Features described in connection with one embodiment are applicable to all embodiments, unless such features are incompatible.