Review Remediation of textile effluents by membrane based treatment techniques: A state of the art review Jhilly Dasgupta a , Jaya Sikder a, ** , Sudip Chakraborty b, * , Stefano Curcio b , Enrico Drioli c a Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Durgapur, Durgapur 713209, West Bengal, India b Department of Informatics, Modeling, Electronics and Systems Engineering (DIMES), University of Calabria, Via P. Bucci, Cubo e 42a, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy c WCU Department of Energy Engineering, College of Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, Republic of Korea article info Article history: Received 23 May 2014 Received in revised form 5 August 2014 Accepted 9 August 2014 Available online 27 September 2014 Keywords: Textile Effluents Membrane Reclamation Model Techno-economic evaluation abstract The textile industries hold an important position in the global industrial arena because of their unde- niable contributions to basic human needs satisfaction and to the world economy. These industries are however major consumers of water, dyes and other toxic chemicals. The effluents generated from each processing step comprise substantial quantities of unutilized resources. The effluents if discharged without prior treatment become potential sources of pollution due to their several deleterious effects on the environment. The treatment of heterogeneous textile effluents therefore demands the application of environmentally benign technology with appreciable quality water reclamation potential. These features can be observed in various innovative membrane based techniques. The present review paper thus elucidates the contributions of membrane technology towards textile effluent treatment and unex- hausted raw materials recovery. The reuse possibilities of water recovered through membrane based techniques, such as ultrafiltration and nanofiltration in primary dye houses or auxiliary rinse vats have also been explored. Advantages and bottlenecks, such as membrane fouling associated with each of these techniques have also been highlighted. Additionally, several pragmatic models simulating transport mechanism across membranes have been documented. Finally, various accounts dealing with techno- economic evaluation of these membrane based textile wastewater treatment processes have been provided. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Today's world stands as a witness to the revolutionizing socio- economic impacts of various industries. Unfortunately, the devel- opment of industrial sector has whipped up certain unintended repercussions, resulting in an unavoidable trade-off between in- dustrial progress and environmental degradation. Textile in- dustries, for instance, are one of the largest consumers of water, dyes and various processing chemicals that are used during the various stages of textile processing. Subsequently, substantial quantities of effluents are generated, mostly consisting of spent or unutilized resources, which are not suitable for further usage. These effluents are likely to cause environmental problems if discharged without prior treatment. The wastewater obtained from the textile industry is usually rich in color, chemical oxygen demand (COD), complex chemicals, inorganic salts, total dissolved solids (TDS), pH, temperature, turbidity and salinity (Verma et al., 2012; CPCB, 2007). According to the classification suggested by Environmental Pro- tection Agency (USEPA), textile wastes can be divided into four principal categories, namely the dispersible, hard-to-treat, high- volume, and hazardous and toxic wastes (Foo and Hameed, 2010). Among the various complex constituents present in textile waste- waters, the dyes can be inarguably considered as the most peremptory source of contamination. The direct discharge of the coloured textile effluent into the fresh water bodies adversely af- fects the aesthetic merit, water transparency and dissolved oxygen content (Duarte et al., 2013; Wang et al., 2009). Besides, these dyes exhibit highly complex structure, high molecular weight and low biodegradability (Verma et al., 2012; ElDefrawy and Shaalan, 2007). This accounts for its toxic effects on flora and fauna present in the water bodies. Further, these dyes are mutagenic and carcinogenic (Wang et al., 2009). The presence of these relatively recalcitrant * Corresponding author. Tel./fax: þ39 0984 49 6670. ** Corresponding author. Tel.: þ91 343 2754089, þ91 9434788186; fax: þ91 343 2547375. E-mail addresses: umuniqueme1@gmail.com (J. Sikder), zsudip.c@gmail.com, sudip.chakraborty@unical.it (S. Chakraborty). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Environmental Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jenvman http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2014.08.008 0301-4797/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Journal of Environmental Management 147 (2015) 55e72