IIT Jodhpur Develops New Tech to Clean Textile Waste

Jodhpur: IIT Jodhpur has come up with a new technique for the treatment of wastewater from the textile dyeing industry, reported The Statesman. This industry usually releases harmful substances like azo dyes into the environment.

This new method devised by the researchers of IIT Jodhpur uses environmentally friendly far ultraviolet (UV) light at 222 nm, offering significant advantages over conventional mercury-based UV light at 254 nm.

Effective treatment of this azo dye laced wastewater is crucial to prevent environmental pollution and promote sustainable water reuse.

Researchers at IIT Jodhpur, led by Dr Ram Prakash, Professor in the Department of Physics, have developed a novel approach using a 222 nm Kr/Cl2 excimer UV light source. Their method has shown remarkable effectiveness in breaking down Reactive Black 5 (RB5), a common dye in textile wastewater, reported The Statesman.

The study, published recently in Nature Scientific Reports explored both direct photolysis and an advanced oxidation process (AOP) using titanium dioxide (TiO2) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The degradation rate of RB5 was found to be approximately 27 times faster with their designed excimer-222 light and H2O2 AOP compared to conventional UV-C based methods.

The team at IIT Jodhpur plans to conduct further research to optimise the process. They will also test its application in real-world industrial settings.