Semi-industrial production of methane from textile wastewaters

Background: The enzymatic desizing of starch-sized cotton fabrics leads to wastewaters with an extremely high chemical oxygen demand due to its high sugar content. Nowadays, these liquors are still disposed without use, resulting in a questionable ecological pollution and high emission charges for cotton finishing manufacturers. Methods: In this paper, an innovative technology for the production of energy from textile wastewaters from cotton desizing was developed. Such desizing liquors were fermented by methane-producing microbes to biogas. For this purpose, a semi-industrial plant with a total volume of more than 500 L was developed and employed over a period of several weeks. Results: The robust and trouble-free system produces high amounts of biogas accompanied by a significant reduction of the COD of more than 85%. With regard to growing standards and costs for wastewater treatment and disposal, the new process can be an attractive alternative for textile finishing enterprises in wastewater management, combining economic and ecological benefits. Conclusion: Moreover, the production of biogas from textile wastewaters can help to overcome the global energy gap within the next decades, especially with respect to the huge dimension of cotton pretreatment and, therefore, huge desizing activities worldwide. © 2012 Opwis et al; licensee Springer.