Abstract
Water scarcity is a huge challenge throughout the world. The capacity of water in
South African water systems will decrease dramatically in the next 10 years.
Moreover the removal of pollutants from industrial and municipal water has become
a challenge for water treatment industries. In particular, the textile industry
consumes large volumes of water during dyeing processes. Thus textile industries
are regarded as major polluters in the world.
Azo dyes (e.g. Methyl Orange and Methyl Blue) constitute about 70% of the dyes
used in the textile industry. The water discharged from textile industries is highly
coloured and contains compounds that are complex in nature. Coloured water
prevents the penetration of light into rivers and lakes thus affecting the process of
photosynthesis and this affects the natural flora and fauna. Moreover, the improper
discharge of untreated coloured dye effluent into the environment has resulted in
numerous public protests. Methyl orange has been reported to be toxic and
mutagenic to animals. Moreover, most of these dyes are also not effectively
removed by the use of conventional biological treatment processes since they are
non-biodegradable...
M.Sc.