ABSTRACT
Exhausted reactive dye bath of dark shades were collected from cotton knit wear dyeing units in Tirupur. Ozonation was conducted in a column reactor system fed with ozone at the rate of 0.16 g/min to assess its efficiency in reducing the color, chemical oxygen demand and total organic carbon. The potential of the decolorized dye bath for its repeated reuse was also analyzed. The results from the reusability studies indicate that the dyeing quality was not affected by the reuse of decolorized dye bath for two successive cycles. Complete decolorization of the effluent was achieved in 60 minutes contact time at an ozone consumption of 183 mg/L for Red, 175 for Navy Blue and 192 for Green shades respectively. The corresponding COD removal was 60%, 54% and 63% for the three shades while TOC removal efficiency was 59%, 55% and 62% respectively. It is concluded that ozonation is efficient in decolorization of exhausted dye bath effluents containing conventional reactive dyes. However, the corresponding removal of COD from the textile effluent was not significant.