A revolutionary filter technology has been developed in Sri Lanka to use aluminium waste for treating waste-water in the textile industry.
The new process is a sustainable closed-loop model which creatively uses the waste from aluminium anodizing to treat the waste-water from the textile industry and any final waste is converted into eco-bricks.
A licensing agreement was signed between Twinery, the innovation arm of MAS Holdings and Colombo Science and Technology Cell of the University of Colombo recently to implement the process at the MAS Fabric Park. The research was conducted in collaboration with the Colombo Cell and MAS teams and funded by Twinery. Dr. Dilushan Jayasundera, Principal Investigator of the project and Senior Lecturer (Physics) of the University of Colombo explained the idea behind the project. “The idea was to convert sludge from the aluminium industry as a filter material to treat the waste-water from the apparel industry.”
The research was supported by Dr. Shashiprabha Vithanarachchi, Shalika Meedin and a team which included Kushani Hettiarachchi, Kasun Sankalpa (from UOC, Cell) and Ranil Vitarana, Sarah Dole and Harsha Deraniyagala (from MAS).
Consultant and Senior Lecturer (Chemistry) of the University of Colombo, Dr. Shashiprabha Vithanarachchi said, “The textile industry currently uses costly agents to treat wastewater to ensure that it is meeting stringent local and international standards.
The dissolving stage of the aluminium sludge generates AlOH which is used for the adsorption-coagulation effects that is used for the filtration process while the inert matter is allowed to settle and is used for the exiting MAS eco brick process.”
General Manager, Hydro and Environment of MAS Fabric Park, Harsha Deraniyagala said, “The qualitative analysis of waste ensures that the entire process is safe and managed within the local and international norms of environment safety.”