82 Int. J. Process Systems Engineering, Vol. 1, No.

1, 2009

Development of a software to simulate effluent

characteristics of textile wastewater treatment

Adel Al-Kdasi
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
and
Faculty of Agriculture, Sana’a University, Yemen
E-mail: alkdasi_upm@yahoo.com

Azni Idris
Waste Technology Centre,
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
E-mail: azni@eng.upm.edu.my

Luqman Chuah Abdullah

Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
E-mail: chuah@eng.upm.edu.my

Mohanad El-Harbawi*
Department of Chemical Engineering,
Universiti Teknologi Petronas,
Bandar Seri Iskandar, 31750 Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia
E-mail: mohanad_elharbawi@petronas.com.my
*Corresponding author

Mogeeb Alzokry
Department of Software Engineering,
Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology,
Universiti Malaya,
50301, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
E-mail: mogeebking@yahoo.com

Copyright © 2009 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Development of a software to simulate effluent characteristics 83

Chun-Yang Yin
Faculty of Chemical Engineering,
University Technology Mara,
40430 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
E-mail: yinyang@salam.uitm.edu.my

Abstract: The composition of textile wastewaters is extremely varied due to

the large spectrum of dyes and chemicals used in wet process resulting in
greater variability in the success of different treatment processes. A software
was developed to determine the required advanced oxidation process after
biological treatment and to evaluate the possibility of applying advanced
oxidation processes to any textile treatment plant. Regression equations related
to the formulation of the process treatment options were successfully developed
into a software program called TexTreat with integrated graphic user interface
(GUI) component. TexTreat has the ability to determine the best option of
advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) and predict characteristics of wastewater
discharge in different retention times with an overall simulation accuracy of
more than 89%. Validation of the process treatment options and TexTreat
display their applicability to utilise with different textile wastewater plants.

Keywords: textile wastewater; advanced oxidation process; AOP; software.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Al-Kdasi, A., Idris, A.,
Chuah Abdullah, L., El-Harbawi, M., Alzokry, M. and Yin, C-Y. (2009)
‘Development of a software to simulate effluent characteristics of textile
wastewater treatment’, Int. J. Process Systems Engineering, Vol. 1, No. 1,
pp.82–99.

Biographical notes: Adel Al-Kdasi is currently an Assistant Professor in the

Faculty of Agriculture-Sana’a University. Prior to this, he obtained his PhD
from the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Universiti
Putra Malaysia (UPM). He has published several papers in textile treatment
field.

Azni Idris received his PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University
of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. He is currently the Head of Department of
Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Faculty of Engineering, Universiti
Putra Malaysia. He is the Director of Technology Commercialisation,
University Business Center, University Putra Malaysia (UPM). He is also the
Director of Waste Technology Center, UPM. As an active researcher, he had
published more than 100 publications in international journals and proceedings.
In addition, he was awarded for research excellence and his contribution in the
production of biofilter [holder of patent on organic waste treatment process
(BioFil sysytem)].

Luqman Chuah Abdullah is currently an Associate Professor in the Department

of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia
(UPM). He has also served as Head of Research Laboratory in the Institute of
Tropical Forest and Forest Products (INTROP), UPM. As an active researcher,
he had published 160 publications on journals and proceedings, of which many
of them are internationally cited and reputable in chemical and environmental
engineering. In addition, he won several awards in teaching and research,
including Young Engineer Award from the Institution of Engineers Malaysia
(IEM) in year 2006.
84 A. Al-Kdasi et al.

Mohanad El-Harbawi received his Doctorate in Chemical and Environmental

Engineering from the University Putra Malaysia in 2006. He is part of lecturing
team at the Department of Chemical Engineering at Universiti Teknologi
PETRONAS (UTP). Currently, he is working diligently in the development of
a GIS-based air pollution dispersion modelling software. He has developed
several softwares for chemical risk assessment and air pollution assessment.
Furthermore, he has several publications including ISI-indexed journal articles
and conference proceedings. In addition, he is also a reviewer for Journal of
Engineering Science and Technology (JESTEC).

Mogeeb Alzokry received his BSc in Software Engineering from Technology

University – Iraq in 2002. In 2003, he was appointed as a Staff at Taiz
University in the Faculty of Engineering. He is currently pursuing his PhD at
the University of Malaya. To date, he has published several papers in indexed
journals and conference proceedings.
Chun-Yang Yin received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University
of Malaya and was appointed as a Visiting Scholar at the prestigious Ivy
League Institution, Columbia University from December 2008 to March 2009.
He has over 60 publications to date including ISI-indexed journal articles and
conference proceedings. He is the recipient of numerous universities, national
and international-level awards including the IEM Tan Sri Raja Zainal Prize in
2005 and 2009 as well as listed in the 25th Silver Anniversary Edition of
Marquis Who’s Who in the World. He is currently a Reviewer for several
Elsevier journals and is on the Editorial Board of Malaysian Journal of
Chemical Engineering.

1 Introduction

Several conventional methods are used to treat textile dye wastewaters such as biological
treatment, chemical oxidation, coagulation, adsorption and filtration. However, the
efficiencies of these methods depend strongly on the types of dye in wastewater and
concentration of contaminants. Colour removal from textile effluents in aerobic
biological treatment is not an effective process since the biodegradation products are
toxic to the organisms used in the process and these result in various problem such as
sludge bulking, rising sludge and pin-point floc formation (Straley, 1984; Paprowicz and
Slodczyk, 1988; Pagga and Brown, 1986; Lin and Peng, 1996; Antonio et al., 1997;
Wilmott et al., 1998).
According to Antonio et al. (1997), biological treatments are reliable, but there are
certain substances which are unable to deal with. Thus, there are a lot of combinations of
chemical oxidation and biological treatment which can be arranged for organic removal
from toxic wastewater. However, bio-chemical treatment of textile wastewater effluents
that contain dyes and their hydrolysis products can be a cost-effective alternative when
the effluents are pretreated chemically prior to treatment in the biological unit (Lin and
Peng, 1996).
Physico-chemical methods such as coagulation/flocculation, activated carbon
adsorption and reverse osmosis techniques have been developed in order to remove the
colour (Dae-Hee et al., 1999; Bes-Piá et al., 2003; Maria et al., 2004). However, these
methods can only transfer the contaminants from wastewater to solid waste leaving the
problem essentially unsolved (Mariana et al., 2002; Georgiou et al., 2002; Arslan et al.,
 Development of a software to simulate effluent characteristics 85

2002). Therefore, special attention should be focused on the techniques that lead to the
complete destruction of the dye molecules.
Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) is one of these developing processes that has
been used to generate hydroxyl free radicals by different techniques to destroy the
contaminants in textile wastewater. Ozone (O3), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and UV
irradiation are recently used to accelerate the generation of hydroxyl radical (HO•). This
strong oxidant can destroy compounds that can not be readily oxidised by conventional
oxidants such as ozone, oxygen and chlorine. In addition, AOPs do not generate chemical
sludge and toxicity of wastewater is generally reduced.
Several studies have been reported about the successful application of the AOPs
(Nilsun, 1999; Arslan and Isil, 2001; Arslan et al., 2002; Georgiou et al., 2002;
Yung-Shuen and Deng-Kae, 2002; Tanja et al., 2003; Azbar et al., 2004; Ulusoy, 2004;
Shu et al., 2004; Shu and Chang, 2005). Previous studies were carried out within a certain
range of different kind of synthetic dyes and synthetic textile wastewater in the batch
mode. Few studies were reported in the literature that deal with the actual wastewater due
to their inability to cope with the complex background matrices and high pollution load
normally encountered in real wastewater (Beltran et al., 1997; Wenzel et al., 1999). On
the other hand, extraordinary high oxidant doses of chemicals make the industrial scale
stand-alone and the application of chemical unfeasible from the economic point of view
(Masten and Davies, 1993; Beltran et al., 1997). As such, an integrated system of
biological treatment and AOPs would mean a cheaper option for total organic
degradation and colour removal from the textile wastewater.
Having different, easily controlled and successful processes that can deal with the
different strength of textile wastewater is the best way to ensure efficient colour and
organic pollutants removal from textile wastewater. Previous related studies were focused
on development of models to predict performance of wastewater treatment systems
without integration of graphic user interface (GUI) to enhance user-friendly feature of the
model. Examples of such reported studies include Bernard et al. (2001), Hamed et al.
(2004) and Joksimovic et al. (2006) which focused on development of new models for
wastewater parameters estimation as applied for anaerobic, urban domestic and reclaimed
wastewater respectively. In a recent study on software development, Hidalgo et al. (2007)
developed a multi-criteria analysis user friendly software to assist responsible authorities
in determining the most efficient solutions in terms of health and safety for the
agricultural reuse of the produced effluent. From our understanding, the concept or idea
to develop a software with GUI to determine the best advanced oxidation process after
biological treatment and predict characteristics of treated textile wastewater has not been
considered in previous studies. As such, the objectives of this study were to develop
software (designated as TexTreat) to determine the required advanced oxidation process
after biological treatment and evaluate the possibility of applying AOPs to any textile
treatment plant. Development of TexTreat was divided into three distinct stages. The first
stage assigned a reaction order for each category which was determined by using the
integration method. Reaction rate coefficient (rate constant) was evaluated by substitution
using the test data at different retention time for colour, total organic carbon (TOC) and
chemical oxygen demand (COD). The second stage assigned the best fitting regression
equations between different values of the parameters and their reaction rate coefficients
were determined at different retention times using SPSS software. The final stage was to
write the program for the TexTreat software.
86 A. Al-Kdasi et al.

2 Materials and methods

2.1 Textile wastewater collection

To achieve the formulation treatment option, samples of textile wastewater with different
concentrations were collected and studied. Each sample was studied separately using
integrated system of biological and advanced oxidation process (data not shown). The
textile wastewater was collected every five days from a local manufacturing factory
effluents of Kim Fashion Knitwear Sdn Bhd located in Senawang, Negeri Sembilan,
Malaysia. Wastewater was produced from several finishing and dyeing units, which were
used to dye fabrics, hanks and socks of different natural or synthetic fibres and mixture of
both. Three different textile wastewater factories were used to validate the TexTreat
application and the formulation of process treatment options. These three factories were
Kim Fashion Knitwear (M) Sdn Bhd located in Senawang, Negeri Sembilan, Pacific
Peninsula Textile Sdn Bhd located in Johor Bahru and Ramatex Textiles Industrial Sdn
Bhd located in Batu Pahat, Johor Bahru.

Figure 1 Design configuration of bio-photochemical reactor

 Development of a software to simulate effluent characteristics 87

2.2 Experimental model setup

The laboratory setup consisted of activated sludge process (extended aeration) followed
by AOP. The reactor was designed to be operated in continuous mode. The
laboratory-scale model reactor used in this study is shown in Figure 1.

2.2.1 Activated sludge model

The activated sludge process reactor consisted of a feeding tank, aeration tank and
settling tank made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Raw wastewater pH in the feeding tank
was adjusted to pH 7 using 1 M hydrochloric acid and mixed continuously using a
motorised stirrer (Eurostar Digital, Germany) at a rate of 50 rpm.
A continuous flow rate of 1.26 l/h using a peristaltic pump (Heidolph PD5006,
Germany) was used. Complete mixing and aeration were assured by the continuous flow
of air into the aeration tank. The dissolved oxygen concentration in aeration tank was
kept between 2 to 3 mg/l. The aeration tank was connected to the settling tank to remove
suspended solids. Biotreated effluent was subsequently discharged through a plastic pipe
to the advanced oxidation process reactor.
All experiments were conducted at room temperature range of 25–28°C. Samples for
analysis were collected from feeding tank, discharge point after aeration tank and
discharge point after AOP.
Microorganisms of the aeration tank were acclimatised to receive high-level of colour
and organic matter in the wastewater using actual textile wastewater without any
pretreatment for three months. The system was operated at F/M ratio of around
0.05 (g BOD /g VSS.d) and dissolved oxygen concentrations from 2 to 3 mg/l.

2.2.2 Advanced oxidation model

AOP reactor was made of 304 stainless steel with 2.5 litre capacity. The reactor was
cylindrical and equipped with a UV lamp (wavelength, λ = 254 nm). Both the UV-C and
quartz lamp housings were centred in the reactor tube. Five outlet discharge points were
pointed corresponding to different retention times in the system. O3 generator (OWA
350) with an O3 production rate of 350 mg/hr was used for this experiment. The O3 was
produced by natural intake of air from surrounding and was bubbled into reactor by
diffusers. The applied O3 concentrations for this experiment were 183, 152 and
101 mg/L. Ozone was introduced into the bottom of the reactor through two diffuser
points. The exhaust gas was vented from the top of the reactor passing through two
bottles of potassium iodide solution (KI) and 2% absorption solution was then vented into
a laboratory hood.
Different concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (30%) were applied using a peristaltic
pump. Samples were collected from the sampling point at regular time intervals (15, 30,
60, 90 and 120 minutes) and kept for further analyses.

2.3 Analytical methods

True colour (PtCo) of the samples was measured using a spectrophotometer (HACH DR
2500, USA) calibrated according to standard platinum-cobalt method. Prior to colour
measurement, both the influent and effluent were filtered using membrane filter paper
88 A. Al-Kdasi et al.

with a pore size of 0.45 µm (Whatman, Japan). The mixed liquor suspended solids
(MLSS), total suspended solids (TSS), COD and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)
measurements were determined according to standard methods for examination of water
and wastewater (APHA et al., 1998). Ozone concentration in feed gas was determined by
KI-starch titration method (APHA et al., 1985). The TOC concentration in solution was
determined using TOC analyser (Shimadzu 5050, Japan). Wastewater pH was measured
by means of a laboratory multi-meter (WTW, InoLab Multi Level 1, Germany). The
average values of the results were obtained by three repeated experiments. Statistical
software (SPSS, Version 12) and standard Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 for windows
computer program was used for the regression and developing of the software,
respectively.

3 Results and discussion

3.1 Formulation treatment options

Samples of textile wastewater with different concentrations were studied to obtain
formulation process treatment option for textile wastewater. Biotreated textile wastewater
was successfully categorised into four groups; corresponding to these categories,
different AOPs were formulated for use. Table 1 shows the categories of biotreated
textile wastewater and the best methods of advanced oxidation process for each category.
From the formulation treatment options, a software (TexTreat) was developed to assist
operation in selecting the most appropriate AOP for the textile wastewater and also to
estimate the discharge effluent concentration.

Table 1 Categories of biotreated textile wastewater and best selected methods of advanced
oxidation

Category Condition Best method of AOPS

Category 1 Colour ≤ 400 and TC ≤ 80 mg/l 0.25 ml/l H2O2/UV
Colour ≤ 400 and TC > 80 mg/l 0.5 ml/l H2O2/UV
Category 2 400 < colour ≤ 800 0.75 ml/l H2O2/UV/50 mg/l O3
Category 3 800 < colour ≤ 1200 1.5 ml/l H2O2/UV/134 mg/l O3
Category 4 Colour > 1200 2 ml/l H2O2/UV/183 mg/l O3

3.2 Determination of the reaction order and reaction rate coefficient

Integration method was used to determine the order of the reaction for the selected
process. Three reaction orders (zero, first and second order) were plotted. As shown in
Figures 2–4, the experimental data fitted the second-order (straight line for the
parameters removal) the best among the three orders. Only the second order curve was
shown for reason of brevity. As shown in Figure 2, the second order give the straight line
for the colour removal where R2 (coefficient of determination), were higher than R2 for
plots C and –log[C/Co] (zero and first order).
 Development of a software to simulate effluent characteristics 89

Figure 2 Colour graphical analysis for the determination of reaction order for Category 1

R2 = 0.9961
0.18 Category 1

0.16

0.14

0.12

0.1
1/Colour

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

0
0 15 30 45 60 75 90 105 120 135

Retention Time (min)

Figure 3 TOC graphical analysis for the determination of reaction order for Category 1

Category 1 R2 = 0.6141
0.14
0.12
0.1
1/T O C

0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
0 15 30 45 60 75 90 105 120 135
Retention Time (min)

Figure 4 COD graphical analysis for the determination of reaction order for Category 1

Category 1 R2 = 0.9194
0.05
0.045
0.04
0.035
0.03
1/C O D

0.025
0.02
0.015
0.01
0.005
0
0 15 30 45 60 75 90 105 120 135
Retention Time (min)
90 A. Al-Kdasi et al.

R2 for the second, third and fourth categories are shown in Table 2. Reaction rate
coefficients were determined for colour at the different retention times for the different
categories. Table 2 shows reaction rate coefficients for colour at the different retention
time for the different categories. These reaction rate coefficients were utilised in
TexTreat to predict the residual of parameters undergoing AOPs.

Table 2 Reaction rate coefficient for colour removal at different retention times

Reaction rate coefficient

Categories R2
15 min 30 min 60 min
Category 1 0.0015205 0.0014929 0.0012348 0.9961
Category 2 0.0010198 0.0009644 0.0009576 0.9769
Category 3 0.0004342 0.0005370 0.0006033 0.9912
Category 4 0.0000977 0.0001482 0.0002188 0.9614

The reaction orders for TOC and COD were determined and the reaction rate coefficients
were evaluated as well. As shown in Figures 3–4, TOC and COD removal data fit the
second-order quite well in which R2 was higher than R2 for zero and first-order. R2 for the
second, third and fourth categories are shown in Table 3.

Table 3 Reaction rate coefficients for TOC and COD removals

Reaction rate coefficient

Categories R2
15 min 30 min 60 min
TOC
Category 1 0.002187 0.0018628 0.0009978 0.614
Category 2 0.0014545 0.0010726 0.0009206 0.961
Category 3 0.0013813 0.0010085 0.0008118 0.981
Category 4 0.0003819 0.0004395 0.0004803 0.998
COD
Category 1 0.0008333 0.0004605 0.0003293 0.919
Category 2 0.0006871 0.0004825 0.0004198 0.984
Category 3 0.0006030 0.0006792 0.000621 0.893
Category 4 0.0001502 0.000233 0.0003635 0.955

The reaction rate coefficients for TOC and COD were evaluated at different retention
time for all the categories. Table 3 shows the reaction rate coefficients for TOC and COD
at different retention time for all the different categories. The entire reaction rate
coefficients were used to get the relationship between the reaction rate coefficients and
parameters and then used in the TexTreat to determine the values of the parameters after
the different retention time of AOPs.
Once the reaction rate and coefficient are known, the second integrated form could be
used. The concentration of the sample could be determined at selected retention time
treatment of AOPs if the initial concentration of parameter, retention time and reaction
rate coefficient are known. The integrated form for-second order can be written as
follows:
 Development of a software to simulate effluent characteristics 91

1 1
− = kt (1)
C CO

1 1
= + kt (2)
C CO

C = CO / (1 + k * t *CO ) (3)

where
C = concentration of constituent
CO = concentration of constituent at zero time
k = reaction rat coefficient, (mg/L3) n–1/min
t = time

3.3 Determination of the best fitting regression equation

Relationship between different values of the parameters and their rate constants were
determined at different retention times. For each parameter, three formulas were
determined (first for the 15 min and second for 30 min and the last for 60 min). SPSS was
used to determine the best fitting curve and the regression equations. The second-order
was the best equation that adequately describes the relationship between the
concentration of parameters and 1/k. The coefficients of determinations (R2) were more
than 0.9 and the standard errors were around zero with the second regression equations.
This indicated all the input data fitted the second-order very well and that since all the R2
values for all regression coefficients were all very close to unity, it implied that all these
equations are applicable for data input.
Figures 5–7 show the regression equations fitted between different parameters at
15 min and 1/k using Microsoft Excel. All regression fitting were similar to SPSS
regression. The regression equations at the different retention times were written in the
TexTreat code. Table 4 shows the regression equations and R2 at different retention time.

Figure 5 Relationship between 1/k and colour at 15 min

y = 5E-05x 2 + 1.8787x - 148.85
12000
R2 = 0.9982
10000
8000
Data
1/K

6000 Equation plot

4000
2000
0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
Colour
92 A. Al-Kdasi et al.

Figure 6 Relationship between 1/k and TOC at 15 min

y = 0.6153x2 - 21.382x + 685.15
3000 R2 = 0.9943
2500

2000

1500
1/k

Data
1000
Equation plot
500

0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
TOC

Figure 7 Relationship between 1/k and COD at 15 min

y = 0.2736x2 - 44.725x + 3103.2

7000
R2 = 0.9987
6000
5000
4000
1/K

3000 Data
2000 Equation plot

1000
0
50 70 90 110 130 150 170 190 210 230 250
COD

Table 4 Regression equations

Parameter Time Regression equations R2

Colour 15 min Y=(5E-05x2 + 1.8787x – 148.85)–1 0.998
2 –1
30 min Y=(–2E-05x + 1.4466x + 103.5) 0.999
60 min Y=(–4E-05x2 + 1.0801x + 382.33)–1 0.998
TOC 15 min Y=(0.6153x2 – 21.382x + 685.15)–1 0.994
30 min Y=(0.1339x2 + 17.1x + 197.21)–1 0.985
60 min Y=(0.1967x2 + 0.44x + 912.68)–1 1
COD 15 min Y=(0.2736x2 – 44.725x + 3103.2)–1 0.999
30 min Y=(0.3133x2 – 80.454x + 6706.6)–1 0.989
60 min Y=(0.3196x2 – 98.492x + 8864.7)–1 0.999
 Development of a software to simulate effluent characteristics 93

3.4 Formulation of computer algorithm

All equations that determined the removal of colour, TOC and COD at the different
retention time for the parameters at different retention times were written in TexTreat
code. The program was written in standard Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 and distributed in
the source code. The computational of the mathematical models for the result estimation
was calculated by using VB program code.
The main interface has three buttons (enter, information and exit) as shown in
Figure 8. The enter button allows the user to go into the decision support interface for
textile wastewater treatment. The information button provides the user detailed
description about TexTreat. It is designed using front page and HTML (hyper text
markup language). The exit button is used to close the TexTreat.

Figure 8 The main and submenus interfaces (see online version for colours)
94 A. Al-Kdasi et al.

The decision support interface is used to insert the characteristics of textile biotreated
wastewater. The decision support interface of TexTreat contains three main stages. The
different stages and instructions to use the TexTreat are shown in Figure 9. In the first
stage, input data stage, the characteristics of the biotreated textile wastewater were
inserted to the processes of running the TexTreat. In the input data stage, different
buttons and text boxes for different parameters of characteristics of textile wastewater
and the run (process) of the program were used. In the second stage, the required
treatment method is achieved in text box. This stage also has buttons to estimate the
results by using the determination method. In the final stage, the estimated results using
the determination method appear at different text boxes. The results estimated appear for
different parameters (colour, TOC and COD) in different retention time (15, 30 and
60 min). Three different separated columns were used to show the result for the different
retention time for the different parameters.

Figure 9 Flowchart of instructions of using the TexTreat (see online version for colours)

Figure 10 shows the TexTreat algorithm. An algorithm is basically a succession of

instructions or a process used for calculation and data processing. At the beginning of the
algorithm sequence, data pertaining to characteristics of wastewater are put into the
TexTreat. After commencement of a run, TexTreat will basically determine the level of
hydrogen peroxide/UV needed based on two main parameters, namely, colour and total
 Development of a software to simulate effluent characteristics 95

carbon. Subsequent to initiation of ‘treatment’, the characteristics of the effluent will be

predicted. The TC and colour values for the algorithm are obtained from Table 1.

Figure 10 Flow diagram of the TexTreat algorithm

96 A. Al-Kdasi et al.

3.5 Validation of TexTreat and process treatment options

3.5.1 Sample collection and characteristics
Three different textile wastewater factories were applied as database test for TexTreat.
The characteristics of raw and biotreated wastewater for the different factories are shown
in Table 5. All factories show different characteristics in wastewater which are ideal for
the purpose of validation.

Table 5 The characteristics of raw and biotreated wastewater for the validation purpose

Pacific peninsula Ramatex textiles

Kim fashion knitwear
Parameter textile industrial
Raw Biotreated Raw Biotreated Raw Biotreated
Colour 486 326 1744 1200 1119 680
TOC 138 23.3 195 41.4 236 46.12
COD 563 134 676 154 689 136
Note: All unites mg/l except colour PtCo.

3.5.2 Software validation

Based on the characteristics obtained from the biotreated process in textile wastewaters of
different industries, TexTreat had recommended different methods of advanced oxidation
process to be used. Based on the characteristics of biotreated wastewater of Kim Fashion
Knitwear, Pacific Peninsula Textile and Ramatex Textile Industrial, 0.25 ml/l of
H2O2/UV, 1.5 ml/l of H2O2/134 mg/l of O3/UV and 0.75 ml/l of H2O2/50 mg/l of O3/UV
were recommended, respectively. Figure 11 shows the predicted and lab results of colour
obtained using the recommended methods. Lab result shows that obtained colour were 0,
41 and 0 PtCo after 60 min while simulated results using TextTreat were 12, 26 and
18 PtCo for Kim Fashion Knitwear, Pacific Peninsula Textile and Ramatex Textile
Industrial, respectively. The difference in terms of removal between TexTreat predicted
results and lab results was lower than 4%.

Figure 11 TexTreat and lab result of colour value

1400 Kim software result

Kim lab result
1200 Pacific software result
Pacific lab result
1000 Ramatex software result
Ramatex lab result
Colour PtCo

800

600

400

200

0
0 15 30 45 60 75
-200
Retention Time (min)
 Development of a software to simulate effluent characteristics 97

As shown in Figure 12, lab results of the TOC of biotreated textile wastewater after
advanced oxidation of Kim Fashion Knitwear, Pacific Peninsula Textile and Ramatex
Textile Industrial were 8, 16 and 18 mg/l while the predicted results were 9, 14 15 mg/l,
respectively. Figure 13 shows the lab and simulated results using TextTreat of COD.
After 60 min, COD of the lab results were 31, 34 and 36 mg/l whereas the simulated
results were 20, 19 and 20 mg/l for Kim Fashion Knitwear, Pacific Peninsula Textile and
Ramatex Textile Industrial respectively. However, the differences in terms of removal of
TOC and COD between TexTreat and lab results were lower than 6% and 11%,
respectively.

Figure 12 TexTreat and lab result of TOC value

50 Kim software result
45 Kim lab result
40 Pacific software result
Pacific lab result
35 Ramatex software result
TO C (m g/l)

30 Ramatex lab result

25
20
15
10
5
0
0 15 30 45 60 75
Retention Time (min)

Figure 13 TexTreat and lab result of COD value

180 Kim software result
Kim lab result
160 Pacific software result
140 Pacific lab result
Ramatex software result
120
Ramatex lab result
COD (mg/l)

100
80
60
40
20
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Retention Time (min)

4 Conclusions

Regression equations related to the formulation of the process treatment options were
successfully developed into a software code (TexTreat). The results have shown that
treatment process options were successfully simulated using TexTreat. The difference
between the lab results and TexTreat predicted results were less than 11%. It was also
shown that the applied GUI and algorithm were simple and therefore will be useful to aid
98 A. Al-Kdasi et al.

in training of wastewater technicians. While it is understandable that the characteristics of

textile wastewater are statistically more varied from parameters presented here, it is fair
to imply that prediction of COD, TOC and colour effluent parameters using TexTreat will
significantly aid in decision support regarding the type and level of oxidative treatment
most suitable to treat textile wastewater. TexTreat could also be used to predict the
capability of the combined advanced oxidation process to treatment plants of any factory
textile plants in Malaysia.

References
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