One serious environmental problem is industrial waste water that is highly coloured. It gravely stains the waterways and prevents the sun from photosynthesizing the plant species under the water by blocking the sunlight. Fortunately, researchers in Algeria have discovered a very simple and unsophisticated way to solve the problem; using orange peel. Results in their studies show that orange peels can remove acidic dyes in water from industrial wastes. Their findings were described in an issue of the International Journal of Environment and Pollution.
According to Benaïssa Houcine of the Laboratory of Sorbent Materials and Water Treatment, Department of Chemistry-Faculty of Sciences, at The University of Tlemcen, in Algeria, industries extensively use synthetic dyes such as dye houses, textile dryers, paper printers, color photography, and additives in petroleum products. He further added that these industries’ emissions are highly coloured and that discarding these wastes into the environment can be tremendously harmful. Their existence in watercourses is visually not acceptable, and it can be seen at a low concentration of one ppm (part per million).
Orange peel which is a common by-product of both food and agriculture was considered by Benaïssa when he was looking for a substitute to chemical treatment of waste in water. He now has tested waste orange peel to remove and absorb four acid dyes from a virtual polluted water sample.
The research explains that the time of absorption is dependent on the preliminary concentration of the dye in addition to the chemical structure of the specific dye that is being tested. However, the absorption only happens at 25 degrees Celsius rather than in a higher temperature. On the other hand, strong dyes like Erionyl Yellow, Nylosane Blue, Erionyl Red and Nylomine Red were absorbed from 40 to 70 milligrams per gram from the samples of orange peels.
Benaïssa adds that data in laboratory-scale studies show that orange peel has an enough potential for removing dyes from sedimentary solutions in a wide range of concentrations. It can be used as a cheaper, abundant and natural source for taking out dyes from industrial waste water and can be a low-cost better alternative for the more costly material. It can also be very effective in taking out additional dangerous and undesirable species that exist in the waste discharges.
Presently, additional research is needed to be able to enhance and expand the process for the cleanup of dye effluents in the real world.
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