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Economic and cross-media effect analyses of best available techniques for caustic recovery from mercerization textile wastewater

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Abstract

Caustic can be recovered from textile mercerization wastewaters by evaporation or membrane filtration. The main objective of this study was to evaluate and compare these two processes in environmental and economic terms, employing the methodology presented in the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Reference Document on Economics and Cross-Media Effects (ECM). Cross-media effects for caustic recovery alternatives were calculated on environmental themes including potentials of human toxicity (HTP), aquatic toxicity (ATP), global warming (GWP), acidification (AP), eutrophication (EP), ozone depletion (ODP), and photochemical ozone creation (POCP). For all the environmental themes, membrane filtration exhibited better environmental performance (lower environmental impact) than evaporation. Due to relatively dilute caustic solution to be obtained by membrane processes, ‘membrane filtration + evaporation’ option was also investigated. Findings showed that combination of membrane filtration and evaporation reduces the environmental benefits of membrane filtration alone. The cost-effectiveness values of evaporation and membrane filtration were calculated as 375–625 and 457–685 USD/ton caustic, respectively. Considering the mass of caustic recovered, unit total cost, net present value, internal rate of return, and payback period parameters, it was concluded that evaporation process is more cost-effective than membrane filtration with lower annual unit total cost and payback period. Evaporation may be preferred over membrane filtration in cases where concentrated caustic solution must be obtained for mercerization, although evaporation exhibits lower environmental performance. In cases where dilute caustic solution is adequate or the recovered dilute caustic is to be mixed with new concentrated caustic solution for further use in production processes, membrane filtration can be preferred over evaporation.

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Data availability

Enquiries about data availability should be directed to the authors.

Abbreviations

AP:

Acidification potential

ATP:

Aquatic toxicity potential

BAT:

Best available techniques

Béo :

Baumé

BREF:

Best available techniques reference documents

C 0 :

Cost at base year

CED:

Cumulative energy demand

CFC:

Chlorofluorocarbons

CO2 :

Carbon dioxide

COD:

Chemical oxygen demand

EC:

European Commission

ECM:

Economics and cross-media effects reference document

ELV:

End of Life Vehicles Directive

EP:

Eutrophication potential

EU:

European Union

GHG:

Greenhouse gas

GWP:

Global warming potential

HBFC:

Hydrobromofluorocarbons

HCFC:

Hydrochlorofluorocarbons

HTP:

Human toxicity potential

IED:

Industrial Emissions Directive

IPPC:

Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control

IRR:

Internal rate of return

MF:

Microfiltration

n :

Estimated economic lifetime of the equipment

NaOH:

Caustic

NF:

Nanofiltration

NH4 + :

Ammonium

NO2 − :

Nitrite

NO2 :

Nitrogen dioxide

NO3 − :

Nitrate

NPV:

Net present value

ODP:

Ozone depletion potential

PNEC:

Predicted no-effect concentration

PO4 3 − :

Phosphate ion

POCP:

Photochemical ozone creation potential

r :

Interest (discount) rate per period

SO2 :

Sulfur dioxide

TSS:

Total suspended solids

UF:

Ultrafiltration

USD:

United States Dollar

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Funding

The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Engineering, Suleyman Demirel University, 32260, Isparta, Turkey

    Meltem Balkan & Mehmet Kitis

  2. Department of Environmental Protection Technologies, Isparta University of Applied Sciences, 32510, Isparta, Turkey

    Emrah Ozturk

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  1. Meltem Balkan
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by MB, EO and MK. The first draft of the manuscript was written by MB, EO and MK. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Emrah Ozturk.

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Balkan, M., Ozturk, E. & Kitis, M. Economic and cross-media effect analyses of best available techniques for caustic recovery from mercerization textile wastewater. Clean Techn Environ Policy 25, 1043–1058 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-022-02424-9

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