Decolorization of Distillery Effluent Using Poly(Vinyl Chloride) and Cellulose Acetate Phthalate as Adsorbents

Decolorization of distillery effluents, using low cost polymer adsorbents, is one of the challenging areas for environmental technologists. Untreated distillery effluents are harmful to the environment, causing foul smell, spoiling fresh water sources and killing aquatic life. The color of distillery effluents have been decolorized by using polymer based adsorbents, such as poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and cellulose acetate phthalate (CAP), which are water insoluble, easily available, and cheap. In the present article, special emphasis is given to studies such as the effect of contact time, dosage amount, dilution, and the variation in the amount of sample on the degree of decolorization of the effluent. The decolorization of a distillery effluent was monitored by using UV/Visible spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). From these studies, it was noticed that moderate to fair results were obtained and it was also found that CAP was a better adsorbent, compared to PVC, for decolorization of distillery effluents.