Sources of Persistent Organic Pollutants in Textile Industry; Amounts, Fate, and Treatment Methods

Nowadays, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) gain importance among conventional pollutants due to their toxic, non-biodegradable, cancerogenic, and persistent characteristics. The use and production of some POPs are banned or limited in Stockholm Convention; however, they are still present in the environment, even at the Arctic regions. They can be transferred with the food chain and bioaccumulate. The textile industry is one of the sources of POPs in the environment. Especially, dyeing, printing, and finishing processes are significant POPs contributors in the textile industry. Generally, conventional treatment methods do not focus on removing POPs; thus, pollutants can reach the environment. In the environment, POPs can undergo photolysis, sorption onto the soil, transfer, volatilize, and partly biodegrade based on their physicochemical properties. Some physicochemical, biological, and advanced processes can effectively remove POPs. This chapter aims to identify POPs in the textile industry, their fate in the environment, and suitable treatment methods for their removal.