Understanding Dye Pollution and Its Impact on the Environment
摘要
There have been rising concerns about the increasing concentrations of dyes in various environmental matrices most especially soil and wastewater. Dyes are employed for various purposes in different industries such as textile industries, food production industries, paper manufacturing, and cosmetics among others. Thus industrial activities constitute the major sources of dyes in the environment. Environmental pollution by dyes has become of serious concern due to the deleterious impact on the ecosystem and the environment at large. The removal of dye therefore becomes necessary. Various methods have been employed for the removal of dyes some of which include physical, chemical, and biological approaches some of the methods have their inherent limitations and challenges. Some of the physical approaches include filtration, flocculation/coagulation, and adsorption, while chemical methods include photocatalysis, electro-Fenton, and ozonation. Microorganisms and enzymes are employed in biological methods of removing dyes. This chapter presents a comprehensive overview on understanding dye pollution. It discusses the concept of dyes, sources of dyes, and types of dyes. It also highlights the environmental and health effects of dye pollution. Some recent reports in this regard are also presented.