The complexity of textile manufacturing requires many production processes using a variety of toxic constituents. Wastewater from the different production units contains chemical compounds requiring expertise to design the appropriate treatment process.

For the majority of the wastewater treatment facilities, process design is based on wastewater sample analysis and lab-scale simulations at the state-of-the-art Waterleau R&D center. In the Sapphire Finishing Millls process design phase, wastewater samples were shipped from Lahore to Waterleau to determine the most efficient process.

Each day, SFML treats 9.600m³ of wastewater or the equivalent of 15 tons of COD load. The new infrastructure has been integrated in the existing wastewater treatment facility. To reduce civil costs, a large glass coated steel tank divided into 4 partitions, serves as the aerobic reactor.

An integrated Fenton-coagulation/flocculation process is applied just before the physico-chemical treatment using KROFTA® Dissolved Air Flotation technology. After a final disinfection step, the treated waste is reused as surface cleaning water.