A Three-Stage, Completely Sustainable Process Addressing Industrial Water Waste Treatment Management: The Case of the Sorption of Methylene Blue in Column Experiments

: A detailed study regarding the optimization of a complete system for the purification of water waste is presented. Three main concerns are addressed: the nature of the absorbing material, the efficiency dependence on scale and the management of the final waste of the assembly. These three points have to be optimized in the best acceptable way from an environmental point of view. Subsequently, the wet filling material, comprised of the absorbent and the absorbed dye, was buried in dry soil, promoting soil bacterial and fungal growth. The absorbance of CO 2 was determined. The use of natural vegetative material as absorbents of chemical dyes in industrial water waste is an environmentally friendly solution. Combination with the utilization of the final solid waste as fertilizer is an optimum solution, promoting sustainability within an industrial ecology framework. The adsorption column scale-up studied herein, for the removal of basic dyes from wastewaters, using methylene blue as a representative adsorbate and barley straw as a representative waste biomass adsorbent, was successful, as regards consistency and reliability (judged by low absolute and relative standard deviation) of results.