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Environmental impacts of textile industries

January 2009

Authors:

Parvathi Chokalingam

Anna University of Technology, Coimbatore

Thiyagarajan Maruthavanan

Sona College of Technology, Salem, India

Prakash C

Indian Institute of Handloom Technology

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General
  Environmental impacts of textile industries
Significant financial saving and environmental improvements can be made by relatively low-cost and
straightforward interventions in the textile industry, and this improves the quality of products and minimises the
cost of production, say C Parvathi, T Maruthavanan and C Prakash. 
Textile processing industry is characterised not only by the large volume of water required
for various unit operations but also by the variety of chemicals used for various processes.
There is a long sequence of wet processing stages requiring inputs of water, chemical and
energy and generating wastes at each stage. The other feature of this industry, which is a
backbone of fashion garment, is large variation in demand of type, pattern and colour
combination of fabric resulting into significant fluctuation in waste generation volume and
load. Textile processing generates many waste streams, including liquid, gaseous and solid
wastes, some of which may be hazardous. The nature of the waste generated depends on
the type of textile facility, the processes and technologies being operated, and the types of
fibres and chemicals used. The overview on the amounts of waste generated within the
textile processes are summarised in Table 1.
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Textile industry overview

The textile industry is a significant contributor to many national economies, encompassing both small and large-scale

operations worldwide. In terms of its output or production and employment, the textile industry is one of the largest industries

in the world.

The textile manufacturing process is characterised by the high consumption of resources

like water, fuel and a variety of chemicals in a long process sequence that generates a

significant amount of waste. The common practices of low process efficiency result in

substantial wastage of resources and a severe damage to the environment. The main

environmental problems associated with textile industry are typically those associated with

water body pollution caused by the discharge of untreated effluents. Other environmental

issues of equal importance are air emission, notably Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)’s

and excessive noise or odour as well as workspace safety.

Air

pollution

Most processes performed in textile mills produce atmospheric emissions. Gaseous emissions have been identified as the

second greatest pollution problem (after effluent quality) for the textile industry. Speculation concerning the amounts and

types of air pollutants emitted from textile operations has been widespread but, generally, air emission data for textile

manufacturing operations are not readily available. Air pollution is the most difficult type of pollution to sample, test, and

quantify in an audit.

Air emissions can be classified according to the nature of their sources:

Point sources:

• Boilers

• Ovens

• Storage tanks

Diffusive:

• Solvent-based

• Wastewater treatment

• Warehouses

• Spills

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Textile mills usually generate nitrogen and sulphur oxides from boilers. Other significant

sources of air emissions in textile operations include resin finishing and drying operations,

printing, dyeing, fabric preparation, and wastewater treatment plants. Hydrocarbons are

emitted from drying ovens and from mineral oils in high-temperature drying/curing. These

processes can emit formaldehyde, acids, softeners, and other volatile compounds.

Residues from fibre preparation sometimes emit pollutants during heat setting processes.

Carriers and solvents may be emitted during dyeing operations depending on the types of

dyeing processes used and from wastewater treatment plant operations. Carriers used in

batch dyeing of disperse dyes may lead to volatilisation of aqueous chemical emulsions

during heat setting, drying, or curing stages. Acetic acid and formaldehyde are two major emissions of concern in textiles.

The major sources of air pollution in the textile industry are summarised in Table 2.

Water pollution

The textile industry uses high

volumes of water throughout its

operations, from the washing of

fibres to bleaching,dyeing and

washing of finished products. On

average, approximately 200

litres of water are required to

produce l kg of textiles (Table

3). The large volumes of

wastewater generated also

contain a wide variety of chemicals, used throughout processing.

These can cause damage if not properly treated before being

discharged into the environment. Of all the steps involved in

textiles processing, wet processing creates the highest volume of

wastewater.

The aquatic toxicity of textile industry wastewater varies

considerably among production facilities. The sources of aquatic

toxicity can include salt, surfactants, ionic metals and their metal

complexes, toxic organic chemicals, biocides and toxic anions. Most textile dyes have low aquatic toxicity. On the other

hand, surfactants and related compounds, such as detergents, emulsifiers and dispersants are used in almost each textile

process and can be an important contributor to effluent aquatic toxicity, BOD and foaming.

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Solid waste pollution

The primary residual wastes

generated from the textile industry are

non-hazardous. These include scraps

of fabric and yarn, off-specification

yarn and fabric and packaging waste.

There are also wastes associated with

the storage and production of yarns

and textiles, such as chemical storage

drums, cardboard reels for storing

fabric and cones used to hold yarns

for dyeing and knitting. Cutting room waste generates a high volume of

fabric scraps, which can often be reduced by increasing fabric utilisation

efficiency in cutting and sewing.

Table 4 summarises solid wastes associated with various textile

manufacturing processes.

Conclusion

Cleaner production is an attractive approach to tackle environmental

problems associated with industrial production and poor material

efficiency. Since the cleaner production approach has been successfully

implemented in some areas in the textile sector, it shows that significant

financial saving and environmental improvements can be made by

relatively low-cost and straightforward interventions. This improves the

quality of products and minimises the cost of production, enabling the

branch to compete in the global market. Moreover, Cleaner Production

also improves the company’s public image by highlighting the steps it

has taken to protect the environment.

Note: For detailed version of this article please refer the print version of The Indian Textile Journal November 2009 issue.

C Parvathi

Department of Chemistry

Knowledge Institute of Technology

Kakapalayam

Salem 637 504.

T Maruthavanan

Department of Chemistry (SONA STARCH)

Sona College of Technology

Salem.

C Prakash

Department of Fashion Technology

Sona College of Technology

Salem.

published November , 2009

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