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Sustainable Wet Processing—An Alternative Source for Detoxifying Supply Chain in Textiles
Abstract
This chapter discusses the sustainable wet processing techniques and their environmental impacts in the textile industries. Wet processing is a main sector in textile industries, which affects the end product and their quality of textiles. Large amount of water, chemicals and energy are required for various stages of wet processing operation. In this wet processing, Water is used as the solvent for the chemicals and dyes, because of its low price and availability. But, during the process, water gets polluted with chemicals and unspent dye stuffs and gives an end product as effluent. The toxic effluent is not easy to treat or biodegrade and is harmful to humans and animals. This kind of contamination and health problems arises normally in the conventional method of wet processing. So, the alternative methods are necessary to improve the sustainability of the textile wet processing. In the recent time, the new eco-friendly methods have been developed and are preferred mostly instead of conventional methods. Plasma, ultrasonic, laser, biotechnology digital inkjet printing are the new innovated eco-friendly technologies, which provide more advantages to wet processing. In these methods, there are no any harmful chemical, wastewater and mechanical hazards to textiles, etc. This study also clearly discusses the various stages of wet processing operations such as desizing, scouring, bleaching, mercerizing, dyeing, finishing and printing with a new innovated trend and their eco-friendly procedures and technologies on the wet processing.
... The environmental impacts of traditionally used natural and synthetic fibers have been reduced by organic or eco-fibers like organic silk, organic wool, organic cotton, hemp, jute fiber, bamboo, and pineapple fiber. As an alternative green approach, the acceptability of using green fibers, green reagents, green solvents, and green finishing agents is on the rise especially in technically advanced countries (Kumar and Gunasundari, 2018). Recent developments in textile unit operations, well-organized processing with optimized parameters for dyeing and printing, bioprocessing, involvement of reusing, and recycling methodologies are welcome advances to make textile processing greener and sustainable (Saxena et al., 2017). ...
... More commonly used oxidative agents like sodium chlorite, sodium hypochlorite, and hydrogen peroxide decompose in alkaline medium to produce active oxygen which in fact decomposes coloring substances. The excessive amount of these bleaching agents increases the contamination load of wastewater effluents discharge after bleaching step (Kumar and Gunasundari, 2018). ...
... Generally, it is used as washing and cleaning agent, for steam generation, and as a medium for solution of chemicals. Wet processing of 1 kg fabric consumes about 50-100 L of water (Kumar and Gunasundari, 2018). At the end of textile wet processing, wastewater effluents containing unfixed dyes, washing agents, finishing agents, and other organic or inorganic auxiliary salts are discharged into the open land, putting plants, human health, and ecosystem at risk ( dissolve oxygen content (DO) and increase pH, total suspended solids (TSS), total dissolved solids (TDS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and biological oxygen demand (BOD) (Kant, 2012). ...
... Textile fibres and fabrics undergo a number of long production and manufacturing processes before they could be used for preparing garments or apparel. Textile wet preparatory processes, which consist of scouring, bleaching, colouration and finishing, are carried out in water-based systems and deemed indispensable to improve the performance and utility of textile materials (Kumar and Gunasundari, 2018). Almost all dyes, speciality and finishing chemicals used in textile applications are incorporated into the textile substrates from water bath, through either solution, dispersion or emulsion. ...
... In addition, textile industries employ various chemicals in processing, from the initial materials to finished products. These chemicals are expensive and pose significant threats to the environment, the ecosystem and aquifers and to manufacturing workers' health (Ripple et al., 2019;Shen and Smith, 2015;Saxena et al., 2017;Kumar and Gunasundari, 2018). This has caused serious concern and necessitated the inclusion of safer and environmentally friendly, green alternatives. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to discuss issues associated with the application big data analytics for decision-making about the introduction of new technologies in the textile industry in the developing world.
Design/methodology/approach
The leader–member exchange theoretical framework to consider the nature of the relationships between owners and followers to identify the potential issues that affect decision-making was used. However, decisions to adopt such environmentally friendly biotechnologies are hampered by the lack of awareness amongst owners, intergenerational conflict and cultural impediments.
Findings
The article found that the limited use of this valuable technological resource is linked to several factors, mainly cultural, generational and educational factors. The article exposes two key new technologies that could help the industry reduce its carbon footprint.
Originality/value
The study suggests more awareness raising amongst plant owners and greater empowerment of new generations in decision-making in the industry. This study, therefore, bears significant implications for environmental sustainability in the developing world where the textile industry is one of the major polluting industries affecting water quality and human health.
... Currently, multiple strategies are being adopted in textile processing units to minimize environmental pollution. As an alternative green approach, the acceptability of using green fibers, green reagents, green solvents, and green finishing agents is on the rise especially in technically advanced countries [12]. ...
Wastewater is a major environmental weakness throughout the world. Mainly, the increment of textile industries causes the increment of wastewater in the environment which is the most serious threat for the living organisms. The textile industries use different types of synthetic and natural dyes for its functions and discharge large amounts of highly colored wastewater. This highly colored textile wastewater harshly affects human or living creature health as well as photosynthetic function in plant. It also has an impact on aquatic life due to low light penetration and oxygen consumption. So, this wastewater must be treated before its discharge. Among many treatment techniques, three promising methods such as adsorption, biodegradation and advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been discussed in this paper. In comparison, highly recommended methods are the biological method and AOPs especially Fenton chemistry.
... An environmental analysis by Costa et al. found that natural dyeing of cotton had approximately half the impact of synthetic dyeing for freshwater ecotoxicity and less than half the impact for human carcinogenic toxicity (Costa et al. 2021). However, natural dyes often still require synthetic chemicals and heavy metals to attach the dyes, use large amounts of water, and have lower colour fastness and colour reproducibility compared to synthetic dyes (Khattab et al. 2020;Kumar and Gunasundari 2018). Reducing the amount of dye required, or eliminating the use of dyes, would have the largest positive impact on the sustainability of textile fibres. ...
Bicomponent regenerated cellulose fibres (bRCF) have been created in a core–shell configuration from waste textiles. Textile dyeing and colouration is known to be a major contributor to the environmental impact of producing textiles and this needs to be addressed for textiles to become more sustainable. Coloration of the bRCF here was achieved by utilizing coloured textile waste in the shell component whilst using white cotton waste in the core. The shell and core extrusion speed and thus shell and core diameter were varied and optimised for colour strength. The optimised bRCF was made up of 49.6% dyed material yet was able to achieve the same colour strength as the single component regenerated cellulose fibre (RCF). The potential benefit of this approach is the reduced amount of coloured material required to colour these recycled fibres without any sacrifice in colour intensity. The mechanical properties of the bRCF were similar to the single component RCF with tensile strengths of 115–116 MPa and maximum elongations of 15.2–17.5%. The morphology of the bRCF was similar to single component regenerated cellulose fibres, while optical micrographs showed the discrete coloured core–shell structure of the bRCF. This manuscript details the fibre properties, dye savings and spinning approach.
... Such lubrication behavior negatively affects the processing stages of bleaching, dyeing, and printing. 6 If these impurities are not properly removed, they can show up, after processing by way of inadequate hydrophilicity, insufficient bleach effects, fabric damage in the course of bleach, precipitation in the treatment liquors, roll deposition, brown specks due to the seed coating, unlevel dyeing/printing, and poor colorfastness. The gray preparation removes all the impurities as completely as possible and in particular as uniformly as possible without causing excessive damage to cotton. ...
The conventional single-stage pre-treatment technique requires more electricity, is more expensive, polluting, harmful,
and unhealthy because it uses artificial chemical compounds and auxiliaries. This research focuses on environmentally
friendly and cost-effective textiles scouring-bleaching of cotton fabric with saponin and wild yam (Dioscorea villosa L.)
root powder. The root of the wild yam contains alkaloids, amylose starch, and saponin. The investigations discovered
important findings in cotton wet processing by developing a safe, water- and electricity-saving scouring method. Cotton
fabric, along with the utilization of wild yam roots resulted in a significant cost effective method. As a result, it was
used as a natural surfactant, foam stabilizer, and emulsifier in this scouring. The single stage Bot scouring was optimized
with 40 g of untamed yam and a weight to volume (MLR in W/V) (weight of fabric to water) ratio of 1:10 at 80°C
for 60min on a pH of 5–7. The treatment’s effectiveness was measured using a weight reduction percentage and an
absorbency test (a drop of water, capillary upward thrust, sinking time). In terms of weight reduction, water absorbency,
capillary boost, as well as amazing friendliness, scouring cotton fabric with wild yam powder at optimized scouring
conditions is comparable to scouring cotton fabric with 30% (at the weight of cloth) caustic soda. To verify the fabric
samples’ resistance to microbiological development and strength maintenance, wild yam and Caustic soda scoured
cotton fabrics were subjected to a soil burial test. The fabric sample scoured with wild yam has a much lesser standard
deviations of toughness and elongation at break than the caustic soda scoured and untreated control samples. The Single
stage scouring of cotton fa
... These methods include alkaline hydrolysis 5 , aminolysis 11 , applying natural biopolymer 12 , gas treatment 13 , silanization, UV treatment, flame treatment, and tethering molecules in bioconjugation 14 . However, the surface modification through wet chemical processes is non-specific, changing the bulk property, consuming high amounts of water and energy, and releases hazardous effluent to the environment 15 . In addition, flame and UV treatment affects the optical properties of the polymer 14 . ...
In this study, vacuum oxygen plasma was applied to enhance the comfort properties of polyester/cotton (P/C) blend fabric (65/35%) for tropical climatic conditions. In addition, air and argon plasma were used to examine the aging effect by TEGEWA drop test. Taguchi method was employed to design the experiment and analyze the largest influential variable as well as optimal parameter levels. More attention was given to the evaluation of wickability, water vapour permeability/resistance, air permeability and surface characterization. Results revealed that all plasma treated comfort properties enhanced except air permeability of experimental runs at 1O2 and 7O2. Specifically, wickability of fabric increased at least by 43.25% and 37.63% in warp and weft directions, correspondingly, within 5 min of wicking time, whereas the thermal resistance reduced at least by 20.16%. The SEM images depicted the formation of cracks, grooves, nanostructures and high degree of roughness on plasma treated surfaces.
... Textile wet processing mainly depends upon various auxiliaries, including surfactants (being chemical or biological), bleaching agents, dye fixing agents, and finishing agents (Senthil Kumar et al., 2018). In so doing, synthetic surfactants are frequently used in different processes (from Supporting information Additional supporting information may be found online in the Supporting Information section at the end of the article. ...
Conventional synthetic dispersants have extensively been used in various textile processes due to their easy availability and cost effectiveness. Nonetheless, due to environmental concerns, researchers are trying to explore ecofriendly dispersants such as biosurfactants as substituents to synthetic surfactants. Currently, biosurfactants are not economical due to the cost of their downstream processing and laborious purification steps. Herein, we employed as‐collected cell‐free culture broth (CFCB) of a Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain being an indigenous source of rhamnolipid surfactants (as biodispersant) for disperse‐dyeing of polyester fabric in comparison with some commercially available synthetic surfactants (such as Triton X‐100, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide “CTAB” and sodium dodecyl sulfate ‘SDS’). The efficiency of biosurfactant‐enriched culture broth was compared with that of synthetic surfactants for the said purpose. In addition to conventional testing, dyed fabrics were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x‐ray diffraction, and surface resistivity analyses. It was observed that the fabric specimen dyed at 1.5% dye concentration on the weight of the fabric (o.w.f.) in the presence of CFCB (containing biosurfactant above‐CMC) resulted in excellent tensile and colorfastness properties. The SEM analysis indicated that the dyeing done in the presence of biosurfactant was safer as it did not damage the fabric surface as observed in synthetic dispersants; moreover, the mechanical and color characteristics of dyed fabric were also in the acceptable range.
... Sustainable textile processing may be an alternative in diverse areas of wet processing for instance: the use of enzymes, eco-friendly dyeing, plasma treatment and supercritical fluid technology, digital ink-jet printing, use of ultrasonic waves in place of thermal energy, recycling of process inputs, electrochemical dyeing, foam finishing, innovations in dyeing and printing machines. Concerning textile dyeing and printing, sustainable developments are and have been extensive in terms of improvements in economy, quality and energy conservation as well as in addressing environmental concerns [286]. ...
Cotton is the most significant natural fibre and has been a preferred choice of the textile industry and consumers since the industrial revolution began. The share of man-made fibres, both regenerated and synthetic fibres, has grown considerably in recent times but cotton production has also been on the rise and accounts for about half of the fibres used for apparel and textile goods. To cotton’s advantage, the premium attached to the presence of cotton fibre and the general positive consumer perception is well established, however, compared to commodity man-made fibres and high performance fibres, cotton has limitations in terms of its mechanical properties but can help to overcome moisture management issues that arise with performance apparel during active wear.
This issue of Textile Progress aims to:
• Report on advances in cotton cultivation and processing as well as improvements to conventional cotton cultivation and ginning. The processing of cotton in the textile industry from fibre to finished fabric, cotton and its blends, and their applications in technical textiles are also covered.
• Explore the economic impact of cotton in different parts of the world including an overview of global cotton trade.
• Examine the environmental perception of cotton fibre and efforts in organic and genetically-modified (GM) cotton production. The topic of naturally-coloured cotton, post-consumer waste is covered and the environmental impacts of cotton cultivation and processing are discussed. Hazardous effects of cultivation, such as the extensive use of pesticides, insecticides and irrigation with fresh water, and consequences of the use of GM cotton and cotton fibres in general on the climate are summarised and the effects of cotton processing on workers are addressed. The potential hazards during cotton cultivation, processing and use are also included.
• Examine how the properties of cotton textiles can be enhanced, for example, by improving wrinkle recovery and reducing the flammability of cotton fibre.
... Waterless dying using super critical carbon dioxide such as DyeCoo has the opportunity to completely remove water use and with that polluted wastewater from the dyeing process [10]. Digital printing offers equal benefit with regard to water use (Senthil Kumar and Gunasundari, 2018). Complete Garment knitting technologies from Stoll and Shima Seiki offers the opportunity to remove over-production in knitwear manufacturing and manage value chains in innovative ways such as the Factory Boutique Shima (Peterson and Mattila, 2010)[11], [12] On the post-consumer waste side, processes like the Blend Re: wind (de la Motte and Palme, 2018) and H&M's chemical recycling process offer new ways of chemical recycling of blended materials, which is of relevancy for the industry as many garments consist of blended materials (Morley et al., 2014)[13]. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to evaluate four research and innovation projects, namely, from the perspective of innovation for sustainable development, with a particular focus on digital tools for sales and manufacturing, minimising waste in the textile and apparel value chain and identifying possibilities for further sustainable development in the apparel and textile industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The foundation of this study is of the four research and innovation projects, which all focus on minimising waste in textile value chains, to support local manufacturing of apparel products and propose product offers that cater to more diverse needs. The main method used is action research. These projects are analysed from the perspective of innovation for sustainable development and the sustainable development goals developed by the United Nations.
Findings
The findings indicate that the projects have the potential to support further innovation for sustainable business models and support sustainable development in textile and apparel value networks, with a particular focus on minimising material waste and thus minimising energy use.
Originality/value
The value of the paper is that it shows how methods and technologies for digital sales and manufacturing and for circular value networks can contribute to business models that support sustainable development in the textile and apparel industry.
In general, the concept of sustainability refers to the long-term conservation of well-being and efficiency, and the responsible management of resources, with its environmental, economic, and social dimensions. Conventional chemical production processes based on fossil fuels such as petroleum and coal are not sustainable due to the limited supply of raw materials and the processes producing waste that has serious negative effects on the environment.
Large-scale environmental pollution from the textile industry with a long historical past has been a problem throughout history, but more recently, the intense use of permanent and hazardous chemicals has led to the creation of a greater threat to ecosystems and human health. In terms of both volumetric size and wastewater composition, textile wastewater is considered to be the most polluted waste among all industry sectors. The use of chemicals in textile finishing processes is predominantly during wet processes such as dyeing, washing, printing, and fabric finishing. Compared with the use in all sectors, it is seen that much more water is used in textile dyeing and finishing mills, 200 tons per ton of textile produced. While most of the chemicals used in textile production are nonhazardous, a relatively small proportion of chemicals are potentially dangerous, but it is a fact that a large number of hazardous chemicals are used in textile production. Dyeing, which is the process of dyeing textile materials using dyes or pigments in an aqueous environment, requires the use of a large number of chemicals, including acids or alkalis, and dyeing is usually carried out for a long time and at high temperature.
Sustainable textile production should be environmentally friendly and ensure the rational conditions of maintaining social and environmental quality by preventing pollution with greener raw materials and energy inputs or by establishing pollution control technologies.
This chapter will address environmentally friendly ways and alternatives to wet processing procedures and operations such as dyeing, washing, printing, and chemical finishing in the textile industry, along with the dyes, solvents, and other auxiliaries used.
This paper deals with the environmental impact of effluents released by denim garment washing factories in Bangladesh. Both untreated and treated effluent samples were collected from five denim washing factories identified as representative cases and were subjected to chemical testing as a part of the case study. The results were compared against the acceptable limits of parameters-chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), the potential of hydrogen (pH) and color. Findings show that COD and BOD values are well within the acceptable limit in all of the factories studied but only 20% of the factories could achieve acceptable DO levels. Around 40-60% of the studied washing factories showed evidence of improved filtration systems for TDS and TSS values, but only 40% of factories produced clear wastewater. 60% of the factories met an acceptable pH level of 6-8 before releasing their effluent to the environment. The study reveals the technical limitations of effluent treatment practices of the denim garment washing factories in Bangladesh. The findings will appeal to all stakeholders, including academics and researchers, to give serious attention to reducing environmental impact of industrial garment washing process. They will help industry practitioners with more comprehensive information to take strategic action in making denim garment washing factories in Bangladesh more sustainable.
Textile industries contribute significantly to the economy of many developing countries. Every year, these countries export millions of dollars' worth of textile products to developed countries. However, textile industries use expensive and corrosive chemicals that pose a significant threat to environmental quality and public health. This has led to serious concerns and necessitated the inclusion of safer and environmentally friendly alternatives. Consequently, bio-based processing has created a new approach utilizing biotechnological advances. This article uses evidence from the scientific literature to examine the application of industrial biotechnology in textile-processing industries, which includes enzymes, as a sustainable alternative to the harsh toxic chemicals currently used in textile processing. The article draws on evidence that enzymes offer a competitive advantage over chemicals with less resource requirements (energy and water), reduced emission and less waste. Due to high specificity, enzymes produce minimum byproducts. The implementation of enzymes in textile processing could offer environmental benefits, and improve public health and the sustainability of textiles and apparel. This article contributes to critical awareness by providing succinct information
Purpose: This article discusses issues associated with the application Big Data Analytics for decision-making about the introduction of new technologies in the textile industry in the developing world.
Methodology: We use the LMX theoretical framework to consider the nature of the relationships between owners and followers to identify the potential issues that affect decision-making. However, decisions to adopt such environmentally friendly biotechnologies are hampered by the lack of awareness among owners, intergenerational conflict and cultural impediments.
Findings: The article found that the limited use of this valuable technological resource is linked to several factors, mainly cultural, generational and educational. The article exposes two key new technologies that could help the industry reduce its carbon footprint.
Originality/Value: The study suggests more awareness raising among plant owners and greater empowerment of new generations in decision-making in the industry. This study, therefore, bears significant implications for environmental sustainability in the developing world where the textile industry is one of the major polluting industries affecting water quality and human health.
Key words: Big Data; Biotechnologies; Textile industry; Generational conflict; Environment; LMX.
The study aimed to examine the barriers to embracing enzymatic processing in the garment industry in a developing country. We used the case of Bangladesh, which has the largest garment sector in the world. The research used semi-structured interviews with ten high profile figures in the industry, comprising scientists, manufacturers, enzyme traders and policymakers. We found economic, sociocultural, informational and policy-related barriers to the adoption of enzymatic processing. Attending to each element would benefit manufacturers primarily; this will help identify its strengths and weaknesses to ensure the effective implementation of enzymatic textile processing to obtain optimum results. The study also found that manufacturers’ desire to help improve environmental performance is a factor which could motivate them in adopting green manufacturing innovation. It is expected that regulatory frameworks that encourage innovation - particularly from high social responsiveness and compliance as well as economic and financial incentives - would motivate manufacturers to develop sustainable environmental management strategies that enhance their ability to compete in global markets.
The characteristics of wastewater from textile processing operations are comprehensively reviewed. The categorisation of wastewaters proceeds through a consideration of the nature of the various industrial processes employed by the industry and the chemicals associated with these operations. Chemical pollutants arise both from the raw material itself and a broad range of additives used to produce the finished product. The industrial categories considered include sizing and desizing, weaving, scouring, bleaching, mercerizing, carbonizing, fulling, dyeing and finishing. Pollutants of concern range from non‐biodegradable highly‐coloured organic dyes to pesticides from special finishes such as insect‐proofing. It is evident that the textile wastewater chemical composition is subject to considerable change due to both the diversity in the textile processes employed and the range of chemicals employed within each industrial category.
This review discusses cotton textile process- ing and methods of treating effluent in the textile industry. Several countries, including India, have introduced strict ecological standards for textile industries. With more stringent controls expected in the future, it is essential that control measures be implemented to minimize effluent problems. Industrial textile processing comprises pretreat- ment, dyeing, printing, and finishing operations. These production processes not only consume large amounts of energy and water, but they also produce substantial waste products. This manuscript combines a discussion of waste pro- duction from textile processes, such as desizing, mercerizing, bleaching, dyeing, finishing, and printing, with a discussion of advanced methods of effluent treatment, such as electro-oxidation, bio-treatment, photochemical, and membrane processes.
This is an English translation of an original German article (see abstract 1983/2323).
The author has given a brief description of as many machines as he considered important in his survey of innovations in dyeing and finishing machines.
Escalating costs of effluent treatments incurred by the textile wet processing industry can be controlled by optimizing application processes to reduce, and in some cases to eliminate, effluent and chemical discharge. Strategies that can be used include process analysis by calculating and comparing the amount of effluent and chemical waste generated by similar processes. Procedures may be based on known technologies accepted by the industry, on technologies that are known but not widely used, and on developing technologies. Implementation of modified or new processes requires overcoming resistance to change and risk taking, but the potential economic benefits can be substantial. Optimizing dyeing and printing processes yields savings in effluent treatment and chemical disposal costs and concomitant savings in the cost of water, chemicals, and energy.
The main aim of this paper is to give a review on the state of the art of available processes for the advanced treatment of wastewater from a Textile Processing Industry (TPI). After an introduction to the specific wastewater situation of the TPI the paper reviews the options of process and production integrated measures. The available unit processes and examples of applied combinations of unit processes are described. A special place is given to the in-plant treatment, the reuse of the treated split flow or mixed wastewater and the recovery of textile auxiliaries and dyes. As a conclusion the paper gives some examples of applied and effective end-of-pipe-steps.
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