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New Technologies in Textile
Dyeing & Finishing









Source: New Cloth Market

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New Technologies in Textile Dyeing & Finishing

Source: New Cloth Market


The industry is desperately in the need of newer and very efficient dyeing/finishing and
functional treatments of textiles. There is growing awareness and readiness to adapt
new perspective on industrial upgradation of Cleaner Production Programme, such new
technologies help enterprises achieve green production and cost reduction at the same
time. Green Production has become necessary for enterprises under the upgrade and
transformation policy. Therefore there is an urgent need to promote new technologies in
textile dyeing and finishing, injecting new thoughts to the industry.

Electrochemical Process Technology

Electrochemistry refers to the use of electrical energy in initiating chemical reactions,
replacing traditional aid agents in direct chemical reactions. Taking sulphur dyes as
example, in traditional technology, sulphides (such as sodium sulphide, Na
2
S) are used as
reducing agents. Although reduction process is fast and direct, large amount of chemical
energy is wasted and wastewater with high chemical oxygen demand (COD) value is
produced, making long-term operation inefficient. If direct electrochemical reduction is
adopted, no reducing agents are needed and the COD value of wastewater can be largely
reduced, hence lowering the cost of wastewater treatment.

Direct electrochemical reduction is undoubtedly more efficient than the traditional
technology, and the underlying chemical principle is also simple. However, as the stability
and oxidising/reducing power of different chemical substances are not the same, dyes may
not be directly and effectively reduced by electrodes. Hence the scope of utilising direct
electrochemical reduction is quite narrow. The principle of indirect electrochemical
reduction is the same, but in operation another strong oxidising/reducing agent acts as
medium, which makes the technology more applicable to different kinds of dyes. Taking
indigo as example, traditional technology takes sodium dithionite (Na
2
S
2
O
4
) as a reducing
agent, and the product should be re-oxidised in the air afterwards to fix the colour. Just
like traditional reduction of sulphides, large amount of chemical energy is wasted and
wastewater with high COD value is produced.

Enterprises attempt to
reduce the amount of
sodium dithionite used in
order to lower production
cost, but such attempt
produces other difficulties
as well. For example,
injecting nitrogen can
reduce the oxidation of
sodium dithionite but is too
expensive. Adding
aldehydes or directly
powering with electricity
can improve the reducing power of sodium dithionite, but the problem of wastewater
remains.

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If indirect electrochemical reduction is adopted, the medium can replace sodium
dithionite as the reducing agent. The medium can provide both oxidizing and reducing
substances and can regenerate so that both waste and pollution can be reduced. Past
experiments show that reduction by electrolysis can save about 90 per cent of production
cost when compared with reduction by sodium dithionite.

Apart from reducing dyes, electrochemical process technology can be utilised in other
aspects. Taking bleaching as example, the core principle of electrochemical mercerizing
and bleaching is that bleaching chemicals can be produced by electrical energy and can be
regenerated; hence the process is easily controlled, waste-reducing and energy-saving.
The process can be monitored so that bleaching occurs evenly. Also, the cost and danger of
transportation is greatly reduced, particularly regarding hydrogen peroxide which is
explosive.

Another emerging project is the technology of ozone electrolysis. Ozone is strongly
oxidizing and can be used in decolourising and other waterless dye treatments (e.g. ozone
jets to prevent wearing out of jeans). As ozone can selfdecompose, it will not cause
pollution problems once carefully treated.

Supercritical Fluid Dyeing Technology

Supercritical fluid refers to the phase of a substance with both temperature and pressure
higher than the critical point (the point where liquid and gaseous phases of a substance
become indistinguishable). This phase of a substance enjoys many advantages and can
replace water in the dyeing process. The supercritical fluid normally used is carbon dioxide
(CO
2
), as the critical temperature and pressure are easier to achieve than that of other
substances. Moreover, carbon dioxide is also non-flammable without residues, so it is
suitable for industrial use.

In traditional water-dyeing technology,
textiles should undergo multiple processes
with the help of aid agents, chemical salts,
surfactants and reduction clearing agents.
In contrast, for the supercritical waterless
dyeing technology, only supercritical fluid is
needed for dyeing and circulation, after
which the pressure and temperature can be
lowered and the whole process is finished,
without producing any wastewater. Also, as
carbon dioxide automatically detaches from
textiles and remaining dyes, the latter can
be reused. More importantly, as operation
procedures are reduced, the dyeing cycle is
also shortened from several hours to 15 to 60 minutes; energy is also saved due to the
lower operational temperature.

Regarding the cost, although the equipment required for the process is quite expensive,
the supercritical substance (carbon dioxide) is cheap and the technology enjoys an overall
advantage in cost. On the other hand, although the technology is not mature enough
regarding application in natural fibres, the quality of the end-product made of synthetic
fibres is high. Overall, the effects of interactions between different textiles with
supercritical substances are yet to be fully discovered.
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Plasma Treatment Technology

When a substance in its gaseous phase absorbs enough energy, the outermost electrons in
the atoms will escape the nucleus control and become free electrons, while the atoms
become positively charged. This chemical status of a substance is called plasma. As it is
volatile, it can discharge electricity under certain physical conditions and react with other
substances (including textiles), leading to various chemical fusions and fissions. These
effects can alter the surface structure of textiles; hence plasma is suitable for surface
treatment.

Since only the surface structure of materials is altered
by plasma, the substrate characteristics of textiles will
not be affected.

Also, as small amount of plasma is enough to produce
profound effect and one set of equipment can
accommodate to different kinds of gaseous chemicals,
the equipment is relatively cost effective and user
friendly.

The kinds of plasma undergoing testing are varied,
including silanes (Si
n
H
2n+2
) (waterproof), freons
(increasing surface tension and oil- and dirt-proof
effects) and phosphoruscontaining organic monomers
(fireproof), etc.

Plasma treatment technology can also improve
existing dyeing technology, including the newly
developed technology of metallised fabrics. On the
other hand, HKPC attempts to integrate plasma
reatment technology and supercritical fluid dyeing
technology, and replace supercritical fluid with
plasma in the dyeing process.

The low pressure plasma dyeing technology is still being developed.

The textile dyeing and finishing industry is considered energy-wasting and highly-
polluting, which will be forced to withdraw under the upgrade and transformation policy.

However, with technological development on a full swing, traditional industries are able to
overcome technical difficulties and revive after the financial crisis.

Or i gi nally Publi shed i n New Cloth Mar ket, J an-2011

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