1 - Sustainability and its significance in textile wet processing

Abstract

Sustainability is the new key word of development on this planet in any industry nowadays, whether it is consumer-oriented or raw material or product-oriented. Any wet processing industry which requires water or other chemicals which are harsh on ecosystem is being asked to change the technology toward an eco-friendly and eco-sustainable path. Textile or cloth dyeing industry is one such big industry which is in profound need of makeover in terms of sustainability as it consumes huge amounts of fresh water, energy, and different precursors in fabric processing steps. Researchers are trying their best to look for better and sustainable methods to replace textile wet processing with less water/chemical consumption ways to shape up eco-friendly and consumer-friendly textile processing techniques. Various methods involved in the sustainable textile processing are the use of natural dyes and biomordants (to reduce chemical intake), use of enzymes in fabric seasoning/preparation (to reduce heavy metal/metal), use of ion and nano-based precursors to help achieve less water and technologies employing laser, gamma irradiation, microwave radiation, and many other technological methods to improve sustainability during wet processing of textile.