An industrial scale multiple supercritical carbon dioxide apparatus and its eco-friendly dyeing production

Abstract

An industrial scale multiple apparatus was designed and built successfully for the dyeing of bobbins in supercritical CO2 fluid. The system configuration of the industrial scale multiple supercritical CO2 apparatus and its dyeing procedure for bobbins were described for the first time. Furthermore, production experiments were conducted to determine the feasibility of bobbins dyeing and the stability of the industrial scale supercritical CO2 apparatus. The dyeing results showed that a satisfactory dyeing effect for the dyed bobbins with commercially acceptable levelness and reproducibility was obtained in supercritical CO2 dyeing process by employing the industrial scale multiple apparatus. The dyed products also presented excellent color fastness to washing, rubbing and light, which rated at 5, 4–5 and 5–6, respectively. In comparison with the aqueous dyeing process, dyeing of bobbins in supercritical CO2 fluid with the industrial scale multiple apparatus displays advantages of more environmentally friendly, water and effluents free, as well as energy conservation. Moreover, it is also a novel approach for using industrial emissions of CO2 instead of water in the textile dyeing process.