Textiles and Clothing

Environmental Concerns and Solutions

Mohd Shabbir

• Publisher: Wiley-Scrivener
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781119526315
• eBook ISBN: 9781119526629
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Chemistry
• Index: Chemistry

This timely and important book aims to help achieve a more sustainable textile industry; researchers from both textile and environmental domains will benefit from reading it.

Since it is imperative to rehabilitate our damaged environmental ecosystems, there is a pressing demand for more sustainable green processes in the textile and clothing industry. As a consequence, greater emphasis needs to be placed on research into eco-friendly processes particularly suited for this industry. With this goal in mind, all environmental aspects relating to the textile and clothing industry are discussed in this book in four broad areas:

• Highlights the negative impact on the environment by textile industries;
• Discusses textiles finishing by natural or eco-friendly means;
• Promotes natural dyes as environment-friendly alternatives to synthetics;
• Reviews textile effluents remediation via chemical, physical and bioremediation.

Included in the 11 informative chapters are topics covering the correlation between the environment and the processing and utilization of textiles and clothing. The book opens with a discussion on the direct impact that the textile industry has on the environment. The hazardous environmental consequences that synthetic dyes used to color textiles have on the environment are highlighted in the next chapter. Greener alternatives to dyeing are discussed in detail in the next chapters followed by a discussion of eco-friendly ways of finishing textiles. The book concludes with a section of chapters providing solutions to address the environmental hazards associated with the textile industry.

Chapter 1
Introduction to Textiles and the Environment

Mohd Shabbir¹* and Masoom Naim²

¹Department of Chemistry, Sanskriti University, Mathura, UP, India

²Department of Applied Sciences, Satya Group of Institutions, Palwal, India

^*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

The textile industry highly influences the environment, whether it is due to dyeing or manufacturing of the textiles, and it is considered as the number one pollutant after agriculture. Clothing is a basic need for everyone, and a lot of choices are there when it comes to clothing. Huge consumption of water and discharging of effluents from textile manufacturing and dyeing units lead to environmental hazards. Recent past evidences of increased awareness about ecofriendly techniques and products for textiles industry, supplement the research motivation towards ecofriendly textiles. This chapter is about the relationship of textiles and the environment and describes the various aspects of industrial effects on the environment.

Keywords: Textiles, environment, effluents, dyeing, water

1.1 Introduction

Textiles play an important role in human life and are considered as a basic need along with food and shelter. With the population explosion and varied choices of human beings, the textile industry is pressured to produce more to meet the current demands. The textile industry is known for its high effluent production and for creating environmental pollution. Textile production starts from fiber manufacturing and processing and ends with finishing them to make them wearable to humans. All the steps involve utilization of water and other chemicals that may be hazardous to the environment and mankind. This direct relation of the textile industry and environment is a great concern to textile chemists as well as to environmental chemists.

Environmental protection nowadays is being implemented as an administrative philosophy. Rapid degradation in environmental conditions has made industrial managers to consider ecology a significant factor while taking decisions related to industrial management. Chemicals discharged into air, water, and soil are the parameters responsible for environmental pollution (Figure 1.1). Companies are now well aware of the relationship between environmental quality and prospects within the framework of economic development, and this environmental quality and responsibility factor highly affects the success of companies. Consumer demands guide companies to include certain environmental issues in addition to quality, cost, and production flexibility. Demand for environmentally friendly products manufactured under natural conditions from food products to clothes has made companies more sensitive to the environment [1].

Figure 1.1 Processes responsible for environmental concerns and solutions in the textile industry.

New ecolabels for textile products and tighter restrictions on wastewater discharges force textile wet processors to reuse process water and chemicals. This challenge has prompted intensive research in new advanced treatment technologies, some of which are currently making their way to full-scale installations [2]. Eco textiles include products that are manufactured using materials and methods that do not pose any harm to people and nature from textile fiber production to the makeup of the finished textile (textile fiber production, dyeing, chemicals, energy and water consumption) and that can be disposed of (decomposition, recycling) without harming human health and nature [1].

1.2 Textile Fiber Manufacturing/Processing and the Environment

The textile industry is shared between natural fibers, such as wool, silk, linen, cotton, and hemp, and man-made ones, such as polyamide and acrylic made from petrochemicals. Textile fibers are classified into three categories on the basis of their origin: natural, synthetic, and semisynthetic fibers (Figure 1.2). Natural fibers are considered as ecofriendly relatively but their production also leads to some environmental disturbance.

Figure 1.2 Classes of textile fibers on the basis of their origin.

Cotton is considered as an environment friendly, renewable, and biodegradable cellulosic fiber. However, cotton also has other environment issues, such as this crop needs higher use of pesticides and insecticides, as it is prone to insects and diseases. Scouring (removal of the waxy outer layer on cotton), mercerization, press finishing, and bleaching need aqueous sodium hydroxide, formaldehyde, and other chemicals associated with health hazards. Such hazards are tried to be overcome by using some alternatives such as citric acid, chitosan, etc. on cotton to improve characteristics [3–5]. Wool is another fiber produced naturally and is considered an ecofriendly textile substrate, but it also requires some alkaline or chemical processing that may lead to a slight negative impact on the environment. Naturally produced textile substrates (wool, silk, cotton, etc.) are expected to be superior to synthetic ones in terms of environmental impacts [6].

Regenerated cellulosic fibers (Rayon, Tencel), also known as semisynthetic fibers, produced from cellulosic materials utilize a large amount of waste but use of harsh chemicals in production leads to environmental imbalance. A lot of developments have been carried out in the past for the production of regenerated cellulosic fibers that are sustainable and ecofriendly, and the use of environment-incompatible chemicals is restricted to some extent [7].

Nowadays, most of the clothes in our wardrobes contain polyester, elastane, or Lycra of synthetic origin. These cheap and easy-care fibers are becoming the textile industry’s miracle solution. However, their manufacture creates pollution and they are hard to recycle [8]. There are concerns about the use and disposal of hazardous chemicals in the production of synthetic textile fibers. Recycling, reuse of synthetic fibers, and use of natural fibers over synthetic ones are essential to restrict the hazardous impact on the environment.

1.3 Textile Finishing and the Environment

Textile finishing is an important step in textile manufacturing before making them usable. Many of the steps such as scouring, bleaching, and mercerization are being carried out as finishing of textiles or textile fibers and have important roles to enhance the characteristics of textiles. Scouring removes substances that have adhered to the fibers during production of the yarn or fabric, such as dirt, oils, and any sizing or lint applied to warp yarns to facilitate weaving. Bleaching, a process of whitening fabric, is usually carried out by means of chemicals selected according to the chemical composition of the fibers. Chemical bleaching is usually accomplished by oxidation, destroying color by the application of oxygen, or by reduction, removing color by hydrogenation. Cotton and other cellulosic fibers are usually treated with heated alkaline hydrogen peroxide; wool and other animal fibers are subjected to such acidic reducing agents as gaseous sulfur dioxide or to such mildly alkaline oxidizing agents as hydrogen peroxide. Synthetic fibers may be treated with either oxidizing or reducing agents, depending on their chemical composition. Mercerization is a process applied to cotton and sometimes to cotton blends to increase luster, to improve strength, and to improve affinity for dyes to them. The process involves immersion of fiber or textile under tension in sodium hydroxide solution, which is later neutralized in acid [9, 10]. All these finishing steps involve use of chemicals with high content of water, and all chemicals discarded to water bodies lead to environmental (water) pollution.

1.4 Dyeing and the Environment

The color of textiles always fascinates mankind, and a long range of textile colors are available to people. This step of textile processing is very crucial with respect to environmental concerns, as a large amount of unadsorbed dyes is discarded into water bodies.

Dyes are also classified as natural and synthetic on the basis of their origin. Natural dyes have been used to color textiles in ancient times, but in the 19th century, synthetic dyes replaced natural dyes after discovery of mauve colorant [11]. The expansion of the use of synthetic dyes overburdened the pressure on environment and consequently increased pollution. Some azo dyes, a class of synthetic dyes, are banned for their carcinogenic effects on human health. Synthetic dyes are nonbiodegradable and nonbiocompatible and disturb the water ecosystem with high impacts. Minimum use of synthetic dyes or replacement of these dyes with natural dyes, which ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Preface
• Chapter 1: Introduction to Textiles and the Environment
• Chapter 2: Synthetic Dyes: A Threat to the Environment and Water Ecosystem
• Chapter 3: In Search of Natural Dyes Towards Sustainability from the Regions of Africa (Akebu-Lan)
• Chapter 4: Revitalization of Carotenoid-Based Natural Colorants in Applied Field: A Short Review
• Chapter 5: Environmentally Sound Dyeing of Cellulose-Based Textiles
• Chapter 6: Environmentally-Friendly Textile Finishing
• Chapter 7: Functional Finishes for Cotton-Based Textiles: Current Situation and Future Trends
• Chapter 8: Remediation of Textile Effluents via Physical and Chemical Methods for a Safe Environment
• Chapter 9: Fenton and Photo-Fenton Oxidation for the Remediation of Textile Effluents: An Experimental Study
• Chapter 10: Recent Advances in the Processing of Modern Methods and Techniques for Textile Effluent Remediation—A Review
• Chapter 11: Removal of Heavy Metal Ions from Wastewater Using Micellar-Enhanced Ultrafiltration Technique (MEUF): A Brief Review
• Index
• End User License Agreement