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      • Enhancing Circularity, Ethical Decarbonisation &
        Social Wellbeing in India’s Built Environment
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        on Conducting Environment and Human Rights Due Diligence
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        Family Friendly Policies in India’s Apparel and Textile Value Chain
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        in the Asia Pacific Region
      • Accelerating the Transition of the Indian Textile Sector towards Circularity
      • Landscaping Study for Food Waste in the HoReCa and Retail Segments
      • Mapping of Sustainability Certification for the Indian Textile Sector
        with Special Focus on Increasing Export Competitiveness of MSMEs
      • Circular Electronics
    • Sustainable Consumption and Lifestyles
      • An Analysis of the Assessment and Implementation
        of Green Claims
      • Analysis of Global Campaigns and their linkages
        with Mission LiFE and the Indian Ecomarks Scheme
    • Deforestation-free Commodity Supply Chains
      • Sustainability Ambassador
      • WWF Industry & Policy Engagement
        on Deforestation Free Edible Oil in India
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      • EU India Business Collaborative Initiative on Sustainable
        Development, Climate Action and Inclusivity
      • EU Policy and Outreach Partnership in India
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      • MSMEs Capacity Building on Race to Net-Zero
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      • Promotion of Regenerative Agricultural Practices
        for a Food Secure and Climate Resilient Future
        in the EU-India Partnerships
      • Building Capacities for Augmenting Livelihood to
        Sustain the Mangrove Stewardship of Women in the
        Indian Sundarbans to Adapt to Climate Change
      • Applying Capitals Approach in Business Decision Making
        for Sustainable Agri-Food Sector
      • Continuing Professional Development
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Sustainable dyeing techniques– preventing water pollution

  • April 14, 2021

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Picture of Ramanuj Mitra

Ramanuj Mitra

Program Officer, CRB

Dyeing processes are one of the most polluting unit operations in the textile industry.

News articles are rampant in the media, showing rivers and streams near textile manufacturing hubs flowing with coloured water; untreated and colourised water from dyeing units cause such disastrous changes in the water bodies. Overloaded common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) and illegal discharge of textile wastewater are responsible for ecological problems and diseases among populations consuming contaminated water in areas close to industrial clusters. While improvement in technology1, upgradation of common effluent treatment plants (CETPs), and stricter vigilance by authorities can help curb the pollution of water bodies, prevention is always better than cure—sustainable dyeing2 techniques can reduce or eliminate the production of wastewater in the first place.

CO2 based dyeing (waterless dyeing):

Carbon dioxide-based dyeing was invented by a Dutch company named Dyecoo. Instead of water, Dyecoo’s technology uses pressurized/liquefied CO2 to act as the medium which carries and delivers the dye to the fabric. CO2 is abundantly available and can even be captured from industrial processes in a cluster. After dyeing, most of the CO2 is recovered and can be reused. This technology eliminates water use in dyeing and prevents water pollution.

Air dyeing technique:

Air dyeing (developed by Colorep Inc) utilizes a jet of air to deliver dyes in the form of gas, injecting the dye directly into the fabric. The fabric is heated, which opens the fibre structure, making it easy to deliver the dye. This technique reduces not only water consumption, but uses less chemicals as compared to conventional dyeing.

Salt-free dyeing:

Dyeing of cellulosic fibres (with reactive dyes) such as cotton requires large amounts of salts and alkali as electrolytes. Further, hydrolysis of dyes leads to large amounts of contaminants in the effluent and requires high volumes of water in the washing process to remove the hydrolysed dyes. If the cotton fabric is pre-treated with a cationic polymer, its affinity to the dyes increases by eliminating the zeta potential between, thus eliminating the need to use salts as electrolytes in the dye bath.

Several other methods and modifications are in the works to promote water-less and salt-free dyeing. It must be noted that all methods are not suited for all fabrics and dyes. Continuous R&D is required to further improve the efficiency of water and chemical use in the textile industry. Additionally, costs of latest equipment are high as compared to the spending power of textile MSMEs. This calls for inclusions of water-saving and chemical-saving equipment, modifications and spares in government schemes such A-TUFS (Amended Technological Upgradation Fund Scheme), where businesses can avail some tax benefits or subsidies on purchase of such equipment. Investment in domestic R&D and collaboration labs is required to design homegrown solutions that can cater to domestic units.

1 https://www.ijert.org/textile-wastewater-treatment-a-critical-review”
2https://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/7752/dyeing-needs-to-be-sustainable

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