Cotton - Scouring and Bleaching - Pretreatment

Textile Textile Message
Home Textile Testing Textile Pollution Textile Machinery Articles FAQ News Blogs
Processing Developments Board
Cotton - Scouring and Bleaching - Search
Pretreatment
Hydrogen Peroxide Bleaching
Bleaching is an operation to remove the coloured impurities from textile fibers. Cotton in its natural form contains
so many minerals, waxes, proteins and colouring matters, etc. In order to attain a bright substrate for dyeing,
bleaching or printing and to make the fabric uniformly
water absorbant, a pretreatment is essential. So the first
and foremost textile processing operation is called pretreatment, that remove remove the unwanted matters, such
as color, minerals, waxes and oils and stains from the greige material. The pretreament operation untilizes a lot of
water and the quality of water plays a vital role in the cleansing of textile materials. Better the quality of water,
better will be the processed goods.
As water and its quality play a very important role in wet processing, let us have a brief look into the quality of
water required for wet processing, with an emphasis on reactive dyeing. We get water from various sources, like
river, ponds, shallow wells and deep bore wells. According to the source of water, it contains many dissolved and
suspended impurities. The water from a running river, contains many dissolved salts (solids) like Sulphates,
Chlorides, silicates, Carbonates and Bicarbonates of heavy earth metals like Calcium, Magnesium, Iron,
Aluminums, Sodium etc. The ratio of these salts varies according to the source of water. The general
requirements of the water used in textile processing are given below:
The water should be colorless, clear and free from suspended impurities.
•
• Should not be hard and have the tendency to deposit, scale on fabric or on water supply structures.
• It should be non-corrosive.
• It should be free from metals such as iron, manganese, aluminums and copper
• It should neither be too alkaline or acidic.
• Color is normally an indication of the presence of suspended and dissolved salts that may affect the
fiber/yarn/fabric. So it has to be removed from water prior use in processing, by a suitable de-coloration
technique.
• Turbidity or Suspended solids are due to a fine suspension of inorganic salts like (clay. silica, calcium
carbonate) or organic finely divided vegetable matter like algae, micro-organism etc. This should also be
removed using a suitable filtration technique.
• Dissolved solids - in water treatment and analysis this term is called Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). The
TDS reflects the presence of unwanted elements in dissolved form, which has to be removed using a
suitable method. Good quality water should not have a TDS more than 150 ppm.
• pH value – Water with a pH value of more than 7 is alkaline and one below 7 is acidic. Most of the textile
processing treatments are dependent on pH values.
• Hardness (Calcium and Magnesium) – the presence of Calcium and Magnesium salts in water is called
hardness of water.
1. Temporary Hardness: The presence of bicarbonates of Calcium and Magnesium in water is called
temporary hardness. When the water containing these salts are heated to boil, the soluble bicarbonate
salts will become insoluble carbonates and precipitate and the hardness disappears.
2. Permanent Hardness: The presence of carbonates, sulphates and chlorides of Calcium and Magnesium
are called permanent Hardness, as this hardness cannot be removed by simple heating.
Related topics of your interest:
Basic Requirements for Hydrogen Peroxide Bleaching
Water Hardness - How does it affects Textile Processing?
Determination of Water Hardness - How to Test details?
Industrial Water Softening Treatment - A detailed Ion Exchange Method
A simple pretreatment of cotton - Useful tips and recipes of Peroxide Bleaching
Bio-scouring - technique, tips and benefits
Assessment of Bleached Goods
Useful Links on Water

HOME l ABOUT US l PRIVACY POLICY l LINK WITH US l LINK PARTNERS l CONTACT US | SITE MAP | YOUR FEEDBACK
Copyright © 2006 - 2008 thesmarttime.com All rights reserved. Last Updated on:03-12-2008
Yarn Dyeing Tips and TechniquesFabric Dyeing Techniques and TipsTextile processing problems &
Solutions
Water Hardness - how it affects textile Search
processing?
Home >> Textile Dyeing-1
In the following table you can see how the presence of Water Hardness affects the various wet processing stages
right from desizing to finishing.
Process Problem
Desizing Deactivate enzymes and makes it in-soluble some size materials

like starch and PVA.
Combine with soap, precipitate metal-organic acids. Produce

Scouring yellowing of off-white shades, reduce cleaning efficiency and water
absorption.
Decompose bleach baths.
Bleaching
Form insoluble metal oxides, reduce absorbency and luster

Combine with dyes changing their shades, in-soubise dyes, cause
Mercerizing tippy dyeing, reduce dye diffusion and hence results in poor
washing and rubbing fastness.
Dusting and white patches appear if the hardness is very high.
Form insoluble metal oxides, reduce absorbency and luster.

Combine with dyes changing their shades, make them in-soluble,
cause tippy dyeing, reduce dye diffusion and hence results in poor
washing and rubbing fastness.
Dyeing
Finishing
Bio-scouring, technique, tips and benefits


Cotton - Scouring and Bleaching -

Search
Pretreatment
Pretreatment - A simple way

The current problem that mostly worries the modern dyers could be short-listed as
1. Shade-matching in buyer defined illuminants.

2. Shade tolerance limits for shade passing.
3. Strict limits of various Color-fastness properties.
4. Lowest Processing cost.
5. Lowest load in effluent water
6. Meeting the various buyer-defined pre-requisites like Oko-Tex standards
The survival of the modern dyer would therefore lie in the ability to
1. Prepare Right Fabric for dyeing

2. Select Right Dyes and Chemicals for various fastness requirements.
3. Maximize the Right First Time (RFT) dyeing both in lab and bulk dyeing.
The “Garbage in, Garbage out”, “what we sow that we reap” – all these sayings would be proved true in the case
of quality pretreatment. It has been told that dyeing is the mirror image of preparatory treatment. Unless the
preparatory fabric is excellent, one cannot achieve proper dyeing and finishing.
Bleaching Technique:
The main aim of preparatory process is,
1. To remove natural pectin, wax, protein, coloring matter and unwanted minerals from the fiber,
2. To make the substrate uniformly absorbent throughout its length and breadth,
3. To make the substrate uniformly white for pure white finishes with optical brighteners or for subsequent
dyeing, mercerizing etc.
The ideal process of combined Scouring and Bleaching for cotton knits and yarn should have the following
contents.
S.No Material Details Recipe

Non-Ionic detergent with high cloud point, low
1 foaming and good rewetting property or a 0.5 to 0.75% (o.w.f.)
nofoaming Anionic wetting agent
2 Anti-crease lubricating-agent 0.3 to 0.50% (o.w.f.)
3 Soda Ash 0.5 to 1.0% (o.w.f.)
4 Hydrogen Peroxide (50%) 2.0 to 4.0gms/liter
5 Peroxide Stabilizer 0.5 to 1.0 gm/liter
6 Caustic Soda flakes 0.7 to 1.0% (o.w.f.)
If the water hardness is above 100ppm, then a suitable sequestering agent should also be added to the above
recipe (0.5 to 1.0g/l).
Check the pH of the bleach bath. It should be 10.5~11.0
A treatment at 85°C is given for 45~60 minutes, followed by
1. Hot wash at 80°C for 15 minutes

2. Treatment with 0.5% peroxide-killer at the pre-defined temperature
3. Hot wash at 80°C for 15 minutes
4. Neutralize with 2 gms/liter Acetic Acid.
So, this is the optimum process requirement for good quality fabric/yarn.
Bleaching Machines:
Jigger, winch, soft-flow, cabinet and continuous bleaching ranges such as Beninger are some of the routine
machines used for textile bleaching.
Some useful hints in Hydrogen Peroxide bleaching:
The maximum bleaching activity from hydrogen peroxide is obtained generally at about pH 11.5. In practice this
alkalinity level is altered to suit fiber sensitivity and bleaching process requirements; e.g. wool, cotton, amount of
seed etc. Selection of the alkali to be used in peroxide bleaching is dependent therefore on the fibers or the blend
being bleached. Sodium Hydroxide and Sodium carbonate will be used generally on cellulose fibers, whilst
ammonia and tetra sodium pyrophosphate are used when bleaching protein fibers.

Search
Bio-scouring:
Bio-scouring with pectinases (enzyme) have shown promise in replacing the traditional alkaline scouring
treatment. Some auxiliaries suppliers have introduced an enzymatic process to
remove hydrophobic and other non-cellulosic components from cotton. The new bio-
scouring process operates at mild pH conditions over a broad temperature range and can be applied using
equipment such as jet machines.
It is claimed that, due to a better bleachability of enzyme-scoured textiles, bleaching can be carried out with
reduced amounts of bleaching chemicals and auxiliaries. Bio-scouring enzymes actually make the substrate more
hydrophilic (which could explain better bleachability), but they are not able to destroy wax and seeds, which are
therefore removed in the subsequent bleaching process.
Major Benefits achieved due to enzymatic scouring or bio-scouring:
There is no need for the use of caustic soda in enzymatic scouring. So this process reduced pollution loads, high TDS, BOD
and COD in the effluent.
Enzymatic Enzymatic scouring + bleaching with
scouring reduced concentration of hydrogen
peroxide and alkali
Reduction in rinsing water 20 % 50 %
consumption
Reduction in BOD-load 20 % 40 %

Search
Assessment of Bleached goods
Introduction: Absolute value for assessing bleached goods is difficult to define, since they are invariably
associated with the subsequent use of the fiber, yarn or fabric.
The factors which form the basis of any assessment include:
1. Whiteness
2. Chemical or physical damage
3. Absorbency, particularly of cellulose materials and blends.
4. Presence of residual non-cellulose matter.
5. Levelness of preparation.
6. Freedom from impurities, e.g., cotton seed
7. Suitability for subsequent processes e.g., spinning, dyeing etc.
The last three factors are subjective to the extent that they are best assessed visually or judged by subsequent processing on plant.
The first four factors can be measured quantitatively and the basis for such analysis follows:
Assessment of Whiteness:
Whiteness is generally assessed instrumentally as physical measurements provide objective values that are independent of the age and
color sensitivity of the eyes. All instrumental methods illuminate the sample and the measure the amount of light reflected. They thus
have the added advantage that the illuminant and the viewing conditions can be closely specified. The assessment ranges from the
measurement of reflectance at a single wave length to a complete spectral scan which can be computer processed to give a color
difference or “Whiteness ../default”. Anders and Daul, one of which is recommended in the AATCC test method 110, have reviewed
these whiteness indices.


Cotton - Scouring and Bleaching - Pretreatment

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Cotton - Scouring and Bleaching - Pretreatment

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Textile Textile Message

Cotton - Scouring and Bleaching - Search

Related topics of your interest:

Basic Requirements for Hydrogen Peroxide Bleaching

Water Hardness - How does it affects Textile Processing?

Determination of Water Hardness - How to Test details?

Industrial Water Softening Treatment - A detailed Ion Exchange Method

A simple pretreatment of cotton - Useful tips and recipes of Peroxide Bleaching

Bio-scouring - technique, tips and benefits

Assessment of Bleached Goods

Useful Links on Water

Water Hardness - how it affects textile Search

Desizing Deactivate enzymes and makes it in-soluble some size materials

Combine with soap, precipitate metal-organic acids. Produce

Decompose bleach baths.

Form insoluble metal oxides, reduce absorbency and luster

Dusting and white patches appear if the hardness is very high.

Form insoluble metal oxides, reduce absorbency and luster.

Basic Requirements for Hydrogen Peroxide Bleaching

Water Hardness - How does it affects Textile Processing?

Determination of Water Hardness - How to Test details?

Industrial Water Softening Treatment - A detailed Ion Exchange Method

A simple pretreatment of cotton - Useful tips and recipes of Peroxide Bleaching

Bio-scouring, technique, tips and benefits

Assessment of Bleached Goods

Useful Links on Water

Textile Textile Message