Journal of Cleaner Production 317 (2021) 128500

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

A cleaner production process for high performance cotton fabrics

Lei Fang b, 1, Fuyun Sun b, 1, Qingbao Liu a, 1, Weichao Chen a, Hua Zhou a, Changzhi Su c,
Kuanjun Fang a, *
a
College of Textiles & Clothing, Qingdao University/State Key Laboratory for Biofibers and Eco-textiles/Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-textiles of Shandong
Province, 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao, 266071, China
b
Shandong Huanghe Delta Institute of Textile Science and Technology, Bingcheng District, Binzhou, 256622, China
c
YuYue Home Textile Company, 1 Xiner Road, Bincheng District, Binzhou, 256600, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Handling editor: Cecilia Maria Villas Bôas de High performance cotton fabrics with color, luster and wrinkle resistance are manufactured by three steps. The
Almeida coloration, wrinkle resistance and luster finishing consume a large number of resources, and generate a huge
amount of colored wastewater. The present research reports a cleaner process for dyeing, wrinkle resistance and
Keywords: luster finishing of cotton fabrics. Cotton fabrics were dyed at 35 ◦ C for 15 h with multifunctional reactive dye
One-step process
solutions of high concentrations. Scanning electron microscope images show the fiber cross sections became
Dyeing
circular like the mercerized cotton fibers, and the fabrics exhibited nice luster and wrinkle resistant ability. For
Wrinkle resistance
Luster finishing fabrics with light and middle color, a certain amount of 1,3,5-triacryloyhexahydro-1,3,5-triazine was added into
Cotton fabrics the dye liquor to make the fiber cross section become circular and to make the wrinkle recovery angle reach more
than 260◦ to obtain good wrinkle resistant ability. When the padded fabrics were steamed at 102 ◦ C for 3 min
instead of fixing at 35 ◦ C for 15 h, the wrinkle recovery angle also reached 266◦ . The breaking strength of dyed
fabrics decreased with increasing the dye and 1,3,5-triacryloyhexahydro-1,3,5-triazine concentrations. The
enhancement of wrinkle resistance of dyed fabrics is due to the crosslink effect of the dye molecules with cel­
lulose macromolecules. This one-step process will save a significant amount of energy and water, and reduce the
effluent discharged.

1. Introduction
Cotton is the most important natural fiber in textile industry due to
its excellent wearability and dyeability (Zhang et al., 2021; Su et al.,
2020; Goel et al., 2015). However, the coloration, wrinkle resistance and
luster finishing of cotton textiles using separated processes consume a
huge amount of water, energy, and various chemicals, which generates a
large amount of colored wastewater and increases production cost (Xiao
et al., 2007; Hashem, 2006). It has been evaluated that approximately
80 L of water are needed for producing each kilogram of cotton textiles
(Burkinshaw, 2016). The effluent in textile production is one of the most
polluted waste water (Avdicevic et al., 2018). Moreover, the presence of
unfixed dyes and chemicals in effluents poses serious threats to the
environment (Fang et al., 2019; Elmaaty et al., 2018; Shu et al., 2018).
Many efforts were made to increase the dye fixation efficiency to reduce
the COD of effluent. The dyes with high fixation rates were prepared (Li
et al., 2008; Tang et al., 2004). Cationic modification of cotton was
proved to have the highest dye fixation rates (Teng et al., 2010). Cotton
fabrics treated by polycarboxylic acid black exhibited good fixation,
fastness, and wrinkle resistance properties (Xiao et al., 2007). Coloration
processes using nanoparticles and pad-batch-steam were investigated to
increase dye fixation rates and to reduce effluent discharging (Ding
et al., 2019; Fang et al., 2019; Shu et al., 2018). Enzymatic processes
were utilized to reduce the pollution of cotton wet processing (Aly et al.,
2010). Cotton fabrics pretreated by poly(vinylamine chloride) were
dyed to achieve high fixation rates (Ma et al., 2005). It was reported that
powdered activated carbon etc. could remove the color of waste water
(Pala and Tokat, 2002). Partially carboxymethylated cotton dust waste
and advanced oxidation method were applied to reduce the chromaticity
of colored waste water (Baldo et al., 2014; Uygur and Kok, 1999). The
above stated researches engaged in green coloration technology from
the aspect of different textile processing steps. Therefore, to face the
environmental challenges, it is important to develop a one-step process
to reduce water and energy consumption and effluent discharging for

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: kjfang@qdu.edu.cn (K. Fang).
1
co-first authors.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128500
Received 28 February 2021; Received in revised form 22 July 2021; Accepted 28 July 2021
Available online 29 July 2021
0959-6526/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
L. Fang et al.
Fig. 1. The molecular structures of reactive dyes and TAHT
dyeing and finishing of cotton textiles.
It was reported that two or more textile processing steps integrated
into a single step could greatly reduce resource consumption and
effluent discharge. For example, the preparation processes of cotton
fabrics, such as desizing, scouring and bleaching were combined to a
single step by using a mixture consisting multiple chemicals (Aly et al.,
2010; Shafie et al., 2009; Hashem, 2006). In the one step process
composing of desizing, scouring, bleaching, and mercerizing, cotton
fabrics mercerized for 3 min at 40 ◦ C and cured for 30 s at 120 ◦ C
exhibited similar physical properties to those obtained using a conven­
tional two-step approach (Huang and Yen, 1997). A cleaner production
process with a recipe for reactive dyeing of cotton was proved to save
chemicals (Henrik and Wenzel, 1996). Coloration and wrinkle resistance
of cotton fabrics were simultaneously carried out using a pad–dry–cure
process to save energy (Zhao et al., 2015; Dong et al., 2001). However,
the integration of dyeing, wrinkle resistance and luster finishing of
cotton fabrics is difficult due to the big differences among these three
processing conditions. Mercerization, as the most common process for
enhancing fabric luster, converts the cross section of cotton fiber from
flat to circular shape by enlarging the amorphous region (Rousselle
et al., 1976). At present, this procedure is conducted by using high
concentrations of sodium hydroxide or liquid ammonia to regulate the
degree of crystallinity and the orientation of cellulose chains, leading to
a large amount of alkaline wastewater and wasted energy. Meanwhile,
duo to the poor elasticity, cotton fabrics are easy to wrinkle. Therefore,
crease resistance finishing is necessary for excellent wearability (Shih
and Huang, 2002). Various crosslinking agents for cotton fabrics were
developed to overcome this problem through building crosslink bridges
between cellulose macromolecular chains (Zhao et al., 2015; Zhang
et al., 2014; Lam et al., 2010). The wrinkle resistant treatments were
carried out with formaldehyde free crosslinking agent for health con­
siderations (Yang et al., 2010; Yang and Wang, 2000; Shih and Huang,
2002). Therefore, it is of great significance to combine the merceriza­
tion, non-harmful crease resistance finishing, and dyeing into one
process.
In this work, an eco-friendly one-step process for dyeing, wrinkle
resistance and luster finishing of cotton fabrics is reported. Using this
technology, the water, energy and chemical consumption, and the pro­
duction cost will be greatly reduced and the treated fabrics will exhibit
good color performance and wrinkle resistance property.
2. Materials and methods
In order to develop the eco-friendly one-step process for dyeing,
wrinkle resistance and luster finishing of cotton fabrics, traditional wet
processes were thoroughly investigated. The crosslinking effect of multi-
functional reactive dyes was found to impart the dyed fabrics with
wrinkle resistance and luster. This part depicts the materials used in this
research and the details of one step process. The color and physical
properties of dyed fabrics were measured and evaluated. The fiber
morphology and crystallinity, the reaction among fibers and dyes, were
2
Journal of Cleaner Production 317 (2021) 128500
characterized using SEM, XRD, FTIR to reveal the mechanism of the one
step process.
2.1. Materials
Desized, scoured, bleached, and 3/1 twill weave cotton fabric,
weighing 264 g/m2, was provided by YuYue Home Textile Company and
used throughout the investigation. Commercial reactive dyes, C. I.
Reactive Black 5, C. I. Reactive Red 198, and C. I. Reactive Blue 171
were kindly provided by Tianjin Dekai Chemical Co., Ltd. Selilao agent,
a commercial fixing alkaline for reactive dyes, was provided by Shan­
dong Huanghe Delta Institute of Textile Science and Technology. 1,3,5-
triacryloyhexahydro-1,3,5-triazine (TAHT) was purchased from
Shanghai Ladder Love Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. Ammonia (NH4OH)
(A. R.) was purchased from Qingdao Huadong Chemicals and Equipment
Co., Ltd. The standard soap flakes were purchased from Macro Chemical
Products Factory. Deionized water was used in all experiments. The
molecular structures of C. I. Reactive Black 5, C. I. Reactive Red 198, C. I.
Reactive Blue 171, C.I. Reactive Blue 19, and TAHT are shown in Fig. 1.
In order to increase the solubility of TAHT, amino-TAHT solution
was prepared (Lewis et al., 2002). TAHT (20 g, 0.08 mol) was mixed
with water (170 mL) and the mixture was heated to 70–75 ◦ C under
magnetic stirring. Diluted ammonia solution (1.2 mL ammonia in 20 mL
water, mole ratio of TAHT to NH3 was 4:1) was added into the TAHT
solution within 10–15 min under constant stirring. Then, the solution
was filtered to remove insoluble byproduct. More water was added into
the filtrate to change the concentration of amino-TAHT solution to 100
g/L.
2.2. One-step process for coloration and finishing
For fabrics with deep colors, different amounts of dyes were weighed
into beakers accurately, followed by adding water and stirring to form
homogeneous dye solutions. Weighed Selilao was mixed with water in a
beaker to be fully dissolved. The prepared Selilao solution was combined
with the dye solution as the dye liquor. Cotton fabrics were then padded
twice with the dye liquors using a laboratory padding mangle (Tianjin
Science and Technology Co., Ltd) to maintain the pick-up rates at 80%.
The padded fabrics were immediately sealed in polyethylene bags and
placed at 35 ◦ C for 15 h to complete the fixation reaction. The padded
samples could also be directly fixed in a steamer at 102 ◦ C for a certain
time. The fixed samples were washed with hot water, and soaped at
100 ◦ C for 15 min, followed by warm rinse and cold rinse in sequence.
Finally, the samples were dried in an oven. For fabrics with light and
middle colors, the dye solutions were added with different amounts of
amino-TAHT solution prepared as stated above. The padding, fixing, and
washing processes were the same as the fabrics with deep colors.
2.3. Color measurement
The K/S values of dyed fabrics were tested by SP60 series integrating
L. Fang et al.
Fig. 2. The SEM images of original cotton fibers (a) and the fibers dyed with 60 g/L reactive black 5 (b), the wrinkle recovery angles vs. dye concentrations (c), the
K/S values vs. dye concentrations (d), the FTIR spectra of cotton fibers (e), the XRD diagrams of cotton fibers (f), the 2D-GIXD images of original cotton fibers (g) and
the dyed fibers (h) with reactive black 5, respectively.
sphere spectrophotometer (X-Rite, USA). The instrument was calibrated
before testing. The dyed fabrics were folded into 16 layers and then
aligned the aperture mouth of the instrument. Six different places were
measured on the same fabric and then the color data were averaged. The
color strength (K/S) of dyed cotton fabrics was calculated by Kubelka-
Munk Equation,
K (1 − R)2
= (1)
S 2R
where K is the absorption coefficient, S the scattering coefficient, R the
reflectivity of dyed fabrics at the maximum absorption wavenumber
(λmax).
2.4. Measurement of physical properties of fabrics
Before measurement, all samples were conditioned at 20 ◦ C and 65%
relative humidity. Crease recovery angles, a parameter to evaluate the
wrinkle resistant ability of fabric with a higher value meaning better
wrinkle resistant ability, were measured using YG541B fabrics crease
elasticity tester (Textile Science Research Institute of Shandong Prov­
ince) according to GB/T 3819-2005. Strength testing was carried out
using YG065 electronic fabrics strength tester (Shandong Laizhou
Electronic Instrument Co., Ltd) according to GB/T 3923.1-2013. The
breaking strength retentions were calculated by dividing the strength of
dyed fabrics with the strength of original fabrics. The color fastness for
soaping and rubbing was evaluated according to GB/T29865-2013 and
GB/T 3921-2008.
3
Journal of Cleaner Production 317 (2021) 128500
2.5. SEM observation
An appropriate amount of yarns was taken from the dyed fabrics and
cut carefully using the Y172 Harrington slicer (Ningbo Instrument Co.,
Ltd.) to prepare fiber cross section samples. The samples were fixed on a
metal plate using conductive adhesive. After coated with gold, the
morphology of fiber cross sections was observed using a TM3030
scanning electron microscope (Hitachi, Japan) operated at an acceler­
ation voltage of 10.0 kV.
2.6. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis
Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis of cotton
fabrics was carried out by a PerkinElmer 1725x Fourier transform
infrared spectrophotometer (PerkinElmer, USA) at a resolution of 4
cm− 1 accumulating 32 scans.
2.7. X-ray diffraction measurement of fabrics
The cotton fabrics were cut into 1 cm × 3 cm and placed on a D8
ADVANCEXIN X-ray diffractometer (BRUKER AXS Instrument Co., Ltd,
USA) to measure the XRD curves. 2D-Grazing-Incidence X-ray Diffrac­
tion (2D-GIXD) images of cotton fabrics were obtained with courtesy
from Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility.
3. Results and discussion
The effectiveness of one-step process for color, luster and wrinkle
L. Fang et al.
Fig. 3. The schematic reaction of reactive black 5 with cotton cellulose macromolecules (a), a schematic diagram for the crosslinking reaction of reactive black 5
with cellulose macromolecules to enhance the luster and wrinkle resistant ability of cotton fiber (b), the schematic drawing of the dye diffusion through cotton
cellulose fiber (c), and the concentration profile of reactive black 5 dye in the cotton cellulose fiber along the radius (d).
resistance was demonstrated by evaluating the performances of cotton
fabrics colored with bi-functional reactive dyes. For light and middle
color fabrics the wrinkle resistance and luster properties were achieved
through adding TAHT in the dyeing liquors. To verify the universality of
the one-step process, two different bifunctional reactive dyes and the
pad-steam process were used to treat cotton fabrics. The production data
of YuYue Home Textile Company and the published documents prove
the eco-friendliness of the one-step process.
3.1. Performances of cotton fabrics colored with bi-functional reactive
dyes
Traditionally, mercerization processing changes the cross section of
cotton fiber from flat (Fig. 2(a)) to circular shape (Burkinshaw, 2016),
and imparts the fiber nice luster due to the regular reflection of light by
fibers. This is realized by reducing the crystallinity and increasing the
orientation degree of fiber through using high concentration of sodium
hydroxide (Burkinshaw, 2016). However, the mercerization process
produces a large amount of wash-off water containing low concentration
of sodium hydroxide. Sodium hydroxide in water must be recycled using
three stage evaporation technique to avoid pollution. This is an
energy-intensive process. Therefore, novel eco-friendly processes need
to be developed for luster finishing of cotton.
In this research, cotton fabrics were padded by the liquor of reactive
black 5, a bi-functional dye, to keep 80% pick up rate. The fabrics were
then sealed in a polyethylene bag and placed at 35 ◦ C for 15 h to finish
the reaction of dyes and fibers. Compared with the original cotton fibers
shown in Fig. 2 (a), the fiber cross sections of dyed fabrics became cir­
cular (Fig. 2 (b)). The red line of Fig. 2 (c) indicates that the wrinkle
recovery angle of dyed fabric increased with increasing the concentra­
tion of reactive black 5. As the dye concentration reached 60 g/L, the
fabric exhibited good wrinkle resistant ability. Meanwhile, the color
strength (K/S value) of dyed fabric increased with increasing dye con­
centration as shown in the red line of Fig. 2 (d). This result means that
the present dyeing process could impart the cotton fabric with color,
wrinkle resistance, and luster in just one step.
FTIR was used to investigate the reaction between reactive black 5
and the fiber as shown in Fig. 2 (e). Two new absorption peaks appeared
4
Journal of Cleaner Production 317 (2021) 128500
at 1608 cm− 1 and 1548 cm− 1, respectively, were assigned to the benzene
ring of dye, confirming that the dye had reacted with the hydroxyl
groups of cotton (Fig. 3(a)), where two vinyl sulphone groups reacted
with the hydroxyl groups building crosslink bridges between two cel­
lulose macromolecules. These crosslink bridges imparted the fabric with
wrinkle resistance ability and maintained the circular cross section of
fiber.
Fig. 2(f) shows that the XRD diagram of dyed cotton fibers is the
same as the original cotton and is very different with the mercerized
cotton, meaning that the crystalline structure of cotton did not change
after dyeing. This is also confirmed by 2D-GIXD images shown in Fig. 2
(g) and (h). There is no obvious change both in-plane and out-of-plane
directions before and after dyeing. Therefore, the crosslink reaction
took place in the amorphous region of cotton fibers.
However, the black line of Fig. 2(c) shows that the fabric dyed with
reactive blue 19, a mono vinyl sulfone reactive dye, has no wrinkle
resistant ability, though the K/S value increased with increasing the dye
concentration (the black line of Fig. 2 (d)). This is because dyes with
mono reactive groups cannot build crosslink bridge between cellulose
macromolecules. Therefore, when cotton fabrics were dyed with bi-
functional or multifunctional reactive dyes, crosslink bridges formed
in the amorphous region, which acted as springs to impart the dyed
fabric with wrinkle resistant ability as shown in Fig. 3(b).
In the coloration process, the water molecules of dye liquor absorbed
in fabric capillaries (consisting of gaps among fibers) firstly diffused into
the amorphous regions of fibers, leading to an increase of dye concen­
tration on the fiber surfaces. These water molecules destroyed the
hydrogen bonds of cellulose macromolecules, and built new hydrogen
bonds with the hydroxyls of cellulose. As a result, the fiber swelled
gradually into circular cross sections. Following the water molecules,
the dye molecules adsorbed on fiber surfaces diffused into fiber inner
parts and built crosslink bridges between the cellulose macromolecules,
as shown in Fig. 3 (a, b).
The swelled fiber surrounded by dye liquor could be regarded as a
cylinder with length of L μm and radius of R μm, which is expressed by
cylindrical coordinate system (r, θ, z) as shown in Fig. 3 (c). As the water
continuously diffused into the fiber, the dye concentration at the fiber
surface could reach to the solubility of dye, 200 g/L (Welty et al., 2008).
L. Fang et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 317 (2021) 128500

Fig. 4. SEM images of cotton fibers dyed

with 5 g/L reactive black 5 (a) and with 5 g/
L dye and 120 g/L TAHT (b), the wrinkle
recovery angles and K/S values of cotton
fabrics dyed with 5 g/L reactive black 5 and
different concentrations of TAHT (c), the
reflectance of fabrics dyed with 5 g/L Reac­
tive Black 5, Reactive Red 198 and Reactive
Blue 171 vs. TAHT concentrations (d), the
dyes were fixed at 102 ◦ C for steaming 3
min. (For interpretation of the references to
color in this figure legend, the reader is
referred to the Web version of this article.)

Assuming the radius of cotton fiber is 5 μm (Burkinshaw, 2016) and the
dye concentration is 0 g/L at r = 0.1 μm, the variation of dye concen­
tration (CA) along the radius of fiber (r) was obtained according to the
continuity equation and Fick’s first and second laws (Welty et al., 2008)
(see Appendices),
CA = 117 + 51⋅ln(r)
Using equation (2), Fig. 3 (d) was obtained, which shows that the dye
concentration in a fiber increases from the fiber center to the outside,
meaning that the number of crosslink bridges built by dyes exhibit the
same trend as the dye concentration. As the density of crosslink bridges
at the fiber shell is much larger than the inner part of fiber, the dyed fiber
possessed elasticity to resist wrinkle and kept the circular cross section
forever (Fig. 3(b)).
(2)

Fig. 5. The properties of dyed cotton fabrics, (a) the wrinkle recovery angles and K/S values vs. dye concentrations, (b) the wrinkle recovery angles and K/S values
vs. TAHT concentrations at 5 g/L dye concentrations, (c) the breaking strength retentions vs. dye concentrations, (d) the breaking strength retentions vs. TAHT
concentrations at 5 g/L dye concentrations. The padded fabrics were placed in a steamer at 102 ◦ C to steam 3 min for dye fixation.

5
L. Fang et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 317 (2021) 128500

Fig. 6. The SEM images of dyed cottons with 40 g/L Reactive Red 198 (a), 40 g/L Reactive Blue 171 (b), 5 g/L Reactive Red 198 and 120 g/L TAHT (c), 5 g/L
Reactive blue 171 and 120 g/L TAHT (d). (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

3.2. Wrinkle resistance and luster properties of light and middle color
fabrics Table 1
Fastness properties of the dyed cotton fabrics a.

The above results indicate that cotton fabrics colored with high dye Chemicals Soaping Rubbing
concentrations exhibited good luster, wrinkle resistance and deep Staining Fading Dry Wet
colors. However, textiles do not always have deep colors. For textiles 60 g/L Reactive Black 5 4–5 4–5 4–5 4
with light and middle colors, low dye concentration is used, resulting in 60 g/L Reactive Red 198 4 4 4–5 4
that the swollen state of fibers cannot be completely fixed during the 60 g/L Reactive Blue 171 4–5 4 4–5 4
dyeing process. Therefore, the dyed fabric would have not enough luster 5 g/L Reactive Black 5 and 60 g/L TAHT 4–5 4–5 4–5 4–5
5 g/L Reactive Red 198 and 60 g/L TAHT 4–5 4–5 4–5 4–5
and ability to resist wrinkles. This is confirmed by the SEM image of
5 g/L Reactive Blue 171 and 60 g/L TAHT 4–5 4–5 4–5 4–5
Fig. 4(a), in which the fibers dyed with 5 g/L reactive black 5 are still in
a
shriveled state. When 120 g/L TAHT was added into the dye liquor, the The dye liquors contained 20 g/L Selilao, the padded fabrics were steamed at
swelled fiber state was thoroughly fixed and the cross section became 102 ◦ C for 3min, then washed and dried.
circular (Fig. 4(b)). It is clear that increasing TAHT concentration
resulted in an obvious increase of wrinkle recovery angles, though the color fabrics, increasing the TAHT concentration resulted in the increase
K/S value decreased a little as shown in Fig. 4(c). TAHT, a colorless of wrinkle recovery angle, as shown in Fig. 5(b). When the TAHT con­
compound with three reactive groups, built crosslink bridges among the centration reached to 120 g/L, the wrinkle recovery angle increased to
hydroxyl groups of cellulose macromolecules to keep the dyed fibers in more than 260◦ , showing good wrinkle resistant ability though the K/S
completely swollen states. Fig. 4(d) indicates that the luster (represented value of dyed fabric decreased in an acceptable extent. This decrease of
as reflectivity, R) of fabrics dyed at 5 g/L dye concentration with three K/S value is due to the reflectivity increase as represented by Kubelka-
different multifunctional dyes increased with increasing TAHT concen­ Munk Equation (1). Fig. 5(c) and (d) show that the breaking strength
tration from 0 g/L to 180 g/L. of dyed fabrics decreased with increasing the dye and TAHT concen­
trations like the traditional wrinkle resistant finishing with resins, which
further proves that the enhancement of wrinkle resistance of dyed fab­
3.3. Universality of the one-step process and properties of fabrics treated rics is due to the crosslink effect of dye molecules with cellulose
macromolecules.
In order to verify the universality of this method, two different Fig. 6 (a) and (b) show that the fiber cross sections of fabric dyed
bifunctional reactive dyes, Reactive Blue 171 with two amino­ with 40 g/L reactive red 198 are less circular than those dyed with 40 g/
chlorotriazine groups and Reactive Red 198 with one amino­ L reactive blue 171 because of the different molecular structures.
chlorotriazine and one vinyl sulfone group, were used to investigate the However, the fiber cross sections of fabric dyed with 5 g/L reactive red
property of dyed fabrics. The coloration process was also changed from 198 and 120 g/L TAHT (Fig. 6 (c)) are nearly the same as those dyed
low temperature fixing to steam fixing to check the effectiveness of the with 5 g/L reactive blue 171 and 120 g/L TAHT (Fig. 6 (d)). The reason
technology, i.e. the padded fabrics were steamed at 102 ◦ C for 3 min is that the crosslink effect produced by TAHT weakened the crosslink
instead of fixing at 35 ◦ C for 15 h. The results in Fig. 5(a) indicate that as difference of different dye structures.
the dye concentration increased from 0 to 50 g/L the wrinkle recovery Soaping and rubbing fastness are important criteria for the practical
angle increased from 180 to 266◦ for both dyes while the K/S value applications of dyed fabrics. In this work, soaping and rubbing fastness
increased from 15 to 18, respectively, showing the fabrics have good were evaluated by standard procedures (GB/T 3921-2008 and GB/T
wrinkle resistant ability. For low dye concentration (5 g/L), i.e. for light 29865-2013). Table 1 shows that the soaping and rubbing fastness of

6
L. Fang et al.
Fig. 7. Traditional process and the one-step process for textile production.
Table 2
The eco-friendliness of the one-step technology compared with the traditional
technology.
Environmental effect YuYue One-step Reduction
parameters technology d technology Percentage
Water consumption (L/ 33.1 ± 0.5 30.1 ± 0.5 10.0%
kg) a
Energy cost (kW⋅h/kg) b 2.6 ± 0.5 1.2 ± 0.5 116.7%
Effluent discharge (L/ 42.3 ± 0.5 38.3 ± 0.5 10.4%
kg) c
a Cotton fabrics dyed at 35 ◦ C for 15 h with multifunctional reactive
The liters of water used for manufacturing 1 kg of fabric.
b
The amount of energy used for manufacturing 1 kg of fabric
c
the volume of effluent discharged for manufacturing 1 kg of fabric
d
the present fabric production process for colored cotton fabrics of YuYue
Home Textile Company.
dyed fabrics are above grade 4, meaning that the fabrics have very good
soaping and rubbing fastness. After 50 washing cycles the wrinkle re­
covery angles are still larger than 260◦ , indicating that the dyed fabrics
have durable wrinkle resistance ability.
3.4. Eco-friendliness of the one-step process
Traditionally, textiles with color, luster and wrinkle resistance need
to be manufactured through desizing, scouring, bleaching, mercerizing,
dyeing and wrinkle resistant finishing steps, as shown in Fig. 7. In the
one-step process, the mercerizing, dyeing, and wrinkle resistant finish­
ing are all combined into one step, leading to saving a significant
amount of energy and water, and would reduce the effluent discharged.
As shown in Table 2, the consumption of water, energy, and the
effluent discharged of the one step process would reduce 3 L of water per
kilogram of fabrics produced, 1.4 kW h of energy per kilogram of fabrics
produced, and 4 L of effluent per kilogram of fabrics produced, respec­
tively, compared with the YuYue technology. The data of YuYue Tech­
nology was obtained directly from YuYue Home Textile Company in
2016. Since the one-step process combines mercerizing, dyeing, and
wrinkle resistance finishing into one step, the water usage during
mercerizing is eliminated, especially the water for washing off the so­
dium hydroxide left on the fabric, resulting in 3 L/kg water is saved. The
energy used to evaporate the wash-off water containing sodium hy­
droxide after mercerization to recycle the caustic soda is also eliminated,
leading to 1.4 kW h/Kg of energy saving. The effluent discharging
reduction comes from the sum of water usage reduction and the steam
usage reduction without the mercerization process. Compared with the
YuYue technology, the one-step process reduces 10.0% water, 116.7%
energy, and 10.4% effluent. According to the YuYue Company
Appendices.
In the process of dye molecules diffusing into cotton, the dye molecule is defined as A, and the cotton cellulose macromolecule is defined as B. The
continuity equation of component A is expressed as follows (Welty et al., 2008),
7
Journal of Cleaner Production 317 (2021) 128500
production volume of 2016 which contains 75 million meters of dyed
fabrics, 84.4 kiloton of water, 39.4 million kW⋅h of energy, and 112.5
kiloton of effluent could be reduced by the one-step process. For most
industrial fabric manufacturing processes, 80 L/kg of water was re­
ported to be used in the wet processing of cotton (Burkinshaw, 2016).
Therefore, the application of one-step process will reduce much more
water and effluent in color textile production.
4. Conclusion
dye solutions of high concentrations show the fiber cross sections
became circular like the mercerized cotton fibers, and the fabrics
exhibited nice luster and wrinkle resistant ability. For fabrics with light
and middle color, a certain amount of TAHT should be added into the
dye liquor to make the fiber cross section become circular and to make
the wrinkle recovery angle reach more than 260◦ to obtain good wrinkle
resistant ability. When the padded fabrics were steamed at 102 ◦ C for 3
min instead of fixing at 35 ◦ C for 15 h, the wrinkle recovery angle also
reached 266◦ . The breaking strength of dyed fabrics decreased with
increasing the dye and TAHT concentrations. The enhancement of
wrinkle resistance of dyed fabrics is due to the crosslink effect of the dye
molecules with cellulose macromolecules. This one-step process could
save a significant amount of energy and water, and reduce the effluent
discharged.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Lei Fang: Formal analysis, investigated the principles, Writing –
original draft. Fuyun Sun: performed the experiment. Qingbao Liu:
performed the experiment. Weichao Chen: did 2D-GIXD experiment
and processed the experimental data. Hua Zhou: helped write the
manuscript. Changzhi Su: did the industrial experiment at YuYue Home
Textile Company. Kuanjun Fang: provided the idea of this research.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
This work is supported by (1) National Key Technology R&D Pro­
gram, Grant No. 2017YFB0309800; (2) Shandong Province Key Tech­
nology R&D Program, Grant No. 2019TSLH0108.
L. Fang et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 317 (2021) 128500

∂cA
∇ ⋅ NA + − RA = 0 (A.1)
∂t
where ∇⋅NA is the net rate of mass efflux of A from control volume, ∂∂ctA the net rate of accumulation of A within the control volume, and RA the rate of
chemical production of A within the control volume. Because no dye will be generated inside the fiber during diffusion, the term RA is zero. Equation
(A.1) simplifies to the following,
∂cA
∇ ⋅ NA + =0 (A.2)
∂t
In cylindrical coordinate, the term ∇⋅NA in equation (A.2) can be regarded as follows,
1 ∂(rNAr )
∇ ⋅ NA = =0 (A.3)
r ∂r
∂cA
According to Fick’s second law of diffusion, ∂t term in equation (A.2) could be expressed as follows,
( 2 )
∂cA ∂ cA 1 ∂cA
= DAB + (A.4)
∂t ∂r 2 r ∂r

NAr in equation (A.3) could be written as the following term by the Fick’s first law,
dxA
NAr = − CDAB (A.5)
dr
Substitute equation (A.5) to equation (A.3), and substitute equation (A.4) to equation (A.2), the following is obtained from equation (A.2),
2
d CA 1 CA
+ =0 (A.6)
dr2 r dr
Equation (A.6) is solved by Matlab, giving equation (A.7),
CA = a + b⋅ln(r) (A.7)
The two boundary conditions, CA(5) = 200 and CA(0.1) = 0, were substituted into equation (A.7), the result as follows,
CA = 117 + 51⋅ln(r) (A.8)

References Li, Y., Zhang, S., Yang, J., Jiang, S., Li, Q., 2008. Synthesis and application of novel
crosslinking polyamine dyes with good dyeing performance. Dyes Pigments 76,
508–514.
Aly, A.S., Sayed, S.M., Zahran, M.K., 2010. One-step process for enzymatic desizing and
Ma, W., Zhang, S., Tang, B., Yang, J., 2005. Pretreatment of cotton with poly
bioscouring of cotton fabrics. J. Nat. Fibers 7, 71–92.
(vinylaminechloride) for salt-free dyeing with reactive dyes. Color. Technol. 121,
Avdicevic, M.Z., Kosutic, K., Dobrovic, S., 2018. Performance evaluation of different
193–197.
membrane types in the textile mercerization wastewater treatment. Water Environ.
Pala, A., Tokat, E., 2002. Color removal from cotton textile industry wastewater in an
J. 33, 203–213.
activated sludge system with various additives. Water Res. 36, 2920–2925.
Baldo, G.R., Dohler, L., Grzybowski, A., Tiboni, M., Scremin, L.B., Koop, H.S.,
Rousselle, M.A., Nelson, M.L., Hassenboeiiler, C.B., Legendre, D.C., 1976. Liquid-
Santana, M.J., Liao, L.M., Fontana, J.D., 2014. Partially carboxymethylated cotton
ammonia and caustic mercerization of cotton fibers: changes in fine structure and
dust waste for sorption of textile wastewater coloured with the cationic dye Basic
mechanical properties, Text. Res. J. 304–310.
Blue 41 as a model: synthesis, regeneration and biodegradability. Cellulose 21,
Shafie, A.E., Fouda, M.M.G., Hashem, M., 2009. One-step process for bio-scouring and
3041–3053.
peracetic acid bleaching of cotton fabric. Carbohydr. Polym. 78, 302–308.
Burkinshaw, S.M., 2016. Physico-chemical Aspects of Textile Coloration. John Wiley &
Shih, C., Huang, K., 2002. The study of rapid curing crease-resistant processing on cotton
Sons, West Sussex, UK, p. 103.
fabrics. II. effect of poly(ethylene glycol) on physical properties of processed fabrics.
Ding, X., Yu, M., Wang, Z., Zhang, B., Li, L., Li, J., 2019. A promising clean way to textile
J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 85, 1008–1012.
colouration: cotton fabric covalently-bonded with carbon black, cobalt blue, cobalt
Shu, D., Fang, K., Liu, X., 2018. Cleaner coloration of cotton fabric with reactive dyes
green, and iron oxide red nanoparticles. Green Chem. 21, 6611–6621.
using a pad-batch-steam dyeing process. J. Clean. Prod. 196, 935–942.
Dong, Y., Wang, J., Liu, P., 2001. Dyeing and finishing of cotton fabric in a single bath
Su, J., Wang, C., Yang, D., Shi, C., Zhang, A., Ma, Q., Liu, J., Zhang, X., Huang, L., Ma, X.,
with reactive dyes and citric acid. Color. Technol. 117, 262–265.
2020. Decryption of favourable haplotypes and potential candidate genes for five
Elmaaty, T.A., El-Nagar, K., Zaghloul, D.N., 2018. Microwave and nanotechnology
fibre quality properties using a relatively novel genome-wide association study
advanced solutions to improve eco-friendly cotton’s coloration and performance
procedure in upland cotton. Ind. Crop. Prod. 158, 113004.
properties, Egypt. J. Chem. 61, 493–502.
Tang, B., Zhang, S., Yang, J., Tang, Y., Huang, J., 2004. Synthesis and dyeing
Fang, K., Xie, R., Liu, X., et al., 2019. Reactive dye/poly(styrene-co-butyl acrylate-co-
performance of a novel yellow crosslinking polymeric dye. Color. Technol. 120,
trimethyl(vinylbenzyl) ammonium chloride) nanospheres with high coloration
180–183.
performance for cleaner dyeing of cotton fabrics. Cellulose 26, 5807–5819.
Teng, X., Ma, W., Zhang, S., 2010. Application of tertiary amine cationic polyacrylamide
Goel, N.K., Kumar, V., Misra, N., Varshney, L., 2015. Cellulose based cationic adsorbent
with high cationic degree in salt-free dyeing of reactive dyes. Chin. J. Chem. Eng. 18,
fabricated via radiation grafting process for treatment of dyes waste water.
1023–1028.
Carbohydr. Polym. 132, 444–451.
Uygur, A., Kok, E., 1999. Decolorisation treatments of azo dye waste waters including
Hashem, M.M., 2006. Development of a one-stage process for pretreatment and
dichlorotriazinyl reactive groups by using advanced oxidation method. J. Soc. Dye.
cationisation of cotton fabric. Color. Technol. 122, 135–144.
Colour. 115, 350–354.
Henrik, H.H., Wenzel, H., 1996. Environmentally friendly method in reactive dyeing of
Welty, J.R., Wicks, C.E., Wilson, R.E., Rorrer, G.L., 2008. Fundamentals of Momentum,
cotton. Water Sci. Technol. 33, 17–27.
Heat, and Mass Transfer. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, USA.
Huang, K.S., Yen, M.S., 1997. Feasibility of a one-step process for desizing, scouring,
Xiao, J., Zhang, S., Yang, J., Huang, Q., 2007. Study on chemical bonding of
bleaching and mercerisating cotton fabrics. J. Soc. Dye. Colour. 113, 95–98.
Polycarboxylic acid Black on cotton and its dyeing and finishing properties. Dyes
Lam, Y.L., Kan, C.W., Yuen, C.W.M., 2010. Effect of plasma pretreatment on the wrinkle-
Pigments 73, 111–117.
resistance properties of cotton fibers treated with a 1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxylic
Yang, C.Q., Chen, D., Guan, J., He, Q., 2010. Cross-linking cotton cellulose by the
acid–sodium hypophosulfite system with titanium dioxide as a cocatalyst. J. Appl.
combination of maleic acid and sodium hypophosphite. 1. Fabric wrinkle resistance.
Polym. Sci. 120, 1403–1410.
Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 49, 8325–8332.
Lewis, D.M., Zhao, X., Tapley, K.N., 2002. A new agent for cotton durable press finishing
Yang, C.Q., Wang, D., 2000. Evaluating ester crosslinking of cotton fabric by a
under alkaline conditions. AATCC Rev. 2, 38–41.
polycarboxylic acid using acid-base titration. Textil. Res. J. 615–620.

8
L. Fang et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 317 (2021) 128500

Zhang, A., Zhao, H., Cheng, J., Li, M., Li, S., Cao, M., Wang, Y., 2021. Construction of Zhao, H., Zhang, X., Deng, Y., Zhang, S., 2015. High dye fixation efficiency single-step
durable eco-friendly biomass-based flame-retardant coating for cotton fabrics. Chem. dyeing and DP finishing process with polymethylol dyes and DMDHEU. Fibers
Eng. J. 410, 128361. Polym. 16, 1057–1067.
Zhang, W., Zhang, Y., Qin, C., Chen, G., 2014. Combining dyeing and wrinkle-resistance
finishing of cotton in a one-step process using a hemicyanine fluorescent dye. Color.
Technol. 131, 43–47.