Recent Developments in Processing Of Textiles

Sayantika Debnath
Roll no. – 02, M.Sc. TCFS (Sem III)
Department of Textile Science, Clothing & Fashion Studies
J. D. Birla Institute, 11 Lower Rawdon Street, Kolkata- 700020

The creation of cloth and clothing, as well as the sizing, desizing, and processing of yarn, are the main
concerns of the textile business. Around the world, the textile sector has seen a rapid expansion in
recent decades. China's textile exports have recently surpassed a significant milestone of $274 billion,
outpacing India by a factor of at least seven.
The adoption and implementation of numerous initiatives to promote sustainability utilising green
chemical practises is now taking place in textile processing units. To achieve this, efforts have been
made to build reliable textile processing routes and procedures that produce no or very little waste
(Gulzar et. al, 2019)

To improve the characteristics and operational efficiency of textile materials for various uses in other
textile activities, chemical processing of textiles comprises the elimination of natural impurities from
textile materials.
The wet processing of textiles is used to transform raw materials into goods that consumers can
clearly distinguish as being of a high calibre. The process of turning grey fibres into finished fabrics
that meet the demands of the market for design and fashion is known as textile wet processing, and it
is regarded as a subset of chemical processing.
In comparison to other textile industry sectors, the wet processing sector needs a lot of labour, a lot of
water to produce the fuel-like steam, dyes, chemicals, and a proper drainage system. When treating
textiles wet, a number of pretreatment procedures are used. Desizing, scouring, bleaching, and
mercerizing are being used to properly remove undesirable material in order to increase the material's
suitability for dyeing, printing, and finishing processes (Singh et. Al, 2019).

Major Developments in Processing of Textiles (Singh et. Al, 2019).

Plasma Technology
Plasma treatment is a new technology that the textile industry uses on a massive scale. This method is
utilised to cause surface alterations and bulk property upgrades in textile materials, producing
enhanced textile goods such advanced composites and traditional fabrics. A gaseous medium called
plasma can be created using mixtures of oxygen, argon, fluorine, helium, and carbon dioxide.
Products that have been plasma-treated exhibit a higher affinity, which improves the colour fastness
of fabrics with high wash resistance as well as alters the surface energy of fibres and fabrics.

Waterless Dyeing
Waterless dyeing technology uses recovered CO2 as the dyeing medium. This technique uses no
water or harmful chemicals for dyeing. A closed-loop process is used to convert CO2 to a
supercritical state. In this process, CO2 is pressurized and converted to a supercritical state
somewhere between liquid and solid. The main reason for converting CO2 to the supercritical state is
that CO2 has a high dissolving power and can dissolve dyes very easily. This process has many
advantages such as zero water consumption, reduced chemical usage, low energy consumption due to
short batch cycles, and elimination of wastewater treatment processes. Since CO2 is an inexhaustible
resource and can be recovered and reused many times, waterless dyeing is very economical.
Ultrasonic Textile Processing
In this process, frequency is the main factor used as an energy source to operate the device and
accelerate chemical reactions in solid, liquid, and gaseous media. Ultrasonic fiber processing uses
frequencies above 20,000 MHz (beyond human hearing). This ultrasonic energy in the wet processing
of textiles used during the dyeing process improves the diffusion of dyes inside the fibers very
efficiently and smoothly.

Ozone Assisted Textile Processing

Ozone is a gas with a characteristic blue color. The chemical formula for ozone is O3, or trioxygen.
Widely used in textile wet treatment for bleaching textile materials.
Since ozone is thermodynamically unstable, it can be converted back to oxygen. Another application
of ozone in the textile sector is textile dye wastewater treatment.

Nanotechnology Application in Textiles

Nanotechnology is the branch of science that deals with the application of new technologies using
materials with lengths between 1 and 100 nm. This technology can be introduced into textile materials
in two stages. The first is the fiber and yarn stage during the extrusion process and then the finishing
stage through the coating process. This technology is used to impart properties to textile materials
such as tensile strength, water repellency, antibacterial properties, superior durability, surface texture,
color fastness, and improved breathability.

Conclusion
These recent technologies have helped to improve pollution control and performance of natural and
synthetic fibers by improving their physical and chemical properties. Previously, it was believed that
the main purpose of chemical processing in the textile industry was to remove dirt and dust particles
from textile materials, but advancements in the field have led to an abundance of useful textile
materials. The textile processing sector is looking to integrate its processing steps in order to create
more value for customers. In order to meet the growing demands of the market, these techniques will
need to be highly advanced. Therefore, using advanced technologies in an efficient way can create a
good scope for this sector, and textile processing is easy with higher efficiency.

References

1. Gulzar, T., Farooq, T., Kiran, S., Ahmad, I., & Hameed, A. (2019). Green chemistry in the
wet processing of textiles. In The impact and prospects of green chemistry for textile
technology (pp. 1-20). Woodhead Publishing.

2. Singh, A., Jahan, S., & Massey, S. (2019). Recent advances in chemical processing of natural
and synthetic textiles. International Journal of Chemical Studies, 7(2), 659-663.