Water quality requirements and

auxiliaries, chemicals for

Dyeing and Finishing of Textiles
TT 2074
Use of water in textile wet processing
• Pretreatment processes • Steam generation
• Desizing • Provide heat for pretreatments
• Scouring • For heating up the dye baths
• Bleaching
• Mercerization etc.
• Dyeing process
• Dye migration medium
• Washing of fabrics after dyeing
• Washing of machineries after dyeing
• Finishing process
• Application medium/Solvent of chemicals
Introduction
• Wet processing is one of the major streams in textile processing
• Also referred as textile chemical processing.
• Water is the most common and vital solvent for wet processing
• Water can dissolve so many elements and compounds, due to its covalent as well
as polar nature and also water can be affected by the presence of various
impurities because of this
• e.g. suspended solids, by their properties (acidity, alkalinity, hard water), and by dissolved
oxygen, all manifesting pronounced effects on textile wet processing

• Water containing impurities would affect textile wet process and cause a defect in
the form of shade variation, unevenness and damaging of textile material.
• Therefore, the quality of water should be necessarily maintained for better
performance.
Sources of water for wet processes
•?
Important parameters for water to be used in
Textile wet processing
• Colour
• Turbidity
• pH value
• Alkalinity
• Acidity
• Dissolved oxygen content
• Total Hardness
• Salinity Content
• Total Dissolved Solids(TDS)
• Total Suspended Solids(TSS)
• Iron Content
• Specific Conductivity
• Temperature
Colour and Turbidity
• Color normally indicates the presence of soluble and suspended
matter, which affects the textile wet processing
• The colour scale used for measuring water quality can also be referred
to as the Pt-Co (Platinum-Cobalt) / APHA (from American Public
Health Association) / HU (Hazen Units) colour scale. It ranges from 0
(clean or distilled water) to 500 (very dark, polluted water)
• Drinking water standard < 15 Pt-Co / HU / Hazen units*
• According to SANS 241:2015 Limits

https://selectech.co.za/hazen-colour-water-tell-us/
• Turbidity is caused by the scattering of light by suspended particles
which may be organic or inorganic in nature.

• How we can reduce the colour and turbidity?

• Using proper water sources
• Using water treatment systems
• Filtrations
pH Value / Acidity / Alkalinity
• In all textile processes in which aqueous solutions are used, balancing
the pH of the solution is primary
• The pH of a textile is logically defined in terms of the hydrogen ions
concentration of the water
• The alkalinity is due to the presence of bicarbonates , carbonates or
hydroxides
• Acidity is due to the dissolution of CO2 in water and production of
HCO3
• CO2 acidity is in the pH range of 8.2 to 4.5
• Have to control and monitor the pH of water using buffers and pH
meters
Dissolved oxygen
• Amount of dissolved oxygen can affect the colour molecules, this is due
to the oxidation of the molecules hence change of colour can occur

• Acidity, alkalinity and dissolved oxygen are responsible for corrosion of

dyeing machinery as well, usually occurring at high temperature

• Dissolved oxygen content can be removed by; boiling at 1 atm, boiling

under reduced pressure, purging with N2 and sonication under reduced
pressure
• https://doi.org/10.1016/0039-9140(94)80110-X
Total Hardeness
• Hardness is caused by compounds of calcium and magnesium, and a
variety of other metals
• Types of Hardness:
• Temporary Hardness: When only bicarbonate salts of Ca and Mg are present
• Permanent Hardness: When sulphate chloride and nitrate salts of Ca and Mg
are present
What will happen due to hardness of water
• Precipitation of soaps
• With hard water, the soluble sodium salt of soap reacts with the alkaline earth metal ions
and precipitates as the useless and undesirable calcium or magnesium soap. The cleaning
ability is lost.
• Redeposition of dirt and insoluble soaps on the fabric being washed this can
cause yellowing and lead to unleveled dyeing and a poor handle
• Precipitation of some dyes as calcium or magnesium salts
• Reduction of the activity of the enzymes used in desizing
• Decreased solubility of sizing agents
• Coagulation of some types of print pastes
• Scale formation on equipment and in boilers and pipelines
• Incompatibility with chemicals in finishing recipe
How to reduce/remove water hardness
• Temporary hardness
• Heating hard water containing bicarbonates eliminates dissolved carbon
dioxide and the causes precipitation of calcium carbonate. Magnesium
carbonate is slightly soluble in water but heating will cause its hydrolysis into
the much less soluble magnesium hydroxide

• Ca(HCO3)2  CO2(g) + H2O(l) + CaCO3(s)

• Mg(HCO3)2(aq)  MgCO3(s) + CO2(g) + H2O(l)

• MgCO3(aq) + H2O  Mg(OH)2(s) + CO2(g)
Permanent hardness
• When sulphates chlorites and nitrate salt of Ca and Mg are present in
Water the hardness is called permanent hardness.
• Permanent hardness cannot removed by boiling because these salt
are not precipitated when the water is boiled but remain in solution
• How to treat water to remove permanent hardness
• Lime-soda process
• Base-exchange process
• Demineralization process
• Sequestering agents
• Lime soda process
• Ca(OH)2 - Slaked Lime
• Na2CO3 - Soda ash

• Ca(OH)2 + CO2  CaCO3 + H2O

•Ca(OH)2 + Ca(HCO3)2  2CaCO3 + 2 H2O

•Mg(HCO3)2 + Ca(OH)2  MgCO3 + CaCO3 + 2 H2O

• MgCO3 + Ca(OH)2  Mg(OH)2 + CaCO3

•MgCl2 + Ca(OH)2  CaCl2 + Mg(OH)2

•CaCl2+ Na2CO3  CaCO3 + NaCl

•2NaHCO3 + Ca(OH)2  CaCO3 + Na2CO3 +2H2O

•CaSO4 + Na2CO3  CaCO3 + Na2CO3

• MgSO4 + Ca(OH)2  Mg(OH)2 + CaSO4

• The usual method for lime soda processing is treatment by excessive
lime amount.
• The pH should be greater than 9 for sedimentation of the magnesium
hydroxide. Usually pH is between 10-10.5. The process contains lime
dosing. A small amount of alum or sodium aluminate is added to
ensure good sedimentation. The recycling of some sediment sludge
can also help to sediment.
• If the water contains excessive alkalinity after the softening process
has been completed, there is a possibility that the calcium carbonate
will settle in the pipes. The softened water is treated with H2SO4 or
CO2 to remove this from the softened water. This reaction is called
recarbonization.
• Base exchange process
• Using Zeolites (sodium alumina silicate NaAlSiO4.3H2O) denoted by Na2Z
• Removal of carbonate hardness:
• Ca(HCO3)2 + Na2Z  CaZ + 2NaHCO3
• Mg(HCO3)2 + Na2Z  MgZ + 2NaHCO3
• Removal of non-carbonate hardness:
• CaSO4 + Na2Z  CaZ + Na2SO4
• CaCl2 + Na2Z  CaZ + CaCl2
• MgSO4 + Na2Z  MgZ + Na2SO4
• MgCl2 + Na2Z  MgZ + 2NaCl

• To replenish the sodium ions used, units need to be regenerated with

material containing high amounts of sodium, normally salt brine. This allows
the resin to be reused many times
• Demineralization
• In addition to the removal of hardness, these processes require removal of all
dissolved solids, such as sodium, silica, alkalinity, and the mineral anions (Cl¯,
SO4²¯, NO3¯)
• Demineralization of water is the removal of essentially all inorganic salts by
ion exchange. In this process, strong acid cation resin in the hydrogen form
converts dissolved salts into their corresponding acids, and strong base anion
resin in the hydroxide form removes these acids. Demineralization produces
water similar in quality to distillation at a lower cost for most fresh waters
• To complete the demineralization process, water from the cation unit is
passed through a strong base anion exchange resin in the hydroxide form. The
resin exchanges hydrogen ions for both highly ionized mineral ions and the
more weakly ionized carbonic and silicic acids, as shown below:
• Sequestering agents
• di- and tri-valent cations, e.g., Ca++, Mg ++ Cu ++, Fe+++ etc. These ions
increase hardness of the process bath and generate iron oxides in the bath
• Sequestering agents with calcium and magnesium ions and other heavy metal
ions in hard water. They form molecules in which the ions are held so securely
(sequestered) that they can no longer react.
• Selection of the right sequestering agent is very important. First and
foremost, the sequestering agent should chelate offending metal ions under
the given condition and should form a stable complex, which does not
decompose over a prolonged processing period.
• Different sequestering agents
1. Aminocarboxylic acid base products
• EDTA: Good sequestering agent for calcium and magnesium at alkaline pH but no
sequestering agents on Fe3+ at alkaline pH. Not stable with oxidising agents. Low
solubility in acidic medium.
• NTA: Sequestering of Fe3+ only at acidic pH but sequestering of Cu2+ between pH 3 to
12. Low solubility in acidic medium. Not stable with oxidising agents.
• DTPA: Good sequestering action Fe3+ under alkaline pH but complexes with alkaline
earth salts are less stable than EDTA. slightly more resistant to oxidising agents. Low
solubility in acidic medium.
2. Phosphates and Phosphonates
• Inorganic polyphosphates such as sodium hexameta phosphate (SHMP), sodium
polyphosphate, sodium tripolyphosphate, sodium trimeta phosphate, sodium
pyrophosphates
• Phosphonated aminopolycarboxylates such as EDTMP, DETMP, ATMP, HEDP, DTPMP
3. Hydroxy carbroxylates
4. Polyacrylates
5. Sugar acrylates
• To overcome these deleterious effects in the scouring and bleaching
bath adequate amount of sequestrant must be used. Sequestrants
prevent di-and tri-valent metal ions,
• e.g., Cu++, Fe +++ , Mn ++, Ca++, Mg++ etc from interfering with the chemical
processing of the textile material. It prevents catalytic damage of cellulosic
fibres in bleaching hath during hydrogen peroxide bleaching.
• When selecting the sequestering agent following factors should be
considered
• Stability Constant of the chelate
• The pH of the Process
• De-metalisation of dyes
• effect on equipment
Auxiliaries and chemicals in wet processing
• Though all are actually chemicals, in practice the materials without
which a process cannot be complete are termed as “chemicals” and
the other substances which facilitate or improve the performance of
that process are termed as “auxiliaries”
Auxiliaries and chemicals in wet processing
• Acid • Leveling agent
• Alkali • Retarding agent
• Salt • Sequestering agent
• Buffer • Antifoaming agent
• Oxidizing agent • Dispersing agent
• Reducing agent • Carrier
• Detergent • Emulsifier
• Wetting agent • Resin
• Catalyst • Stabilizers
• Buffer
• It is saturated solution of acid salt or alkali-salt mixture.
• It resists the change of PH on addition of acid alkali.
• Usually used to control PH of any bath solution.
• Buffer solution are solutions containing mixture of a weak acid or base and a
salt of that acid or base.
E.g. The mixture of acetic acid or sodium acetate, which dissociates as:
CH3COOH-----------CH3COO + H+
-

CH3COONA---------CH3COO + Na+
-
• Leveling agents (Retarders)
• Leveling agent (a) allows the dye to get in to the fiber regardless of initial
Unevenness.  During the course of further dyeing levelness is achieved through
migration.  For this selection of dyes for dyeing is of utmost importance or (b) it
controls/retards the rate of dyeing throughout the dyeing cycle.  Sometimes the
leveling agent acts in both the ways.

• Anionic agent:
• The molecules of these compounds consist of largely negative charged or anionic organic radical.
When anionic agents are added to the dye liquor, the anionic agents will be attracted to any
positive sites of the fiber. The anionic agents try to repel similarly charged anionic dye molecules.
As the bath is heated the molecules develop sufficient energy to overcome the repulsive forces
between the retarder and the dye. These anionic agents tend to give more uniform dye uptake of
the fiber.
• Cationic agents:
• The molecules of these compounds consist of largely positively charged or cationic organic radical.
When cationic agents are added to the dye liquor, their captions are attracted to the anionic dye
molecule. This neutralizes the electrical charge of the dye molecule and minimizes the
substantively of the fibers. The energy provided by heating cause the cationic radicals of the
leveling agent to gradually dissociate of the cationic agent from the anionic dye molecule slowly
releases the dye and ensures a more uniform absorption of the polymer system of the fiber.
 Ion type Fiber type Dye

Azoic, Vat, Direct

Non-Ionic/Anionic Cotton, Wool, milling, Metal
Nylon, Polyester
Complex, Disperse

Wool, Nylon, Direct milling, Metal

Non-ionic/Cationic Polyester Complex, Disperse

Acid, Mordant, Metal

Anionic Wool Complex, Reactant

Cotton, Wool,
Weakly Anionic Nylon, Polyester Acid, Direct, Disperse

Anionic/Cationic Polyester Acid, Metal-Complex

Cationic Wool, Nylon, Basic, Acid, Metal-

Complex, Reactive

Acrylic, Wool, Acid, Mordant, Metal-

Weakly cationic Nylon, Complex

Cationic/Polymeric Cotton Vat, Sulphur

Acid, Mordrant,
Amphoteric Wool Metal-Complex,
Reactive
• Anti-forming agent
• Agent that is able to reduce or prevent foam. Usually used in dyeing bath and in printing
paste to hinder foam generation
• Foam is generated due to mixing of air with the liquid
• While 95% of all foam problems occur in aqueous media, pure water does not foam. The
addition of surfactants and other surface-active chemicals trap air at the liquid surface
causing foam to build-up.
A defoamer or antifoam must be insoluble in the foaming media and have a low surface
tension so it spreads across the foam surface.

• Carrier – usually an oil that is insoluble in the foaming medium. Oils have low surface tensions and
migrate to the air/liquid interface. It may be vegetable oil, mineral oil, or silicone based.

• Hydrophobe – finely divided solids that move with the carrier across the surface and physically disrupt
bubble walls.

• Surfactants – used to prepare stable emulsions of the carrier in the diluents. Also act in spreading and
dispersing the antifoam in the foaming medium. Selection of the surfactant package is often key to a
successful antifoam formulation.

• Diluent – usually water. Antifoams and defoamers are effective at low doses (often less than 0.01%) so
stable dilutions allow better dosing control resulting in cost savings for the user.