Practices towards Sustainable Textile Processes: Investigation on Environmental Issues at Different Stages of Knitted Fabric Wet Processing

Abstract

In this study-the ecological parameters of the effluents obtained from scouring and dyeing with reactive dyes of Remazol brand for conventional cotton single jersey knitted fabric as well as bio-scouring and dyeing with low impact reactive dyes of Avitera brand for organic cotton single jersey fabric have been investigated. The ecological parameters include chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), total dissolved solids (TDS), Total Suspended Solid (TSS), dissolved oxygen (DO), EC or conductivity, alkalinity and pH. Also some selected physical properties have been investigated for both dyed fabrics such as bursting strength, fabric drapability, color fastness to wash, color fastness to rubbing and color fastness to perspiration. The results of ecological test show greater ecological advances for using organic cotton, bio scouring and low impact reactive dyes than the conventional method and raw materials. In addition, the bleaching process has eliminated by dyeing with deep shade that results less toxic chemicals in effluent. The physical properties also showed better results of using eco-friendly fabric and processes.