Water efficiency in textile processes

Tag : mercerizing fabric

Water Consumption in Textiles


Water is used extensively throughout textile processing operations.Almost all dyes, specialty chemicals, and finishing chemicals areapplied to textile substrates from water baths. In addition, mostfabric preparation steps, including desizing, scouring, bleaching,and mercerizing, use aqueous systems.


The amount of water used varies widely in the industry, dependingon specific processes operated at the mill, equipment used, andprevailing management philosophy concerning water use.


Reducing water consumption in textile processing is important forfurthering pollution prevention efforts, due in part because excesswater use dilutes pollutants and adds to the effluent load.


Mills that currently use excessive quantities of water can achievelarge gains from pollution prevention. A reduction in water use of10 to 30 percent can be accomplished by taking fairly simplemeasures. A walk-through audit can uncover water waste in the formof:

Hoses left running. Broken or missing valves. Excessive water use in washing operations. Leaks from pipes, joints, valves, and pumps. Cooling water or wash boxes left running when machinery is shutdown. Defective toilets and water coolers.


In addition, many less obvious causes of water waste exist. Thesecauses are presented below by subcategory, unit process, andmachine type.


Subcategory


Textile operations vary greatly in water consumption.


Figure 1 summarizes the water consumption of various types ofoperations. Wool and felted fabrics processes are more waterintensive than other processing subcategories such as wovens,knits, stock, and carpet.


Water use can vary widely between similar operations as well. Forexample, knit mills average 10 gallons of water per pound ofproduction, yet water use ranges from a low of 2.5 gallons to ahigh of 45.2 gallons.


These data serve as a good benchmark for determining whether wateruse in a particular mill is excessive.