Water Conservation In

Textile Wet Processing

Ghulam Abubakar
04-NTU-114
 Objectives
 Introduction
 What is water conservation?
 Why is it necessary?
 How to conserve water?
 Where to conserve water?
 Benefits of water conservation?
 Introduction
 The average water consumption in a textile mill is 150 to 200 m3
per metric ton of finished goods.
 Costs for water supply and wastewater treatment account for
4.3% of the total wet processing costs.
 It is not unusual to find situations where a 10% to 30% reduction
in water use can be achieved without major investments.
 Common situations where water is unnecessarily consumed
include hoses left running, broken or missing valves, cooling
water that is running while machines are not in use, and-
defective toilets and water coolers.
 Why Water Conservation is necessary?
 Water is expensive to buy, treat, and dispose. If your firm does
not have a water conservation program, you are pouring money
down the drain.
 The amount of water used in many fabric pretreatment operations
is often preset to treat the most difficult cloth processed. As a
result, large amounts of water are wasted when cleaner/easier
fabric is treated.
 There is a tendency in the textile industry to use more water than
necessary when removing chemicals during rinsing.
 Similarly there are many operations in the wet processing
industry which doesn’t require water of drinking quality but all
water used in the industry is of drinking water standard which
requires expensive treatments.
 Wet Processing

Pre-Treatments Dyeing/Printing Finishing

Pre-Treatments
 Water usage in different textile wet processing operations
Process Volume in gal/1000 lbs product
Sizing 60 – 940
De-sizing 300 – 1,100
Kiering 310 – 1,700
Scouring 2300 – 5,100
Bleaching 300 – 14,900
Mercerizing 27,900 – 36,950
Dyeing
Aniline black 15000 – 23,000
Basic 18000 – 36,000
Vat 1000 – 20,000
Direct 1,700 – 6,400
Napthol 2,300 – 16,800
Sulphur 2,900 – 25,600
Water Consumption in Pre-treatments in
gal/1000 lbs of Product

38000
35500
33000
30500
28000
25500
23000 De-sizing
20500 Kiering
18000
Scouring
15500
13000 Bleaching
10500 Mercerizing
8000
5500
3000
500
-2000
De-sizing Kiering Scouring Bleaching Mercerizing
 How to conserve water?
 The effluent from the desize J-box can be used to makeup the desize mix.
 Reuse the wash water from the bleach washer in the caustic washer.
 Wash water from the caustic washer can be reused in the desize washer. The
caustic present in this water will enhance the removal of sizing chemicals.
 Use counter current washing.
 Batch operation processes do not easily allow for water recycling. When
trying to reuse wastewater in batch operations, storage facilities for the
reusable wastewater must be provided. Other problems associated with the
reuse of wastewater from batch bleaching and scouring are the non-
continuous character of the waste stream and the higher liquor ratios.
 Supplying only the needed amount of water to a machine and reducing the
number of throughputs can result in significant water savings.
 Reuse of Scouring Rinses for De-sizing

 The rinse water from the scouring operation is

adequate for reuse in other processes such as de-
sizing that do not require water of an extremely
high quality. This reuse is particularly true with
scouring wastes from synthetic or
cotton/synthetic blend fabrics. Scouring rinses
may, in certain cases, also be reused to wash
floors and equipment.
 Reuse of Mercerizing or Bleach Wash
Water for Scouring or De-sizing

 Mercerizing or bleaching rinse water can be

used in scouring and de-sizing operations as
long as size recovery is not practiced.
Generally, the caustic or bleach stream will
degrade many size compounds to an extent
that they cannot be recovered
 Using Counter Current Flow
 In counter current washing, the water flows in the direction opposite to the
fabric.
 This method of water reuse is contrary to the traditional method of providing
clean water at every stage of the wash cycle. Water and energy savings are
related to the number of boxes provided with the counter flow.
 As a result, the least contaminated water contacts the cleanest fabric. Table
shows that the technique can result in significant savings. Many mills use
counter current flow in continuous preparation processes. This technique can
also be used for rinsing after dyeing procedures.
 Counter-current washing can be applied at de-size washers, scour washers,
mercerizing washers, bleach washers, dye ranges, and print house soaper
ranges.
Reducing Flow of water in a single stage bleach range for
processing knit goods in rope form.
 The unit consists of a saturator, J-box with wet heel and six box
washers. Acetic acid is added to the last two washers to
neutralize the fabric. The bleach washers operate at a flow of 30-
40 gallons per minute (gpm) between 170 and 19OoF. The fabric
leaving the fourth washer has a caustic concentration of 0.025 %
at a flow rate of 40 gpm.
 Reducing the flow to 15 gpm increases the concentration of
caustic to 0.033 %. The concentration of caustic in the fabric’ is
not changed when the temperature of the water is lowered from
205°F to 145oF. As a result of the experiments the water
temperature is lowered to 140- 160°F and the flow rate to 20-25
GPM. These measures result in significant water and energy
savings
 Possibilities to reduce water and energy
consumption in a open width bleach range.
 This preparation train consists of 3 stages: de-sizing, scouring
and peroxide bleaching.
 The water consumption in these stages can be reduced by flow
reduction and counter current flow.
 Reducing the water consumption will also reduce the energy
consumption since the temperature of the water used varies from
150°F to 190°F. The bleach washers can be operated at a
temperature of 150°F - 160oF. The desize and caustic washers
must be operated at 180oF-190oF.
 Therefore less energy will be needed if the amount of water is
reduced. The results of this work are shown in Table.
 Optimize Washing
 In a mill caustic scoured cotton yarn packages
were batch washed by a 10 minute hot running
rinse followed by a 10 minute cold running
rinse. Full-scale experiments were performed to
optimize the process. The experiments revealed
that the same fabric quality was obtained by a 3
minute hot running rinse followed by a 3 minute
cold running rinse.
 Water and energy savings available by
process changes
Change Savings

Water gal/hour Energy lbs.steam/hour

Reduce the temperature of 0 250

water by 10 F at the bleach
stage washers
Decrease the water flow by 5 300 300
gal/min at the caustic washer
Counter flow from bleach 3000 2600
washers to caustic washers
Fully counter flow wash 6000 5300
water
Eliminate one stage 3100 3700

Single stage bleach 6200 7000

 Water Savings by Process Change

7000
Water gal/hour
6000

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0
Reduce temp. Reduce flow Counter flow Counter flow in Eliminate one Single Stage
by 10 F by 5 gal/min from bleach washing range stage Bleaching
washers to
caustic
washers
Energy Savings by process change

7000 Energy lbs.steam/hour

6000

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0
Reduce temp. Reduce flow Counter flow Counter flow Eliminate one Single Stage
by 10 F by 5 gal/min from bleach in washing stage Bleaching
washers to range
caustic
washers
DYEING
 Water Consumption doesn’t necessarily
depend on the type of machine!!
 The liquor ratio is the ratio of the amount of liquor (in
pounds) in the exhaust dye bath to the amount of fabric
(in pounds). This ratio varies according to the machine
type. Low liquor ratio dyeing machines have been
developed to save water.
 But the liquor ratio does not reflect the amount of water
used during rinsing. The fact is that the largest
quantities of water in dyeing operations are not used in
the dye bath but in subsequent rinsing.
 It is therefore not necessary true that a dye machine
with a low liquor ratio has a low overall water use.
 Water usage & Liquor ratio in different
dyeing machines
Dyeing machine Water consumption Liquor ratio
gal/lbs
Continuous 20 1:1
Beck 28 17:1
Jet 24 12:1
Jig 12 5:1
Beam 20 10:1
Package 22 10:1
Paddle 35 40:1
Stock 20 12:1
Skein 30 17:1
 The amount of water used during rinsing depends on the dye
class, and the type and weight of the fabric. The dye class, fabric
and desired effects determine the dye equipment used and thus
the amount of water required for rinsing.
 It is sometimes possible to achieve the same shades with dyes of
two different dye classes. Each of the dye classes requires
different dye techniques, chemicals, energy and equipment. All
these factors and the pollution load of the procedures must be
taken into consideration when comparing different techniques.
Max. Water Usage in Different Dye Classes

1000 gal/1000 lbs

38

33

28 Aniline Black
23 Vat
18 Direct
Sulphur
13
Naphthol
8
Basic
3

-2
Aniline Vat Direct Sulphur Naphthol Basic
Black
 Rapid Inverse Dyeing
 Rapid inverse dyeing (RID) is a dye technique that is
successfully used in dyeing
 Polyester/cotton blends using disperse and fiber reactive dyes. In
the normal dyeing procedure the polyester is dyed with disperse
dyes at elevated temperatures. The fabric is then washed to
remove all traces of dye and acetic acid. The machine is refilled
with reactive dye solution to dye the cotton portion of the fabric.
After completion of the dyeing process the excess dye is
removed by dye-extraction and rinsing.
 In RID the cotton is dyed first with reactive dyes. The acidic
disperse dye bath is used as a wash for the fiber reactive dyes.
 This technique reduces the water and energy consumption. The
duration of the dye cycle is also reduced
 Reuse of Final Rinse Water From
Dyeing for Dye Bath Make-Up

 The rinse water from the final rinse in a batch

dyeing operation is fairly clean and can be
used directly for further rinsing or to make up
subsequent dye baths. Several woven fabric
and carpet mills use this rinse water for dye
bath make-up.
 Reuse of Soaper Wastewater
 The colored wastewater from the soaping
operation can be reused at the back grey washer,
which does not require water of a very high
quality. Alternatively, the wastewater can be
used for cleaning floors and equipment in the
print and color shop.
Printing
 Water Consumption during Printing
 The print range has a high water demand for cleaning. The print
paste is thick and difficult to remove from the machinery parts
and drums used to make up the different colors.
 Another source of water consumption is the print blanket. A glue
is applied to the blanket at the beginning of the print range. This
is to ensure good contact between the blanket and the fabric. This
glue contains starch and PVA. Removal of the glue from the
blanket after the printing operations requires large quantities of
water.
 The screens and other parts are cleaned with a hose until they are
almost spotless which consumes a large amount of water.
 How to Conserve Water in Printing??
 Use of Vacuum extraction to clean the blanket after
printing.
 Use of other water-based adhesives that are available,
which might function as well and can be removed more
easily.
 The inside of the screens should be cleaned with a
cylinder shaped broom through which water is sprayed.
 The other parts of the equipment should also be cleaned
with high pressure cleaning equipment.
 Water Conservation During Washing
 The effectiveness of washes increases directly with the
volume of water being used but it increases with the
power of the number of washes.
 It is therefore more effective to conduct several washes
with a small amount of water than to wash the fabric
once with a large volume of water.
 Removing all the excess water before the next portion
of wash water is added to the fabric will prevent
excessive contamination of the wash water.
 Water Conservation In Finishing
 The function of the wet-out stage is to wet the fabric so
that creases can be removed during subsequent drying.
The wet out pan is overflowing at a high rate (15-25
gpm).
 It is necessary to overflow this box to prevent the
buildup of solids in the pan.
 Filtering the water leaving the wet out pan and
recycling the water to this pan would result in
significant savings.
Miscellaneous Methods
 Reusing non-contact Cooling Water
 The non-contact cooling water used in finishing
and dyeing operations is often discharged to the
drain. This water can be use as makeup water for
the boiler and as processing water in operations
that do not required drinking water quality.
 It is also possible to reuse this water as non-
contact cooling water after heat exchange .
 Reclaimed Water
 Reclaimed water, sometimes called recycled
water, is former wastewater (sewage) that has
been treated to remove solids and certain
impurities, and then allowed to recharge the
aquifer rather than being discharged to surface
water.
 Use of Reclaimed Water
 The required quality of water used in textile wet processing operations is
controversial. The industry uses water of drinking water quality although
several processes do not require water of this quality.
 Harker (1980), reported the successful use of a sand filtered, chlorinated
activated sludge effluent in a mill in Yorkshire. This company produces high
quality blazers and no differences were observed between fabric processed
with water of drinking water quality and fabric prepared with reclaimed water.
 Inoua and co-workers investigated in 1977 the use of reclaimed water for
scouring, bleaching and dyeing of cotton, wool and synthetic fibers. The types
of water used in the full-scale experiments were municipal water, water after
flocculation, sedimentation and sand filtration of biologically treated
wastewater and the same water after activated carbon absorption. Slight
differences were observed in the effects of the different water sources on
various fibers but these effects were not considered significant.
 Tworeck (1984) used municipal supply water and water from the
Athlone wastewater treatment plant in his experiments. The
treatment plant consisted of an activated sludge reactor followed
by sandfilters, prechlorination, activated carbon absorption and
chlorine disinfection. He compared the effects of sand filtered
water and final effluent water on the fabric with water of
drinking water quality. The water was used in fabric preparation,
dyeing and finishing of polyester, nylon, a cotton/nylon blend,
wool and other polyester and nylon blends. The reclaimed water
had slight effects on the dyeing of the fabric but they were fully
acceptable to the mill.
 Most wastewater leaving a textile mill needs treatment before
reuse is possible. However, there are waste streams that can be
reused directly.
 Use of Automatic Shut-Off Valves
 An automatic shut-off valve set to time, level, or
temperature will control the flow of water into a
process unit.
 One plant estimated that a reduction in water use
of up to 20 percent could be achieved with
thermally controlled shut-off valves.
 Use of Flow Control Valves
 A flow- or pressure-reduction valve can
significantly reduce the quantity of water used in
a wash or clean-up step.
 These valves are particularly useful in cleaning
areas where operators are not always aware of
the need for water conservation
 Good Housekeeping

 A program of maintenance, inspection, and evaluation of

production practices should be established. Significant reductions
in water use can be made by implementing the following:
 Minimizing leaks and spills,
 Maintaining production equipment properly,
 Identifying unnecessary washing of both fabric and equipment,
 Training employees on the importance of water conservation.
 Influence of conservation & recycling on the water & energy
consumption in a typical continuous preparation operation

Process Water Average process Energy for

modification consumption temp, oF heating water
gpd 104 Btu/day
No conservation 346,000 165 274

Temp. increase & 194,000 195 202

water reduction

Multiple use of 158,000 195 165

water

Water recycled 43,000 195 45

after ultra
filtration
 Influence of conservation and recycling
on water consumption
400,000

350,000

300,000

250,000

200,000 Water Consumption

150,000

100,000

50,000

0
No Conservation Temp. increase and flow Multiple use of water Using recycled water
reduction
Influence of conservation and recycling
on energy consumption
300

250

200

Energy for heating water 104

150
Btu/day

100

50

0
No Conservation Temp. increase & Multiple use of Using recycled
flow reduction water water
 Benefits of Water Conservation
 Loss reduction.
 Reduction of chemical, water and energy
consumption, thereby resulting in savings and
increased production.
 Reduced liability for waste produced.
 Improved compliance with regulations.
 Facts and Figures
Reusing non-contact cooling water at the fiberglass processing plant will reduce
the water consumption by 76% and results in a savings of $99,400 per year.

Implementing counter-current flow between bleach washers will save $154,000

per year due to reduced consumption of water and energy. The savings will be
$ 336,000 per year if the existing washers are replaced by more efficient
washers.

By using non-contact cooling water in the cotton bleaching and dyeing units the
estimated savings are $66,000 per year.
Any Questions???