Sustainable Textile Manufacturing: Techniques and Innovations in Reducing Waste and Energy Consumption

Sustainable Textile Manufacturing: Techniques and Innovations in Reducing Waste and Energy Consumption

Raha Ahmed Chowdhury
M.Sc. in Textile Engineering Management
10th Batch (Session: 2024)
Textile Engineering College Noakhali Affiliated by BUTEX (7th Batch)
Email: ahmedraha583@gmail.com

Introduction:

At present, textile industries are spreading a lot of contaminants like dyes and chemicals (reactive, direct, acid and vat dyes), heavy metals (lead, chromium, nickel, cadmium), organic compounds such as salt, urea in the groundwater reserve. The spreading of these toxic substances is leading towards huge threats for aquatic organisms as well as our ecosystem. Moreover, this is one of the biggest energy intensive and the largest water consumed fields than others. The impacts of this consumption are increasing carbon footprint (climate change), ecotoxicity, acidification, ozone depletion, abiotic and biotic resources depletion. Furthermore, there are a lot of wastes produced within the textile industry and not properly handled in an eco-friendly way. Being a coastal country like Bangladesh, there is no alternative to reduction of these wastes and inclination towards natural energy usage so far. Ironically the significance of the implementation of sustainability knows no bounds. Sustainability in textiles is considered as the effective solution of the pollution caused by textile industries in the environment almost according to all ongoing and completed research and case studies, scholars and experts. First to introduce sustainable textile manufacturing, it is more obvious to know what sustainability is. Sustainability refers to the adoption and implementation of eco-friendly techniques aimed at balancing the needs of the environment, economy and society.

So, there are three aspects of sustainability i.e. environmental, economical and social sustainability. Sustainable textile manufacturing means developing sustainable processes within textile industries that will meet the current needs leaving no harm to the environment and will enable future generations to fulfill their own needs. Globally, in order to handle the uprising challenge in the textile arena, there are a lot of sustainable techniques and innovations invented and proposed to implement. They are called sustainable because of their eco-friendly properties and durability.

This report is aimed at searching and gathering the recent techniques and innovations in reducing waste water and energy consumption with findings of the existing challenges and future directions of implementation in textile industries.

Objectives:

1. To introduce sustainable textile manufacturing
2. To explore different sustainable textile manufacturing techniques
3. To know about the innovations that contribute to reducing waste and energy consumption.
4. Evaluate the effectiveness of these techniques and challenges of their feasibility for large-scale implementation.
5. Propose recommendations for further advancements in sustainable textile practices.

Sustainable Fibers and Techniques in Textile Manufacturing

Recently, the sustainable raw materials like organic cotton, ramie, lyocell, bamboo fiber, aloe vera, pinatex, corn fiber, seacell, banana fiber, nettle fiber, soya silk, eco spun fiber, recycled polyester are supposed to be ecofriendly almost all over the world. Modern technology focuses on applying waterless dyeing techniques to get desired quality products leaving no harm for the environment. From the beginning of invention, a lot of dyeing oriented factories have been using biodegradable procedures like bioscouring, biopolishing etc as considerable steps towards sustainability. To get a suitable concept, trends in sustainability bucket are presented below:

Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Fibers:

Organic Cotton: Traditional cotton is not only harmful for the environment but also for the health of farmers because of the huge amount of pesticides and insecticides being used in the production land. The cotton which is produced without using any chemicals and pesticides known as organic cotton. The demand for organic cotton has been increasing day by day. Because fabrics produced from this type of cotton are 100% biodegradable. The apparel made from organic cotton fabric has the properties of absorption, comfort, lightweight, soft handle, activewear friendly. Being more expensive than traditional cotton production, many companies cannot afford organic cotton as per local or foreign demand.

Abaca fiber: This is also known as Manila hemp as it is usually produced in Manila, Philippines. Abaca fiber is basically a leaf fiber extracted from one kind of banana tree (Abaca plant; Musa textilis) which is considered as biodegradable, sustainable and renewable. As of now, there are several production methods of abaca fiber like dew retting, water retting, chemical retting and enzymatic retting. Among these methods, water retting and enzymatic retting methods are acknowledged as eco-friendly. Though the water retting process is more expensive, the quality and strength of abaca leaf fiber collected from this method are comparatively sustainable.

Hemp: In production of hemp fiber, insecticides and chemical fertilizers are not used at all. As a result, it is not harmful for the environment. The demand for fabric made from natural hemp fiber has greater popularity in the fashion world.

Bamboo fiber: Bamboo is recognizable as fast growing, helps to improve the quality of soil and retain eroded soil. Though the research on bamboo fiber production in an eco-friendly way is running, the fiber and fabric or accessories made up of bamboo will be recognized as sustainable and biodegradable in near future.

Nettle fiber: The fiber is a rare eco-friendly fiber collected from the Brennessel plant which is resistant to vermin and parasites. It can be produced without herbicides and pesticides leaving no minerals into the ground. The fibre may be used as a sustainable alternative to traditional cotton.

Soya: Soya fabric is supple and comfortable, certified as organic. This is collected from the by-product produced during soybean manufacturing.

Lyocell: This is supposed to be a greener alternative to traditional cotton or rayon as lyocell is produced in a closed loop cycle, consuming almost all the solvent in the production process and leaving zero chemical discharge. Lyocell is a cellulosic fiber produced from wood pulp having the quality of durability, biodegradability as well as a softer handle.

Pina fabric: It is also called pinatex, an agricultural waste product,made from leaves of pineapple plant used as an alternative to leather. Pineapple leaves are peeled from the plant which produce a non-woven material. It contains 80% leaf fibre and 20% corn based plastic i.e. polylactic acid. The production of pinatex fibre recycles approximately 40,000 tonnes of pineapple leaf waste annually without using excess water, chemicals, insecticides and avoiding heavy metals used in tanning leather.

Mycelium leather-Mylo: Another biodegradable and lower impactful fibre is mushroom based Mylo fiber which is produced from fungal roots mycelium and organic agricultural waste sawdust. The fibre is soft, durable, eco-friendly and suitable for recycling.

Seacell: The blends of wool pulp cellulose and sustainably harvested seaweed are the ultimate seacell. The fabric made of seacell fibre has the quality of soft and breathable and biodegradable. This is produced via the lyocell process i.e. closed loop system.

Banana fiber: Banana fiber is recognized as one of the 100% eco-friendly fibers. The fibre is collected by decorticating or hand stripping. The fiber is strong, biodegradable, shiny and lightweight having the quality of absorbing moisture. Besides producing mats and ropes from the banana fibre, fashion industries are interested in incorporating the fibre into fashionable clothing and home furnishing items.

Recycled Polyester: Recycled polyester (rPET) is an example of recycling disposable plastic bottles and nylon products. Though clothing is produced rarely from rPET, the recycled product may be used as accessories items performing like new ones. The recycling causes less carbon emission into the atmosphere.

Eco-Friendly Textile Processes:

The pretreatment processes in wet processing include desizing, singeing, scouring, bleaching and dyeing itself are identified as major water, chemical and energy consumed sectors within the textile industry. From the very beginning to now, a good number of sustainable solutions have been proposed to reduce the impact of these processes in the environment, economy and human life. Here are included some summarized introduction:

Waterless Dyeing Technology

The process in which water and energy are less consumed than conventional dyeing methods is known as waterless dyeing technique. There are two types of waterless dyeing technologies: Air dyeing technique and supercritical fluid dyeing technique. In air dyeing technology, less water and energy are used which leads to lower impact on the environment. A very small amount of water is used for dye liquor. Airflow dyeing machine conducted according to the aerodynamics system in which dyeing is injected on fabric by blending atomized dye liquor with high pressurized airflow. According to an independent experiment, based on fabric and dyeing type, this process uses up to 95% less water and up to 87% less energy leaving 84% lower greenhouse gas emission to the environment. The installation of these machines is highly expensive but the production of hazardous wastewater is satisfactorily reduced.

The supercritical fluid technology is also known as CO₂ dyeing technology. Because in this process, carbon dioxide is used as solvent instead of water. The name is such as it uses high tempered and pressurized carbon dioxide which is supercritical.Carbon dioxide shows liquid and gas qualities above critical point. The liquid supercritical CO₂ helps to dissolve hydrophobic dye and gaseous CO₂ provides low viscosity and diffusion, contributing to less dyeing time than water. Though it reduces up to 95% of water usage, the synthetic fibers can be dyed using this method.

Eco-friendly Chemical Processing

This includes pretreatment processes like singeing, desizing, scouring, bleaching which are performed by using sustainable and less impactful chemicals for the environment.

Desizing and Scouring

Enzymatic desizing and bioscouring to remove sizing materials and impurities like oil, waxes from fabric replace toxic and hazardous substances spreading in the environment. Because enzymes are proteins which are fundamentally made up of about 250 amino acids and formed by living organisms as well as soluble catalysts. In enzymatic desizing, amylase bacteria is used. Enzymatic bioscouring (performed by using cellulase / lipase) saves water and energy corresponding to 30% and 60%. These processes improve dye absorbency, brightness, better fabric quality discharging low TDS. Biopolishing and enzymatic based softener, bio stone washing, dye house effluent decolorization by using enzymes are the eco friendly uses in this field. They perform impurities removal processes without any harmful effect.

Bleaching can be carried out by applying UV (Ultraviolet) technology to remove natural yellowish color from cotton. In traditional methods, the primary bleaching chemical is H2O2 (Hydrogen peroxide) and caustic soda (NaOH) is used to activate the peroxide requiring high temperature. Research showed that in UV technology bleaching, more accurate and desired fabric whiteness can be obtained as cellulose oxidation occurs in UV radiation than the usual method. This is found in another study that UV radiation has offered more sustainable dyeing, printing, curing and finishing of cotton, wool, polyester and other types of fabric. The innovation of UV radiation technology encompasses a bigger portion of sustainable textile processing.

Ozone bleaching and finishing

Natural bleaching effect can be obtained by using ozone gas bleaching which contributes to less water, dyestuffs and chemicals consumption. In Ozone bleaching technology, ozone gas is turned into oxygen gas through dampening, sun exposure, and rinsing of denim apparels. Furthermore, Ozone bleaching requires less time (approx 15 mins) and 2-3 times wash offs whereas conventional method takes 6-7 times wash and 45-50 mins to perform.

Electromechanical cell Mercerization

By replacing sodium hydroxide based mercerization, electromechanical cell mercerization is supposed to be an alternative. Neutralization acids or other harmful chemicals are not used in this method. Electromechanical cell mercerization involves creating oxidation which is an electric current flow reaction between a solid electrode and substance by using electrical energy supply. This process is more expensive than the traditional one.

Digital printing can be another game changer in this field where less printing ink and chemicals rather than conventional screen printing methods.

Classification of Textile Wastes and Reduction Techniques

Textile wastes are wholly classified as follows:

These wastes recycling processes may be classified according to the types of used materials and products. Recycling techniques include: primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary approaches. In primary approach encompasses recycling of industrial scraps, secondary approach involves mechanical process of post consumer textile wastes into new product carrying lower level of physical, chemical or mechanical properties, tertiary approach includes pyrolysis and hydrolysis of polymeric wastes to have monomers or fuels and quaternary waste recycling involves burning of solid wastes and utilization of generated heat.

Upcycling and Downcycling: Examples of Recycling Textile Wastes

Upcycling may be defined as recreating something fashionable, sleek, creative product by using worn and disposable items. Whereas downcycling refers to creating simple and usual items by using worn products. The items obtained from the upcycling process are environmentally friendly, sustainable and affordable.

Circular Economy

Circular Economy is a popular concept in this recycling space. The 4R principle (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recover or Remanufacture) represents the role of a circular economy. This concept involves the maximum use of products up to their life cycle, then collecting them to recycle purpose to give a reproduction of transformed one for reusing them. Thus, the whole process is roaming to decline the impacts on the environment.

Brands Focusing on Sustainability

There are some companies considered as pioneers in this arena contributing to global sustainability. For instance, Kallio is a kids wear brand in New York,USA, recreating modern, stylish and fashionable kids items by using worn, faded and vintage items. Sword and Plough is another brand contributing to social sustainability by recycling military fabrics into fashionable bags and purses as well as returning 10% of their profits to veteran organizations. Reclaimed is one of the companies recycling vintage and old consumer wear into upcycling items. In this sustainable practice bucket, the notable brands being named as Looptworks, Seamly.co, Reformation play a vital role to reduce negative impacts of textile wastes from the environment by establishing upcycling and downcycling the large quantities of used, worn and vintage items into creative, fashionable, sleek and effective, sustainable and affordable items.

Challenges to the Sustainability Route

Some common and subtle challenges creating barrier to implement sustainability in textile sector are noted below:

1. Lack of advanced technology implementation
2. Insufficient infrastructure
3. Expensive production of natural, organic and regenerated fibers
4. Skilled workforce lacking for sustainable processes
5. Lacking of sustainable supply chain management
6. Investment shortages in the field of technology startups required for sustainability adoption
7. Improper management of Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) and Water Treatment Plant (WTP)
8. Scarcity of technology to utilize natural resources like solar panels, windmills or hydro-electricity.
9. Lacking proper training for the workers and employees

Recommendations

In order to make the sustainability in textile industry more feasible and implantable, the following steps can be recommended:

1. Increase technological development required for sustainable solution of waste and energy consumption.
2. Research and Development for Eco design implementation
3. Ensuring Investment environment ( i.e. investments will be recoverable if political instability or natural disasters are happened)
4. Make more investment both locally and globally through “Sustainable Business Model” representation.
5. Invention of biodegradable alternatives
6. Make available use of eco-dyeing, printing and finishing processes.
7. Zero Waste Management system implementation.
8. Enhance Eco friendly natural fibers and organic fibers production
9. Increase use of natural and regenerated fibers.
10. Proper resources utilization ( Solar panel, wind mill, hydro-electricity).
11. Arrange public and private training centers for learning sustainable procedures and technologies feasibly etc.

Conclusion

Lacking governance in sustainability, developing countries like ours face challenges in the implementation of modern innovations and techniques in textile industries. The eco-friendly processes are so expensive to adopt that no industry can go forward without the support of government and stakeholder. As the textile industry encompasses 80% of the export economy, the government should intervene to incorporate sustainable techniques and innovations within the companies. It is impossible to go forward alone to obtain a fundamental goal especially when the challenge is considered as a global threat to our environment, economy and society. Nobody can convict the industrialists alone for the failure. Capitalists will always prepare for making profit by harming the planet and people. They do not even think about the negative effects of their deeds. But the question arises what have we been doing? As an aware community, have we taken any steps or campaign properly to raise voice or consciousness among the people? So every stakeholder should come forward to obtain the ultimate success in this field.

References

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[4] Mitra Pramanik, A., Anand, G., & IJHS. (2021). An introduction to sustainable textiles. In International Journal of Home Science (Vol. 7, Issue 3, pp. 220–225). https://www.homesciencejournal.com/archives/2021/vol7issue3/PartD/7-3-30-232.pdf

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Mazharul Islam Kiron

Founder & Editor of Textile Learner. He is a Textile Consultant, Blogger & Entrepreneur. Mr. Kiron is working as a textile consultant in several local and international companies. He is also a contributor of Wikipedia.

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