Water Efficient, eco-friendly and Effluent Free Nano bubble Finishing of Cotton Fabric

Abstract

Existing textile exhaust finishing methods require higher liquor ratios, such as 1:5 and 1:10, leading to energy wastage, chemicals wastage, and higher effluents. However, the nanobubble technique can reduce the liquor ratio to 1:1, resulting in water savings, energy savings, and zero liquid discharge. Nevertheless, production of the nanobubbles for a range of finishes and their successful application onto the textile is a difficult and challenging task. For the first time, this article successfully reports the development and application of nanobubbles at the extremely low liquor ratio of 1:1 for the five most commonly used textile finishes, which include resin, softener, soil release, oil and water repellent, and antimicrobial finishes onto the cotton fabric. In addition, this research compares the performance of the nanobubble finishing at a liquor ratio of 1:1 with higher liquor ratios of 1:5 and 1:10 for all five finishes. The results showed that optimized nanobubble finishing exhibited comparable key performance with reference to liquor ratios of 1:5 and 1:10 related to each finish category. However, the physical properties of cotton fabrics, such as tensile strength, tear strength, bending length, and air permeability, were better for nanobubble technology as compared to conventional finishing.

Keywords

• textile finishing
• sustainability
• nanobubbles
• exhaust methods
• low liquor ratio