Hello! Welcome back! We just learned about the fashion industry and its relation to water pollution. Now let’s take a closer look at the dyeing process. Why the dyeing process? The dyeing process is one of the main generators of contaminated, often toxic wastewater in the fashion production cycle.
Source: Bruno, Pixabay
This toxic wastewater does not only affect marine animals and the environment but also humans. These toxins may enter the food chain via bioaccumulation. Or they may seep into nearby land leading to land pollution, groundwater thus contaminating drinkable water supplies.
To address these problems, several innovative technologies have been created. These technologies reduce the amount of water used in the dyeing process. This means less wastewater is created and released during the dyeing process. Let’s take a look at what they are!
DyeCoo
DyeCoo is a technology that completely excludes water from its process. Instead, it uses carbon dioxide (CO2) as a medium to transfer dye onto fibers. This is done so by placing CO2 at high pressures. At sufficiently high pressures, CO2 becomes supercritical, a state which allows dyes to dissolve easily.
This process allows most of the dye(98%) to deeply penetrate into the fibers, creating fabrics with long-lasting colors. In addition, since only pure dyes are needed, the process does not involve any process chemicals. As such, there is no toxic wastewater that is produced in this dyeing process.
In addition, the process is energy and time-efficient, since processes like evaporating water can be skipped. Moreover, this process uses reclaimed CO2 from existing industrial processes. It thus helps to reduce the amount of CO2 that is released into our atmosphere.
ColorZen
ColorZen is a technology that alters the properties of cotton. After alteration, the dye and cotton is much more compatible. This means less water is needed to force a dyeing reaction, chemicals needed to create lasting color can be removed. These allow ColorZen to reduce water use by as much as 90%. It also enables p to 95% of toxic chemicals to be removed from the dyeing process.
An additional benefit that ColorZen can provide is increased productivity. As processed cotton is more compatible with dyes, the same amount of dye is able to dye more fabrics. In addition, less wastewater produced also means fewer funds needs to be spent to treat the wastewaters.
AirDye
AirDye is a waterless dyeing and printing technology for textiles. Compared to traditional dyeing methods, this method is able to reduce water usage (up to 95%), energy consumption(86%), and greenhouse gases(84%).
Within a single machine, colors and designs can be printed on a variety of textiles types. Using the process of sublimation combined with heat and pressure, specially formulated dyes or designs are transferred from a paper to the fabric.
Using this method of dyeing, colors penetrate deeply and may be much more long-lasting than some traditionally dyed fabrics. This is because the molecule of the dye is attached to the molecule of the fiber (Kant, 2014). Long-lasting colors also mean clothes can be worn for a longer period of time.
An additional benefit of this technology is how time-saving it is. Without the need to dip fabrics in dye solutions, processes such as steaming, washing, drying are avoided. This means fabric production time is shortened, using AirDye.
A flaw of AirDye is that it is currently only suitable for synthetic fibers. This is because synthetic fibers have thermoplastic behavior that helps trap the dyes at a molecular level (Tahmid, 2018). Natural fibers like cotton, one the major raw material fabric, usually do not have this thermoplastic behavior. As such limitations may limit the potential and adoption of AirDye.
Why is it not adopted on a large scale?
Firstly, the cost of these machinery is high. As such, factories will need to invest a large amount of capital to adopt these technologies. Secondly, most factories already have a complete functioning process for dyeing fabrics. It will be difficult to convince them to adopt a new technology that requires them to reconfigure their production process. Lastly, there is also the idea of conserving traditional dyeing processes. Keeping part of this historic practice alive, especially in places that have long histories of traditional dyeing practices.
Sources:
- 5 ways to fix fashion’s biggest pollution problem: dye https://www.vogue.com.au/fashion/news/5-ways-to-fix-fashions-biggest-pollution-problem-dye/image-gallery/8bef09c920a309f20519cff34b582b3c
- AirDye Information. DEBS Corporation. https://debscorp.com/textiles/airdye/
- Air dye – Future opportunity for cotton fabric. http://textilefocus.com/air-dye-future-opportunity-cotton-fabric/
- Better way to dye: A garment district scion takes on the fashion industry’s pollution problem https://search-proquest-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/docview/2057544509?pq-origsite=summon
- Can Waterless Dyeing Processes Clean Up the Clothing Industry? https://e360.yale.edu/features/can_waterless_dyeing_processes_clean_up_clothing_industry_pollution
- Clothing to dye for: the textile sector must confront water risks https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/dyeing-textile-sector-water-risks-adidas
- ColorZen. https://www.colorzen.com/
- DyeCoo. Clothing to dye for: the textile sector must confront water risks https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/dyeing-textile-sector-water-risks-adidas
- Effects of textile dyes on health and the environment and bioremediation potential of living organisms https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/science/article/pii/S2452072119300413
- The environmental costs of fast fashion https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/environment-costs-fast-fashion-pollution-waste-sustainability-a8139386.html
- Image: https://pixabay.com/photos/fabric-tissue-cotton-textile-3506846/
RyanLee September 6, 2020
Hi Ge Lin and Adriana,
Thank you for introducing us to alternatives to dyeing that can reduce environmental pollution. It is great to know that there are upcoming technologies to combat pollution from dyeing.
While I believe that tradition has an important place in creating authentic fashion products, do you think that consumers will prefer a more sustainable option which may even be cheaper since these processes require less resources? What are some ways do you think that we can bring about the changes in the dye and fashion industry?
From,
Pollutant de Jure
https://blog.nus.edu.sg/pollutantdejure/
Ge Lin September 18, 2020 — Post Author
Hi! This is Ge Lin. Personally, though tradition is important, I think consumers are more likely to prefer a more sustainable and cheaper option. This is because the cost is still a relatively important factor for most people when purchasing items such as clothes. (This is assuming the quality is the same.) In addition, I believe people are much more environmentally conscious. Much more people are willing to purchase environmentally friendly products if it is affordable.
As for tradition, I think there are many ways to conserve it. With the advancement of technology, these traditional practices of dyeing clothes can be captured and stored virtually. In a way, I think it is one way to preserve tradition and keeping it alive.
One way to bring about change is possibly increasing people’s awareness of these new dyeing technologies. I think what happens during production is often so removed from us, as consumers, that it just seem like a problem that is happening far away. As such we don’t pay too much attention to it. Educating people on the effects of traditional water dyeing practices and these technological solutions can help increase awareness. It may also help increase the demand for products that are much more environmentally friendly.
This leads me to my next point, one of the main reasons why these technologies have not been adopted widely is cost.
Firstly, without sufficient profits, it is difficult for companies to increase their operation. With limited factories, the amount of products that it can produce is limited. Moreover, with limited locations, this means there will be huge transportation costs if the order comes from a place located far from the factory. This lack of flexibility and extra costs discourages stores from ordering from these companies.
To add on, when there are low or average orders, it may become much more difficult to convince other dyeing factories to abandon their current technology and adopt these new ones. especially when these machinery can be costly. It is simply not profitable. As such, I think one way to bring about change is to increase people’s awareness of these new technologies, and thereafter increase the demands for such products. With demand, it will be much easier to convince suppliers to switch their production methods.
Another possible way is to get large clothing brands to support these new technologies. This is currently being done by major brands such as Adidas. Large brands have a huge influence, it can help start trends and promote these technologies. With trends, it may be able to get more stores/brands to join in and create changes in the fashion industry.
These are my thoughts on the above questions. Please feel free to share your thoughts on it.
Thank you for visiting our blogs. Sorry for the late reply.
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Ge Lin & Adriana’s Pollution Blog