Professional Documents
Culture Documents
David M Lewis
INTRODUCTION
Thinking about the year 2000 AD and beyond,
environmental requirements and related legislation will
be the major driving force for innovation in both the dye
manufacturing and dye application industries. Many
textile companies are taking a stand against using dyes or
dyeing systems containing heavy metals, and a
particularly affected area is that of polyamide fibres. In the
case of wool and nylon, 1:2 metal-complex dyes are valued
for their excellent wet and light fastness. If their usage is
voluntarily restricted, replacement dyes for wool could
come from the available reactive dye ranges, and in the
case of nylon and s i k from the further development of
reactive disperse dyes. In the early 1970s ICI had such a
range (the kocinyls), but their reactivity was low under
neutral application conditions.
It is most unlikely that cotton will lose its position as the
worlds premier fibre, in terms of volume, and thus
research efforts must be redoubled to improve the
environmental impact of dyes for cellulosic fibres and the
respective dyeing processes. Current dyeing processes for
these fibres are, to varying degrees, environmentally
suspect; undoubtedly one of the major problems, colour
in effluent, comes from the application of reactive and
sulphur dyes. A further problem arises from the use of
high electrolyte concentrations, especially in reactive
dyeing. It is therefore of paramount importance that
solutions to these problems are continually sought. In this
context, profitable research directions include novel (nonhydrolysing) reactive systems, crosslinkable dyes and fibre
modification. The latter approach may be more attractive
for the recently launched solvent-spun cellulosic fibres
(so-called IyoceU fibres), since there exists the possibility
for additives to be included in the solvent phase or in the
aqueous precipitation baths where the fibres are in an
extremely accessible state.
Microfibres have gained some popularity in specific
outlets. For the next generation of microfibre textiles to be
successful, there is a need to process blends of nylon and
polyester microfibres to develop novel fabrics.
Unfortunately, non-reactive disperse dyes give poor wetfastness properties on the nylon component and a
reappraisal of reactive disperse dyes again appears vital.
Much research effort has already gone into reactive
disperse dyes, especially for the cottodpolyester blend
market. A single dye for each fibre in these blends remains
a very important research target.
In terms of new chromophore research there may be
new pressures to move away from azo dyes, and should
ENVIRONMENTAL PRESSURES
The pressures on the coloration industry, and for that
matter the whole chemical industry, from environmentalists are a disconcerting mix of good sense, passion
and in some cases downright nonsense. Out of this heady
brew various legislative requirements have emerged with
increasing regularity. In response the industry has been,
and is being, forced to become increasingly innovative in
order to develop new products and practices that are
more environmentally friendly than existing ones. In this
section some of the more important problem areas will be
highlighted and solutions suggested or reported.
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100
._ _
80
Liquid
t
a
tI I<;-k
-yint
point
lmO
0.1
/I
-80
-40
Vapour
I
40
Temp., OC
MPa
(d) Gradually reduce the pressure in order to reduce the
solubility of the disperse dye in the supercritical fluid
(e) Recover the carbon dioxide.
7-20
2- 3
2- 5
30-40
2040
1-20
5-20
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CONCLUSIONS
In the early decades of the third millenium, innovation
and developments in colour chemistry and dyeing will
allow the colorist to meet ever-increasing environmental
restrictions, to produce novel effects and also to reduce
processing costs. Total recycling of dyehouse water is an
inexorable trend and the technology is already available to
achieve this. Novel chromophores are a real possibility.
Reactive disperse dyes appear to be necessary to achieve
progress with dyeing microfibre blends of polyester and
nylon, as well as to satisfy demands for improved wet
fastness on nylon without the problem of barre.
New fibres will be developed. Biotechnology will play
an innovative role both in providing feedstock for
polyester fibres and by allowing the chemical industry to
produce in commercial quantities, through gene
expression, some of nature's wonder fibres.
REFERENCES
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