Sustainable Cotton Dyeing

Conventional methods of dyeing cotton with direct and fiber reactive dyes involve large amounts of water and salt and generate significant amounts of highly colored effluent that is difficult to treat in waste water treatment facilities. Cationization of cotton with 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyltrimethylammonium chloride allows dyeing with direct and fiber reactive dyes with less water and energy usage as well as the eliminating the need for salt. This paper summarizes work to date on the benefits of using cationized cotton.