Lecture # 3-4

Water & Its Importance in Textile Industries

What is water?

Why is water essential in Textile wet processing?

What types of water are required for Textile wet processing?

Page 1 of 9
Water:
 Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O.
 Its molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by hydrogen bonds
 . Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice and
gaseous state, water vapour or steam.
 In wet processing, water consumption is greater than the amount of fibre processing.
 Water is a universal cleaning agent, as rinsing and washing alone consume enormous amounts of
water.
 In industries, the daily water requirement is about 200000-300000 gallons.

Water is considered the lifeline of Wet processing:

 Water is used extensively throughout Textile industries.
 A plentiful supply of suitable water is essential for the Textile manufacturing industry.
 Moreover, wet processing is the third important industry in various manufacturing industries where a
vast volume of water is necessary.
 Water is considered the lifeline of the wet processing industry because it is the single most used
chemical and is also a universal cleansing agent.
 The amount of water used varies widely in the Textile industry, depending on specific processes
operated in the mill, equipment used, and existing management philosophy concerning water used.
 The pattern of water consumption for the various Textile processes/plants is shown in Fig. 1 as
a pie chart.

Bleaching 38%

Dyeing 16%

Printing 8%

Boiler 14%

Spinning 6%

Weaving 9%

Others 9%

Figure 1: Water Consumption in different types of Textile industries

Page 2 of 9
Water is used in the plant in –

 In the Boiler, supplying steam for heating and drying

 In different types of wet processes-
 In Sizing
 In Desizing
 In Scouring
 In Bleaching
 In Mercerizing
 In Dyeing
 In Printing
 In Finishing
 In Rinsing and Washing

Water consumption in various stages of wet processing is shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Water consumption in a different stage of wet processing

Process Water consumption (Litre/kg)

Scouring & Bleaching (Batch method) 50
Scouring & Bleaching (Continuous method) 40
Mercerizing 25
Fabric dyeing (Batch method) 45
Fabric dyeing (Continuous method) 35
Yarn dyeing 60
Printing 40
Finishing 15

Table 2: Water consumption for different shades in knit dyeing

Shade Water consumption (Litre/kg)

Light shade 70
Medium shade 90
Dark shade 120
R/Black 130
White 35-45
Y/D wash 20-30
Ready for dyeing 30

Page 3 of 9
Water hardness:
 The Hardness of water is defined as the presence of sulphates, chlorides, carbonates and bi-
carbonates salts of calcium, magnesium and ferrous in the water.
 Due to water hardness, soaps and detergents cannot create foam easily. Rather they react with
Hardness creating metals and forming insoluble organic salts.

For example, sodium stearate reacts with calcium as follows-

CaSO4+2RCOONa→ (RCOO)2 Ca ↓ + Na2SO4

MgSO4+2RCOONa→ (RCOO)2 Mg ↓ + Na2SO4

Types of Water Hardness:

There are two types of water hardness-

a) Temporary Hardness/Carbonate Hardness:
 The presence of bi-carbonate and carbonate salts of calcium, magnesium, and iron
in water is called temporary hardness.
 The temporary Hardness of water can be removed easily by simply boiling the water.
 When the water is boiled, the bi-carbonates decompose with the liberation of CO2 and
insoluble carbonates deposits as precipitation under water.

Ca (HCO3)2 → CaCO3 ↓ + CO2 + H2O

a) Permanent Hardness/ Non-Carbonate Hardness:

 The presence of sulphates, and chlorides salts of calcium, magnesium and iron in the water is
called Permanent Hardness.
 Permanent Hardness is Hardness (mineral content) that cannot be removed by boiling.
 Permanent Hardness can be removed by converting the sulphate salts into carbonates with the help
of soda ash (Na2 CO3).

CaSO4 + Na2CO3 → Na2SO4 + CaCO3

 Permanent Hardness can also be removed using a water softener or ion exchange column, where the
calcium and magnesium ions are exchanged with the sodium ions in the column.

Page 4 of 9
Expression of Water Hardness:
 Irrespective of the salt present, Hardness is expressed in terms of calcium carbonate (CaCO3).
 Hardness may be expressed in degrees or parts per million (ppm).
 Units of Hardness vary from country to country; some are listed in Table 3.

 Parts per million (ppm): It is usually defined as one milligram of calcium carbonate (CaCO3)

per litre of water.

 In degree: The degree of Hardness is the number of grains of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) per gallon
of water.

1 gallon = 70,000 grains

1 pound (lb) = 7000 grains
1 gallon = 10 lb
ppm = English degree/0.07

Various alternative "degrees":

Table 3: Hardness conversion table
Degree Expression Definition
10 milligrams of calcium oxide per litre of water, equivalent to
German Hardness 1deg. dH
17.848 ppm.
10 milligrams of calcium carbonate per litre of water, equivalent
French Hardness 1deg. fH
to 10 ppm.
One grain (64.8 mg) of calcium carbonate per imperial gallon
English Hardness 1deg. eH
(4.55 litres) of water, equivalent to 14.254 ppm.
American One milligram of calcium carbonate per litre of water, equivalent
1deg. H
Hardness to 1 ppm.

 Classification of water based on Hardness present

Water quality PPM dH

Very soft 0-50 0-4
Soft 50-100 4-8
Slightly hard 100-150 8-12
Moderately hard 150-200 12-18
Hard 200-300 18-30
Very hard >300 >30

Page 5 of 9
 Standard or Quality of Dye-house water

SL No. Parameters Acceptable limit

1 Colour Colour less
2 Odour Odourless
H*
3 P 7-8
4 Hardness* <5 degrees (German)
5 Dissolved solids < 1mg/litre
6 Solid deposit < 50mg/litre
7 Organic substances < 20 mg/litre
8 Inorganic salt < 500 mg/litre
9 Iron content* < 0.1 mg/litre
10 Copper content < 0.005 mg/litre
11 Nitrate content < 50 mg/litre
12 Nitrite content < 5 mg/litre
Quality of water used in Boiler:
SL No. Properties Acceptable limits
1 Appearance Clear, without residue.
2 Residual Hardness <0.050 dh
3 Oxygen <0.02 mg/L
4 Temporary CO2 0 mg/L
5 Permanent CO2 <25 mg/L
6 Iron (Fe) <0.05 mg/L
7 Copper(Cu) <0.01 mg/L
8 Phosphate(PO4) 4-5 mg/L
9 PH(at 25OC) 9 (generally 8-9)
10 Conductivity 2500 us/cm
11 Temp. of boiler feed water 900C

Page 6 of 9
 CaCO3 equivalent Hardness

Solution

Calcium carbonate equivalence conversion during hardness calculation

Hardness producing Molecular weight Multiplication factor (in terms of CaCO3 equivalence)
substance
Ca(HCO3)2 162 100/162 or 50/81
Mg(HCO3)2 146 100/146 or 50/73
CaSO4 136 100/136 or 50/68
CaCl2
111 100/111 or 50/55.5
MgSO4
120 100/120 or 50/60
MgCl2
95 100/95 or 50/47.5
CaCO3
MgCO3 100 100/100 or 50/50
CO2 84 100/84 or 50/42
-
HCO 3 44 100/44 or 50/22
- 61 100/61 or 50/61
OH
2- 17 100/17 or 50/17
CO3
60 100/60 or 50/30

Page 7 of 9
Problem:
1. A water sample from an industry in Dhaka had the following data
Mg (HCO3)2 = 16.8mg/L, MgCl2 = 19 mg/L, CaCO3 = 20 ppm, MgSO4 =24.0mg/L and KOH = 1 ppm.
Calculate the temporary, permanent and total Hardness of the water sample.

Solution:
Step 1: Conversion into CaCO3 equivalent

Constituent
Quantity Conversion factor Hardness
Present
Mg(HCO3)2 16.8 mg/L 100/146 16.8 *100/146 = 11.5ppm
MgCl2 19.0 mg/L 100/95 19.0*100/95 = 20ppm
CaCO3 20 ppm 100/100 20.0*100/100 = 20 ppm
MgSO4 24.0 mg/L 100/120 24.0*100/120 = 20 ppm

Calculation:

Temp. Hardness = 11.5 ppm + 20 ppm = 31.5 ppm

P. Hardness = 20 ppm + 20 ppm = 40 ppm

Total Hardness = Temp. Hardness + P. Hardness

= 31.5 ppm + 40 ppm
= 71.5 ppm

The potential problem caused by the hard water in Textile wet processing:
Process Problem
1. Desizing De-actives enzymes and insolubilize size materials such as starch, PVA etc.
2. Scouring React with soap and precipitate metal organic acid.
CaSO4 + 2 C17H35COONa --> (C17H35COO)2Ca + Na2SO4
Insoluble organic salt
Produce yellowing or off-white shade.
Reduce cleaning efficiency.
Reduce water absorption.
3. Bleaching Decompose bleach bath. Eg. H2O2 H2O + [ O]

Page 8 of 9
4. Mercerizing Form insoluble metal acid.
Reduce absorbency and lustre.
5. Dyeing React with dyes
Change the shade.
Insolubilize dyes.
Cause tippy dyeing.
Reduce dye diffusion.
6. Printing Break emulsion.
Change thickness.
Reduce efficiency and viscosity.
7. Finishing Interfere with catalysts.
Cause resin and others additives to become non-reactive.
Break emulsion.
De-actives soap.

Page 9 of 9