Textile Dyeing in the Age of Aquarius

Lecture to SDCANZ Conference, Melbourne 18th October 2007

Arthur C Welham, The Dyehouse Doctor Ltd.

Introduction

In the late 1960s, at the time I first became a Textile Chemist; young people

were talking, and even singing, about the ‘Dawning of the Age of Aquarius’.

I don’t suppose any of them realised exactly what kind of difficulties would

arise for ‘Aquarius the Water Carrier’ during this dawning. Depending on

which calculation you use the Age of Aquarius may have already started,

may be starting in 2062 or maybe in about 600 years. This may seem

somewhat imprecise but then, sadly, so is the technology being used in some

dyehouses in every part the world even today.

Water Availability in the World

There is a huge amount of water in our world. Satellite pictures show us just

how much of the world’s surface is covered by it. The area covered by the

major land masses and oceans is shown in Table I1.

 Earth– Its Continents
and
Ocean
Area(km2 x 106) %

Europe 10.5 2.1

Asia 43.5 8.5

Africa 30.1 5.9

NorthAmerica 24.2 4.7

SouthAmerica 17.8 3.5

Australia
and Oceania 8.9 1.7

Antarctica 14.0 2.7

TheWorld Ocean 361.3 70.8

Total 510.3 100.0

TABLE I

In total 71% of the earth’s surface is covered by ocean. Sadly this vast

amount of water (96.5% by volume of the total water in the world) is not

suitable for drinking or dyeing without desalination which is, in general

terms, neither cost effective nor, if it uses our increasingly scarce resources

of non renewable energy or increases the level of greenhouse gases in the

upper atmosphere, environmentally friendly.

 TABLE II

In is interesting to consider the distribution of the water in the world (Table

II 2). Only 2.53% of the earth’s water is fresh water and most of that is

relatively inaccessible in the form of the Antarctic ice sheet or glaciation. In

fact much of the other fresh water is also unavailable or unsuitable for

drinking (or dyeing). Overall, it is likely that less than 0.5% of the world’s

water is available to use for drinking or for industry.

Global Warming

The issue of Global Warming and the problem of limited availability of

clean fresh water are inextricably linked. Melting of the ice caps and

glaciation are converting fresh water into salt water when the melted water

drains to the sea and changing weather patterns make it impossible to predict
where rain is going to fall and therefore adds to the difficulty of collecting

this water and managing it for drinking or industrial use. The world is

undeniably getting warmer. Even the President of the USA now accepts this.

Whether this is due entirely due to human activity or to natural climatic

fluctuations is still debated. Frankly, I can’t see why. It is also undeniable

that human activity is producing large amounts of, what have come to be

called, greenhouse gases in the upper atmosphere and that these do

contribute to warming of the earth’s surface. At the very least, we are

making the problem worse and personally, since I should like my children

and grandchildren to have a future, I think we should try to stop doing so.

What can we do about global warming and the impending water crises?

Well, probably not the Western Politicians’ answer to Global Warming of

Carbon Trading3. This is a scheme which will allow rich western nations to

continue polluting the upper reaches of the atmosphere in return for paying

off the governments of poorer countries. It has the added feature of

speeding the return of these poor countries to the Stone Age, from which

they so recently emerged, by inhibiting improvements in the quality of life

and preventing industrial development.

It is a real and frightening possibility that we cannot, in any practicable

sense, do anything useful or effective. So often mankind’s attempts to

control nature may bring benefit to the issue in direct focus but also a

consequent unexpected ecological disaster somewhere else. Earlier this year

I was in Egypt and reading about the problems created by the Suez Canal – a

great benefit to world trade from its opening in 1869 and today a major

source of income for the Egyptian nation. However, it has resulted in an

increase in salinity in the eastern Mediterranean therefore hastening the

extinction of several species which are being replaced by species from, the

more saline, Red Sea. Initially this was insignificant, because fresh water

introduced into the Mediterranean by the River Nile diluted the effect, but

after the Aswan dam was opened in the 1960s this effect (known as the

Lessepsian Migration or the Erythrean Invasion) accelerated and is today a

matter of great concern4. We might also think about the concerns regarding

the Yangtse River dam or plans to divert major water courses to irrigate

deserts and create desertification in somebody else’s country – at least the

Chinese with the Three Gorges dam on the Yangtse are threatening their own

country. The contrary demands for water from different African and Asian

nations will almost certainly result in wars before the end of the 21st century

unless we can act with globally orchestrated activity to bring maximum

benefit to all with agreement to share that benefit equally.

All of us can have small and accidental impacts on the environment. I,

myself, in a very innocent and small scale way, during the 1980s devised
after-chrome dyeing processes for wool, which reduced the chromium in

discharged effluent in part by fixing unreacted chrome to the wool5. I did

not realise at the time that this only delayed the release of the chromium into

the environment until the end of the ‘life’ of the textile product. With these

unforeseen booby traps to our best efforts what can we do?

Well, there is a need for globally agreed and orchestrated action. Sadly, we

are not helped by major economies and polluters denying the clear evidence

of the need to change. This is especially so if such a change will damage the

prospects for governments at their next elections or, even more disturbingly,

damage the business activities of those who contribute to election

campaigns. Further than this, and fortunately where we all can contribute,

there is the need to realise that all our problems are associated with the

simple fact that Homo sapiens has just been too successful. There are too

many of us and we use too much of the earth’s available (and, in reasonable

time scales, unrenewable) resources. The world’s human population now

exceeds 6.5 billion – no other large animal approaches this number. Yet,

there are countries which have even promoted population growth in their

country for short term economic benefit. We have a more subtle propaganda

in the UK, I am informed that the problems with my pension prospects

(which are becoming increasingly relevant to me, I might add) is because

there are not enough young people paying taxes to pay for the old to receive

a decent pension – a clear message to breed more!

There are several examples of current impending crises for water6,7. Many

of these are well known but I should like to discuss some of them as shown

in Table III.

Examples
Water
of Crises
• Central
America
• TheAralSea
• TheYellowRiver
-China’
sNorther
nPlain
• Major
ci
tiesofEurope
• TheOgallala
Aquifer
• Mexico
City
• Africa

TABLE III

Let us consider the drinking water situation in Central America. The USA,
with its selective financial and trading support of the countries that were
ravaged during the 1980s by civil wars, which incidentally could not have
been sustained without US aid and arms to one side, appears to direct most
of the spending (mainly through repayable loans via the World Bank)
towards development of shopping malls and roads rather than drinking
water. However, commendable this may be – well at least with regard to
roads, I am less enthusiastic about shopping malls – am adequate supply of
drinking water is a primary requirement for any country and its social and
political stability. New projects for drinking water do receive some aid from
the European Union (mainly due to influence from Spain) and the USA but
not nearly enough. Today, 35% of the population of Central America do not
have access to potable water and by 2025 the amount of drinking water
available per head will have decreased by 83% in 75 years. In the meantime
there is massive US investment in garment making which has led to a huge
expansion in dyeing and finishing, which as we shall discuss is a major user
of high quality clean water. The water shortage is most acute on the Pacific
coast which is where most of the population lives. 4 out of 5 illnesses are
related to water contamination or mismanagement. The problem is typified
by Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica where 25% of the collected water is
lost to leaks. In 40 years there have been 6 million deaths (5 million of them
children) from water related illnesses in a region with a population of only
40 million. The crazy thing is that Central America is not a dry region – it is
water rich with very high rainfall patterns. El Salvador the country with the
worst water availability has an average of 1800 mm (or over 70 inches) of
rain per year which is more than double the rainfall in Manchester, England,
a place of renown for its rain.

Many know about the Aral Sea but perhaps not the magnitude of human
induced change. In 1960 it was the world’s fourth largest lake – the size of
California. Its volume has decreased by 75% (equivalent to draining Lakes
Erie and Ontario) and its shoreline retreated by 162 km. Why? – because the
Soviet Union diverted the 2 rivers that feed it to irrigate cotton growing in
the desert. Why do we want to grow cotton in the desert??

All three rivers feeding China's Northern Plain are severely polluted,
damaging health and limiting irrigation. The lower reaches of the Yellow
river, which feeds China's most important farming region, ran dry for 226
days in 1997. Northern China is home to two thirds of the country's cropland
but only one fifth of its water. In recent years the water table in Northern
China has fallen by an average of 1.5 metres a year.

Even Europe is not immune. Most of the large cities of Europe have major
water problems due to increasing population and ageing water pipe
infrastructures that leak.

Ninety-five percent of the United States' fresh water is underground. Water

is being pumped for crop irrigation much faster than rainwater can replenish
this. North America's largest aquifer, the Ogallala, is being depleted at a rate
of 12 billion cubic metres a year. Total depletion to date amounts to some
325 bcm, a volume equal to the annual flow of 18 Colorado Rivers. The
Ogallala stretches from Texas to South Dakota, and waters one fifth ofUS
irrigated land.

Mexico City was once lush and with many lakes. Today, after 500 years of
draining and deforestation, the city is sinking as more water is pumped out
of the ground. Mexico City is lurching downwards by as much as a foot per
year and has fallen 30 feet in the last century. By comparison, the better
known example of Venice falls by only a fractionof an inch per year. To
make things worse, about 40% of the city’s clean water is lost through leaky
pipes. As with so many other of the world’s largest cities Mexico is running
dry (at least of drinking water – there’s plenty of sewage).

Many people have read about the problems which will be created in Africa
by damming of the major rivers for water and power thereby denying
drinking water to other countries downstream. This is where it is predicted
that the world’s first water wars will take place. But did you know that 20m
people in six countries in west and central Africa rely on Lake Chad for
water? As Al Gore has informed the world8 the lake has shrunk by 95% in
the last 38 years. Lake Chad is very shallow and particularly sensitive to
changes in average temperature and the failure in recent years of the annual
monsoon.

Dyeing of Textiles

Since it is what many of us do perhaps we should consider the impact of

textile dyeing.

As developing nations become more sophisticated market economies, there

will be an increased demand for higher quality garments with a rapid

response to fashion demand for colour. The location of the dyeing industry

should be determined by availability of good-quality water and water

treatment facilities but sadly this does not happen. The inevitability of water

crises in the world will bring into sharper focus the need to minimize water

usage in the textile process. If we take as an example the dyeing of cotton, it

is interesting to look at just what we can do with available technology to

improve things.

The world consumes annually 122.3 million bales of cotton9 (40.9% of this

is consumed in China) or 26.7 million tonnes (2006-7 projection). Much of

this is dyed and all of it is wet processed. Cotton for underwear, casual

shirts and much of ladies outerwear is dyed in jet dyeing machines.

Typically, in the developing economies of Asia, we consume around 175

litres of water to dye and finish 1 kg of knitted cotton. The water we need

for textile processing is very high quality and is at least as clean as ‘drinking

water’. Therefore, we compete for our water demand with the millions who

are dying (without an e) in the drier parts of our world. This we can do

something about – and quite dramatically. We could change processing

routes completely but this may change the essential quality of the product.

Arguments against dramatic changes to processing routes usually centre

around the demand by the large markets of the USA and Europe for certain

characteristics or quality in the garments they buy. However, we can use

almost identical processing to produce identical textile products with as little

as 40 litres per kg as an average in a knit fabric dyehouse with a typical

product mix between white and light, medium and dark shades. In one large

Chinese dyehouse producing 150 tonnes of dyed cotton per day this equated

to a saving in drinking water of over 20 million litres per day – just from one

factory (and there are even larger knitting factories than this in China).

Taking this further, (TableIV), if we assume that overall the water

consumption from processing all the cotton in the world is rather better, due

to some continuous dyeing and other wet processing routes, and we use 100
litres per kg but could use 25 litres per kg, this equates to a possible saving

of 75 litres for every kilogramme of cotton or over 2 trillion litres per year.

The
Human
Impact
ofOptimising
Wat
erUsage
inDyeing
• AnnualWorldConsumpt ion ofCotton
–
26.7
bill
ion
• Annualwaterconsumpt ion incotton
processi
ng–2.7trillion
litres
• Possible
savi
ng2trillionlitres
• Water
for 37.8mi
llionpeople

TABLE IV

The average domestic consumption in the UK is about 145 litres per head

per day10. This means that by trivial changes to industrial practice in the

dyeing of cotton we could realistically save enough water to live at

developed world standards for 37.8 million people or almost double the

population of Australia.

Much of what I have to say applies either directly or indirectly to all textile

dyeing – in some respects, to all industrial processes.

Endemic to all industrial process is waste – waste in respect of discharged

by-products (eg dirty and contaminated water), waste in respect of unused or

rejected production and waste in respect of resources due to bad planning

and the need for reprocessing inferior production.

It is hardly a secret, though seldom discussed, that textile dyeing operations

are appallingly badly planned. When I entered the industry it was still

normal to apply only 80% of the intended dye recipe and then bring the

goods on shade by additions over several hours. Pressure created by

increasing labour costs and low priced competition changed this in Europe

and North America – Blind Dyeing without shade additions except as

properly planned reprocessing became the norm. However, this is not so in

the developing world and to all intents and purposes a typical dyehouse in

China or India (or in any Asian country) works pretty well according to the

time honoured techniques of messing with the shade for as long as possible

so in the event of customer rejection we can’t be accused of not trying! In

one dyehouse with which I have worked, they typically took 1-2 hours to

decide whether or not to make a shading addition – and this kind of

indecision happens in almost all the dyehouse in Asia in every day of the

year - we have a substantial waste of resource (not to mention lost

opportunity to make profit). The special problem in dyeing, among all

textile processes, is that senior management and company owners don’t

understand it. Spinning, knitting, weaving, garment making, etc. all obey

straight forward Newtonian physics. Dyeing, however, operates at a

molecular level under the influence of physical laws which we cannot

observe in detailed operation. As a result, it is easy to believe dyeing to be a

black art subject to supernatural influences – in short senior management

will accept all sorts of twaddle as an excuse and never understand how far

away they are from reaching the true potential situation in respect of

productivity and processing cost. So since we clearly can improve the

environmental impact at the same time as increasing the financial profit from

dyehouse operation it all should be easy. Well it isn’t – education at every

level of the dyeing and finishing industry remains a priority. This is an issue

which can be best addressed by independent professional organisations such

as the Society of Dyers and Colourists which can operate without

commercial or political prejudice.

Types ofProblemfor the

ModernFabricDyer
• EnvironmentandEcology
• Costof Reprocessing
• Seconds andCustomer
Rejections
• FabricQualityandPerformance
• Production
Costs

TABLE V
Typical problems for the modern textile dyer are shown in Table V and the

result of failure to address them in Table VI. The environmental issues to be

addressed by all textile dyehouses are shown in Table VII.

Resultof Failureto Address

the
Issues
• Environment and Ecol
ogy– Closed
downby Authorities
• Cost of Reprocessing
- Bankruptcy
• Seconds and Customer Rejections-
Bankruptcy
• Fabric Quality and Performance
–
loss of business, expensi
ve claims
• Production Costs
– loss of profi
t

TABLE VI
 Environmental Issues to be
Addressed
• Water consumption
• Electrical Power Consumption
• Fuel consumption for Steam
Generation
• Discharged Effluent
• Atmospheric pollution
• Health and Safety of Operators

TABLE VII

Jet Dyeing of Cotton fabrics

The first Jet Dyeing machines were introduced by Gaston County at the

Basel ITMA exhibition of 1967, although machines had been in operation in

the USA for a number of years and the original patents (developed by

Burlington Industries) date from the mid 1950s. Over the last 40 years,

progress in machine design has been rapid (certainly in an historical context)

and has been exclusively based on satisfying requirements in the dyehouse.

Originally, the need for high physical action to develop the textile properties

of texturised polyester fabrics was a major advantage in jet machines.

However, with the increase of popularity of fairly light weight knitted

fabrics, especially for casual wear, came the need for machines which had a

more gentle action but with the same advantages of level dyeing and good

fabric penetration. Also, increasing awareness of the importance of

minimising water consumption resulted in a change of emphasis towards

low liquor machines rather than the original fully flooded machines11,12.

An important question is why jet dye at all – why not use continuous dyeing

processes? The answer is not straightforward (Table VIII) and a decision

depends on many factors. However, jet dyeing remains the dominant

technology for coloration of knitted (and some woven) fabrics.

JetDyeing
versus
Continuous
Dyeing
forKnits
• JETDYEING • CONTINUOUS
DYEING
• Profitable
dyeing100kg to 1500kg • Profitabledyeing needs 5000
metres forrealprofit(sayapprox
• Good fabrichand andbulk 1500 kg)–2000 metres tobreak
• Good fabricdrape even
• Lean andflatappearance
• Good fastness inallshades • Poordrape without extra wet
• WaterConsumption 40l/kgaverage finishing
atlongliquor ratio
overall shades • Problems relaxingknitted structures
to givegood shrinkage results
• Leveldyeing requirescarefulcontrol
• Poorfastness in heavy shades
• Shade reproducibility
excellent
with • Wat erconsumption 30litres perkg
goodcontrol andlabpreparation • Level Dyeing generally good (some
skitteriness
andfrosting) andtailing
if dyecombination is poor
• Shade reproducibility
needs on-line
correctionatthestartoftherun

TABLE VIII

Machinery design

Unfortunately, the requirement of dyeing at a lower liquor ratio to conserve

water is not immediately beneficial in respect of preserving fabric quality

and preventing damage. The success of for example pad-batch dyeing and

the work by Lister on dyeing from a microfoam (Sancowad)13 had shown

that only a small quantity of water is necessary to effect the transfer of dye

to fibres. However, much larger quantities of water are required to transport

fabric through the liquor with sufficient liquor circulation to ensure level

dyeing without severe physical damage. However, jet dyeing machine

manufacturers followed Lister’s lead and succeeded in producing machines

which would treat fabric (especially knitted cotton fabrics) gently and give

excellent level dyeing with a minimum usage of water. Machine

manufacturers have continued to address modern dyehouse problems. In

recent years there have been two particularly successful technologies. The

first is based on transporting the fabric using both air and water14,15, typified

by the Then Airflow machines and Thies Luft Roto . The other dominant

technology uses the Twin Soft Flow system, developed by Sclavos SA16 .

These technologies have permitted level and well penetrated dyeings with a

minimum liquor ratio. The airflow type machines transport the fabric with a

mixed stream of air and water (aerosol) and the Luft Roto uses separate jets

of dye liquor and air. These systems allow dyeing at much lower liquor

ratios and also permits good even penetration of textile structures. The

Sclavos system (figure 1) is based on the use of 2 jets in line within a

relatively long transport tube. This tube remains fully flooded which
provides a very gentle environment during the most intensive dyeing zone

whilst, due to the long tube, permitting enhanced liquor to fabric

interchange. In a sense, the most physical and chemical action on the fabric

takes place at what is effectively a long liquor ratio but, in the bulk of the

machine, liquor levels are at a minimum. The design of the machines

produced by Sclavos has also minimised physical distortion of the fabric in

the J box and by reducing resistance to fabric movement permitted the use of

very low pressure (but high volume) jets, again minimising fabric damage.

fig 1

However, in practice, water consumption in cotton dyeing was not reduced

as much as hoped in these low liquor ratio machines (although, of course

chemical and dye consumption is reduced to some extent). The reason is

that during the last half of the 20th century, the use of reactive dyes on cotton
has become almost universal. Reactive dyes satisfy consumer requirements

for excellent fastness in use only after extensive rinsing and ‘soaping’

processes. In many cases, the manufacturer has devised novel rinsing

systems to minimise the water consumption. For example, the system

developed by Sclavos has permitted average water consumptions in cotton

dyehouses of 40 and 50 litres per kg.

Wisdom Rinsing

fig 2

The Sclavos rinsing system17 (figure 2) was based on the observation that

during continuous rinsing in jet machines a concentration gradient is

established and that if one can introduce fresh clean water directly to the jets

at the same time as removing the most contaminated water then removal of

impurities from the liquor is carried out more efficiently. This has been

variously called Microwash, Aquachron, Wisdom Rinsing and most recently

Aquachron 2 as the possibilities of control was enhanced by development in

control systems.

It also must be said the possibilities of improved process control have

helped to avoid the need for reprocessing and this is also important in

reducing the environmental impact of dyeing as well as in controlling costs.

It is possible to control liquor ratio precisely by using flow meters to record

and control the exact quantity of water in the machine (this requires some

ingenuity due to the difficulty in measuring the volume of water held in the

fabric which in a low liquor machine is mostly above the free liquor level).

Automatic online measurement and control of pH can save time and improve

reproducibility. On line measurement of conductivity can be related to

electrolyte concentration for process control and to optimise rinsing to

remove salt after dyeing saving time, water and money.

Use of increasingly impressive automation systems and expert systems can

take decision making away from the urgency of the production environment

to ensure that processes are consistent and follow logical rules for process

creation and selection (Table IX). Thereby operator errors are minimised

and both the cost and environmental impact can be controlled and predicted.
 Automation
• People make mistakes – computers
don’t
• Everything that can be automated
should be to ensure consistency
batch to batch
• Automation ensures reliable optimum
processing times independent of the
whim of an operator

TABLE IX

There are other ways in which machine makers can help. We can save

money (and reduce greenhouse gas emissions) by heat recovery and in the

case of Aquachron 2 rinsing we have a special case due to the use of hot

clean water being introduced directly to the jets therefore Sclavos developed

the SHR (heat recovery) units fitted to individual machines.

Water Recycling

It seems certain that dyehouses will be compelled in the near future to

recycle at least a proportion of their effluent for reuse in the dyehouse. This

is already happening (due to State legislation) in South India. Generally,

these systems use separated steams of discharge to help reduce the cost of

treatment and then use filtration, flocculation, possibly chemical or

biological oxidation and finally Ultra-filtration and Reverse Osmosis to

produce water which is probably cleaner than when it entered the factory.

There is some water loss and as well as capital and running costs we create a

new problem of what to do with the collected sludge. Despite the problems

this technology will be adopted everywhere. However, this does not make

things easier for the dyer – now there will be a more direct pressure to

reduce water consumption because high volumes will dramatically increase

costs especially in respect of the high cost of UF and RO membranes.

Conclusions

Sadly, I cannot tell you that it is easy to fix the appalling impact that textile

wet processing has on our environment. However, I hope I have been able

to show how common sense approaches to the realities of the situation can

slow down and even reverse this poor record of our industry. There is a clear

Philosophy for Dyeing in the 21st century (TABLE X).

 The 21st Century Philosophy for
Textile Dyeing
• Minimum human/operator intervention
• Process steps optimised for utility consumption
• Decisions made strategically not on a daily routine
basis
• Processes devised and selected to produce the
correct shade and quality as an expectation not just an
intention
• Digital Shade passing and colour communication
• Profits are made by doing it right - not just by doing it
cheaply

TABLE X

As an aside, although I am not an expert, I am pretty certain that similar

common sense approaches can dramatically affect the demand for water

from the biggest user on the planet, agriculture, and here the savings really

could save the world.

Many of you will already know what I have had to say. What we really need

to do is inform political leaders and legislators of the need for action and the

realistic possibilities of enforcing improvements. In a capitalist economy, it

is inconceivable that any enterprise could unilaterally take actions which are

designed to improve the environmental impact, unless those actions brought

other advantages of lower costs or higher revenue. Many people have

succeeded in selling eco friendly products at a premium but this only really
is a possibility at the ‘fat cat’ end of the market – it doesn’t really impact

global production processes. In reality, you can only expect manufacturers

to take appropriate action if they is forced to do so and you can only expect

them to be relatively happy about this if everybody else is forced to do the

same thing. It isn’t good enough to export dirty industry from the west to

Asia – this does not help global warming or preserve water resources. In

fact it makes things worse because generally production technology in Third

World countries is even more polluting and more wasteful of resources than

in the west. Legislation is needed now and it must be subject to

international agreement from everyone, including the USA, India and China.

Agreement between the minnows only makes we who are among the

minnows feel righteous. It does not save the world for our children.

References

1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Ocean

2. P H Gleick The World’s Water: The Biennial Report on Freshwater

Resources, (Island Press)

3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4684029.stm

4. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal

5. A C Welham J.S.D.C., 102 (1986) 128

6. Hilary Mayell, National Geographic News, 21 April 2001

7. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2000/world_water_crisis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_aquifer;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Chad ;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2000/world_water_crisis

/default.stm;

A Troubled River Mirrors China’s Pathto Modernity: New York Times

November 19, 2006 ;

Water Crisis as Mexico City Sinks Faster than Venice T Gaynor, The

Independent (UK) 30Apr 2004

8. A Gore, An Inconvenient Truth – Feature Film

9. US Cotton Market Monthly Economic letter June'2006. World Cotton

Consumption

10. UK National Statistics (www.statistics.gov.uk)

11. M Patterson, Rev Prog.Coloration, 4 (1973) 80

12. J Ratcliffe, Rev Prog Coloration 9 (1978) 58

13. G H Lister Patent Application Number:. 510470 (1974)

14. R Adrion, Saving Water- A Global Concern in Textile Finishing. Pub. Then AG

2003

15. Thies Technical Information (ITMA, Munich, 2007)

16. A C Welham, Amer. Dyestuff Rep. 82 (9) (1993) 40

17. A C Welham, Amer. Dyestuff Rep. 83 (3) (1994)