Waterless textile dyeing

Abstract

Supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2), having liquid-like densities, hereby provides hydrophobic dyes an advantage on dissolving. Their gas-like low viscosities and diffusion properties can lead to shorter dyeing durations compared to conventional water dyeing process. Supercritical carbon dioxide dyeing, a novel dyeing process, is an anhydrous dyeing and this process involves the use of less energy and chemicals than conventional water dyeing processes resulting in a potential of up to 50% lower operating costs. The advantages of supercritical carbon dioxide dyeing method especially on synthetic fabrics encourage the industry's leading firms to change their dyeing style to this special waterless dyeing technology. In this review, the principle, advantages and disadvantages of dyeing in supercritical carbon dioxide are explained and the scientific literatures and commercial developments are reported and summarized.