Sustainable Photocatalytic Desizing Process for the Starch-Based Size

Textile wet processing highly impacts the environmentdue to itsmassive water and energy consumption. High consumption of water alsoresults in the generation of a considerable volume of effluents. Inthis regard, an ultraviolet C (UVC)-assisted desizing method of starch-sizedcotton fabric has been developed to lower the utility consumptionin textile pretreatment. A UVC cabinet is designed to control exposingtemperature and energy of exposure on the starch-sized cotton fabric.The UVC exposure time is optimized concerning the desizing efficiency.The UVC-exposed-sized fabric is washed with different washing timesand washing temperatures to optimize the process. The alkali consumptionin washing is reduced by 75% and desizing efficiency is improved to95%. The application of oxidizing agents like NaNO2, K2S2O8, and NaBO3 center dot 4H(2)O during sizing further reduced the washing temperature andwashing time for desizing to obtain 100% desizing efficiency. TheUVC-assisted desized fabric is characterized by the whiteness index,water absorbency, tensile strength, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR),and wide-angle X-ray diffraction and compared with the control. TheUVC-assisted desizing process has the potential to save approximately60% water, 90% energy, and more than 70% of the time. Life cycle analysishas also been done. The photocatalytic desizing process can reducethe impact on human health by more than 85% and save approximately69% of mineral resources than the conventional technique. The textileindustry can quickly adopt a novel approach for sustainable desizing.