Short wet-steaming low-carbon cleaner pad dyeing of cotton/polyamide/lyocell fabric with reactive dyes

Cotton/polyamide/lyocell three-component fabrics are usually dyed by the traditional dip dyeing technology with two kinds of dyes, which has the disadvantages of long process, high energy consumption and high cost. In this research, the short process cleaner pad dyeing technology for cotton/polyamide/lyocell fabric was developed. The optimal dyeing conditions were that the pH value of initial dye solution was 3–4, the reactive red 195 dye concentration was 10 g/L in the preliminary dye bath, the concentration of NaOH and Na2CO3 were 10 g/L in the alkaline fixing solution, and the steaming time of acid solution and alkali solution was 4 mins. The dyeing effects and fixation rate indicated that short wet-steaming technology was the optimum method. The developed short wet-steaming low-carbon cleaner pad dyeing technology of cotton/polyamide/lyocell fabric not only ensured the color yield, reproducibility, dyeing uniformity and permeability, but also saved dyes and chemicals, shortened dyeing time by 17.4 %, reduced power and heat consumption by 27.1 % and 15.1 %, and decreased carbon emission by 24.6 % compared with traditional dyeing. The K/S values of the dyed samples by short wet-steaming pad dyeing technique indicated that bifunctional reactive dyes with monochlorotriazine and vinyl sulfone sulfate groups (M-type) were superior to the other three kinds of reactive dyes. In the era of low-carbon economy, short wet-steaming low-carbon cleaner pad dyeing of cotton/polyamide/lyocell fabric with reactive dyes is an advanced short process dyeing technology worth of promotion for dyeing a variety of industrial crops and products.