Investigation of sustainable approaches in textile printing

In the textile industry, reducing environmental impact and improving resource utilisation are among the fundamental goals of sustainable production policies. In this study, two fundamental approaches aimed at reducing chemical consumption and energy requirements in reactive and pigment printing processes were evaluated. The effects of gamma irradiation on dye uptake and colour yield were examined in detail, given the physical and chemical changes it induces in the cellulose structure. The use of sustainable auxiliary chemicals as an alternative to urea — a chemical commonly used in reactive printing that releases large quantities of nitrogenous waste into the environment — was investigated. In this study, environmentally friendly formulations were tested and evaluated in terms of print quality, colour yield and fastness properties. The results show that gamma irradiation is effective, particularly in pigment printing, at doses up to 5 kGy, although this varies depending on the type of dye. Doses exceeding 40 kGy are not recommended, as they cause a 30% loss in strength. It has been concluded that chemicals using urea alternatives may help reduce urea usage and can be used as urea alternatives. Both gamma irradiation pretreatment and urea alternative chemicals were demonstrated to be optimisable and usable under appropriate conditions. This makes it possible to reduce the environmental burden, as well as energy and chemical consumption, in the printing process. This study demonstrates the feasibility of innovative methods that can contribute to sustainable textile printing, providing a scientific basis for future research.