You are on page 1of 6

Printing Process & its role in Effluent

Printing processes colour paste preparation printing fixation after-treatment

Different printing techniques Printing with pigments: can be used on almost all types of textile Paste Content: o Pigment o thickening agent o binder o fixing agents, o plasticizers, o defoamers Pigment paste (3040% pigment content) - x g Binder (approx. 40% solid content) - 80 g + 3x/2 g Application of printing paste dried Pigment fixation with hot air. Advantage of pigment printing: No subsequent washing Printing with dyes

Compared to pigment printing, the composition of the pastes is more complex and variable, being determined not by the dye used, but by the printing Technique, the substrate, the application and the fixation methods applied. Paste Content: o Dye o Thickening Agent o oxidizing agents (e.g. m-nitrobenzenesulphonate, sodium chlorate, hydrogen peroxide) o reducing agents (e.g. sodium dithionite, formaldehyde sulphoxylates, thiourea dioxide) o discharging agents for discharge printing (e.g. anthraquinone) o substances with a hydrotropic effect, like urea o dye solubilisers, which are polar organic solvents like glycerine, ethylen glycol, butyl glycol, thiodiglycol, etc. o resists for reactive resist printing (e.g. sulphonated alkanes) o defoamers, (e.g. silicon compounds, organic and inorganic esters, aliphatic esters, etc.).

Thickening stock solution: alginate-based thickening agent: 700 g oxidising agent: 50 g complexing agent: 3 g preserving agent: 0.5 - 1 g water: x g Total: 1000 g Printing paste: thickener stock solution: 800 g reactive dyestuff: x g water: y g Total: 1000 g Paste Application: o direct printing (which also includes digital and transfer printing) o discharge printing o resist printing. Direct Printing: dye is applied to specific areas of a pretreated textile substrate, which can be white or pre-dyed (in light colours) Discharge Printing

Resist Printing

Fixation: Fixation with steam. Water vapour condenses on the printed material, swells up the thickener, heats the print and provides the necessary transport medium for the diffusion of the dye. The distribution of the dye between fibre and thickener is an important factor in determining the fixation degree of the dye, which is called the "retaining power" of the thickener. The thickener, in fact, is often composed of polysaccharides and therefore competes with cellulose in retaining the dye. This is the main reason why the fixation rate of a given dye is 10 % lower in printing than in dyeing. After Treatment: Washing, Soaping & Drying Printing technology Flat-screen printing Rotary-screen printing Roller printing Jet printing

Environmental issues Emission sources typical of printing processes are: printing paste residues waste water from wash-off and cleaning operations volatile organic compounds from drying and fixing. 1. Printing paste residues 2.5 4 kg for conventional squeegees (depending on diameter and length of the squeegee) 2.5 kg from pipes and the pumps 1 - 2 kg from the screens 6.5 8.5 kg Total 2. Waste water from wash-off and cleaning operations Typical values for water consumption are as follows: 350 l per pump and pipes for one printing paste supply system 35 l per squeegee (modern washing equipment) 90 l per screen (modern washing equipment). Urea consumption levels in reactive printing pastes: Urea from reactive printing pastes is the main source of NH3 and NH4+ in the waste water from printing houses Urea content in reactive printing paste can be up to 150 g/kg paste. Urea is also used in printing pastes for vat dyes, but in much lower concentration (about 25 g/kg paste). Urea is applied to:

increase the solubility of dyestuffs with low water solubility increase the formation of condensate, which is necessary for allowing migration of the dyestuff from the paste to the textile fibre form condensates with a higher boiling point (115C) which means that requirements for constant operating conditions are lower (non-constant operating conditions can negatively affect reproducibility if urea is not used).

3. Volatile organic compounds from drying and fixing aliphatic hydrocarbons (C10-C20) from binders monomers such as acrylates, vinylacetates, styrene, acrylonitrile, acrylamide, butadiene methanol from fixation agents other alcohols, esters, polyglycols from emulsifiers formaldehyde from fixation agents

ammonia (from urea decomposition and from ammonia present, for example, in pigment printing pastes) N-methylpyrrolidone from emulsifiers phosphoric acid esters phenylcyclohexene from thickeners and binders

Printing auxiliaries
Thickening agents for Dye Printing Thickening agents are essential components of printing pastes. They are responsible for preventing capillary flow between the threads of the fabric, thus inhibiting dye diffusion. Oil/water emulsions, used in the past as thickeners, have now been largely replaced by formulations similar to those used for warp sizes. Standard components of modern thickeners include natural polysaccharides, both unmodified and chemically modified (e.g. seed derivatives, starch degradation products, alginates) and fully synthetic polymers (mainly based on polyacrylic acid). Thanks to the improvements made in the characteristics of the starting materials, thickening agents are now supplied almost exclusively in coldsoluble form. Auxiliaries for pigment printing Thickening agents

Water-in-oil emulsions were widely used in the past as thickeners. They contained up to 70 % of white spirit (mixture of aliphatic hydrocarbons with C12C50 chain length), which resulted in emissions of volatile organic carbon in the exhaust air from drying and curing ovens. Halfemulsion printing pastes (oil in water) are only occasionally employed today. Nevertheless, modern thickeners can still contain approximately 10 % of mineral oils, which are ultimately found in exhaust air. New generation thickeners have been developed which do not contain any volatile solvents. They are supplied in the form of non-dusting granules [64, BASF, 1994]. Binders The pigment has no affinity for the fibre. Therefore, in order to coat the pigment and protect it from mechanical abrasion, a binder is added to the printing paste. Binders are in general selfcross- linking polymers which reticulate during the fixation step. They are supplied as aqueous polymer dispersions, based mainly on acrylates and less commonly on butadiene and vinyl acetate. Fixing agents Additional fixing agents are sometimes necessary to enhance the level of wetfastness, especially with smooth fibres such as PES. Melamine-formaldehyde condensates are used for this purpose. In order to reduce the consequent formaldehyde emissions, modified compounds of the same chemical type, but with a low formaldehyde content, are now common. Plasticisers Plasticisers are mainly silicones or fatty acid esters, which are used to improve the dry rubbing fastness and give a smooth dry handle to the fabric. Emulsifiers In high- and low solvent pigment printing pastes, the emulsifiers serve to stabilise the solvent (white spirit). In solvent-free pigment printing they are used to prevent agglomeration of the pigment, screen blocking and separation of components of the print paste [186, Ullmann's, 2000]. Non-ionic surfactants such as aryl- and alkyl polyglycol ethers are the most commonly used for this purpose.

You might also like