Wet process engineering

Wet Processing Engineering is one of the major streams in Textile Engineering or Textile manufacturing which refers to the engineering of textile chemical processes and associated applied science. The other three streams in textile engineering are yarn engineering, fabric engineering, and apparel engineering. The processes of this stream are involved or carried out in an aqueous stage. Hence, it is called a wet process which usually covers pre-treatment, dyeing, printing, and finishing. The wet process is usually done in the manufactured assembly of interlacing fibers, filaments and yarns, having a substantial surface (planar) area in relation to its thickness, and adequate mechanical strength to give it a cohesive structure. In other words, the wet process is done on manufactured fiber, yarn and fabric. All of these stages require an aqueous medium which is created by water. A massive amount of water is required in these processes per day. It is estimated that, on an average, almost 50–100 liters of water is used to process only 1 kilogram of textile goods, depending on the process engineering and applications. Water can be of various qualities and attributes. Not all water can be used in the textile processes; it must have some certain properties, quality, color and attributes of being used. This is the reason why water is a prime concern in wet processing engineering. Water consumption and discharge of wastewater are the two major concerns. The textile industry uses a large amount of water in its varied processes especially in wet operations such as pre-treatment, dyeing, and printing. Water is required as a solvent of various dyes and chemicals and it is used in washing or rinsing baths in different steps. Water consumption depends upon the application methods, processes, dyestuffs, equipment/machines and technology which may vary mill to mill and material composition. Longer processing sequences, processing of extra dark colors and reprocessing lead to extra water consumption.