Demonstration of automated dyebath reuse in carpet manufacturing
This report documents a project conducted under a program of National Industrial Competitiveness through Energy, Environment, and Economics (NICE{sup 3}). The program has the objective of developing and demonstrating industrial processes which simultaneously conserve energy and reduce environmental pollution in an economically attractive manner. This project addressed textile dyeing, specifically batch dyeing of nylon carpets with acid dyes, and focused on providing a technically and financially attractive solution which does not impose burdens on the user industry, such as requirements for additional labor or expertise at the production facility. The batch dyeing of carpet is an inherently wasteful process. After each dye cycle, all of the water, energy, and residual chemicals used to dye the carpets are dumped to the drain. Reuse of the spent dyebaths is a proven technique for reducing consumption of water, chemicals, and energy. However, implementation of reuse on a plant-wide or industry-wide scale is impeded by the human involvement required. This NICE{sup 3} project developed and demonstrated a process for automated dyebath reuse, including a prototype automated analysis system. This required development of a modified dye cycle, incorporating hot-start and hot-termination for two different dye systems, as well as integration of the analysis system with the existing process control and production scheduling systems in the plant. The prototype analysis system was installed on a production beck in a commercial dyehouse, and automated dyebath reuse was demonstrated on carpets of both nylon 6 and nylon 6,6 polymers in a variety of colors. The results of the trials show that the automated analysis system can successfully analyze concentrations of multiple dyes in spent dyebaths without operator assistance and that dyebaths can be reconstituted based on these analyses and reused without compromising the quality of the carpets produced. Economic benefits representing savings in water, energy, chemicals, and waste treatment were shown to be approximately three cents per pound of carpet dyed with a reused bath -- a significant savings for a typical dyehouse processing tens of millions of pounds of carpet per year.
- Research Organization:
- Georgia Inst. of Tech., Atlanta, GA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG44-93R410615
- OSTI ID:
- 677083
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/R4/10615-T1; ON: DE99000986; BR: 400408 -0; 3002 -000; TRN: AHC29821%%218
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Nov 1997
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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