LCA of textile dyeing with Acacia Dealbata tree bark: a case study research

摘要

Textile Industry (TI), in particular textile dyeing industry, is known to be not a sustainable activity due to the high demand of resources, such as water, energy, and excessive consumption of chemicals, contributing to the increasing environmental degradation. TI is actually in searching for new and cleaner methodologies, in order to minimize the use of natural resources, as well as by continually improving available techniques towards a sustainable activity, aiming zero emissions. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), a tool that allow to assess the potential environmental impact of a product or product system, was carried out in this work assessed the potential environmental impact of natural direct dyeing of cotton fabric, obtained from Acacia Dealbata tree bark, a species considered invasive specially on Mediterranean regions, being currently implemented some efforts to control its dissemination. The implemented gate-to-gate study applied to the dyeing process, was performed on GaBi software, with ReCiPe as the characterization methodology. A medium colour was obtained with diminished environmental impact, by comparison with a similar cotton colour dyed with synthetic reactive dyes. The quite acceptable performance of the final fabric was tested for colour fastness to wash and wet rubbing according to textile ISO standards.