Investigation of the use of water by the textile industry in Sri Lanka-part 1

Abstract

The textile sector is one of the high water consuming operations among all industries. Studies on water use by their respective textile industries have been conducted by many countries such as USA, India and Great Britain. Information available facilitates the finisher to realise the actual position about the country levels of water usage and take appropriate action. if required, to optimise water utilisation with final objectives of economy of production and pollution prevention. This study has to cover as much a wide cross section of textile finishing facilities to get a realistic view about the country situation. In this Part I of the paper four of the biggest mills have been surveyed and information presented according to the widely accepted formats, i.e. in terms of unit operations of finishing treatments by the number of litres per kilogram (l/kg) processed. Information has also been presented in terms of the variable parameters such as machine type, dye class type or chemical type for better analytical possibility. The finisher would then be able to decide on any conservation measures necessary by comparison with (target) figures available from various sources. Il is intended to cover the medium and some small scale textile finishing facilities in the next part of this study to complete the full cross-section of the Sri Lankan textile finishing sector.