Ozone applications for after‐clearing of disperse‐dyed poly(lactic acid) fibres

In this study, the effectiveness of the ozonation process, in neutral distilled water at room temperature, as a clearing process for disperse‐dyed poly(lactic acid) fibre fabrics is investigated. The efficiency of simultaneous decolorisation of dyebath effluent and clearing of dyed poly(lactic acid) in the cooled dyebath after completion of the poly(lactic acid) dyeing cycle is also explored. Conventional alkaline reduction clearing with sodium dithionite was chosen as a control clearing process for comparison. Wash fastness, colour difference, colour removal (in Hazen) and chemical oxygen demand values were determined and compared. Long ozone treatment times at high ozone dose resulted in unacceptable colour differences. The colour difference problem was solved by use of lower ozone dose; however, a warm soaping step had to be added to the after‐clearing sequence in order to achieve the desired fastness properties. A 33% reduction on the chemical oxygen demand load of the total process (dyeing + after‐clearing) could be achieved by ozone after‐clearing instead of using a conventional reduction clearing treatment. The addition of the warm soaping step to improve the fastness properties of the ozonated samples increased the total chemical oxygen demand of the process (dyeing + ozonation in water + warm soaping), but a 12–18% reduction on the chemical oxygen demand load of the total process was observed when compared with the conventional treatment sequence (dyeing + reduction clearing).