Eco-fibers in the textile industry

Abstract

One of the biggest threats to living species is environmental damage and consequent global warming. Industrialization in every field is responsible for these issues.We know that the textile industry is a gigantic industry and a huge polluter. Fiber is the basic raw material for textiles. It is necessary to initiate utilization of eco-materials to produce eco-textiles. Based on these facts, we briefly describe the eco-fibers used in textiles and their recent developments. Currently, cotton is the world's most popular natural fiber, accounting for 80% of all natural fibers used, but the cultivation of cotton is such a thorough environmental and health disaster as to be almost unbelievable. But all of these environmental and health hazards can be taken care of by cultivation of organic cotton. Activities related to organic cotton cultivation are increasing in cotton-growing countries worldwide. Chemical processing of naturally colored cotton is not essential, and environmental pollution due to its chemical processing is thereby eliminated. Lyocell is produced by using the eco-friendly solvent N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide. Apart from that, we know that synthetic fibers are nondegradable and nonrenewable, and also significantly increase consumption of hydrocarbons (petroleum products) and translocation of carbon from the ground into the atmosphere. This chapter deals with various eco-fibers used in textiles - namely organic cotton, colored cotton, lyocell, bamboo, and other naturally based eco-fibers - and synthetic polyester based on polymerization of lactic acid obtained from corn.