Industrial Water Footprint: Case Study on Textile Industries
41
Fig. 4 Sustainable textile supply chain network
basic processing unit of any textile product, textile manufacturing may be identified as
the conventional and technical textiles. Among the manufacturing industries present,
the Textile industrial network is one of the oldest and most complicated sectors which
includes a large number of sub-divisional sectors covering the entire level of the
production cycle, from raw materials and intermediate products to the production of
final products.
Textile industrial activities present in different subdivisions have their characteristics. Concerning the usage of freshwater resources, the textile industry constitutes
one of the most water-consumptive industrial sectors [1, 2, 36], which concludes
the fact that there is a need for water footprint to be properly utilized in the textile
industrial sector and trace its network. Figure 4 shows the sustainable supply chain
network of the textile industry where the water footprint needs to be calibrated for
each unit process and operation.
5 Conversion of Fiber to Yarn
The process of converting cotton fiber into a yarn involves a series of steps that help
to clean, remove short fiber, alignment of fiber, ultimately spin the yarn. Various
steps involved in the processing of fiber to yarn are mentioned in the Fig. 5. Most
of the operations performed in this section are dry processes, in which the usage of
water is minimal or null. These processes mentioned below varies from industry to
industry and also with the quality of fiber cultivated.
Blow room operation consists of blowing of air preferably at high temperature than
the cotton fiber collected from the field, to remove the moisture content present in the
fiber. Then the fiber is conveyed to the gin stands, in which they are passed through
41
Fig. 4 Sustainable textile supply chain network
basic processing unit of any textile product, textile manufacturing may be identified as
the conventional and technical textiles. Among the manufacturing industries present,
the Textile industrial network is one of the oldest and most complicated sectors which
includes a large number of sub-divisional sectors covering the entire level of the
production cycle, from raw materials and intermediate products to the production of
final products.
Textile industrial activities present in different subdivisions have their characteristics. Concerning the usage of freshwater resources, the textile industry constitutes
one of the most water-consumptive industrial sectors [1, 2, 36], which concludes
the fact that there is a need for water footprint to be properly utilized in the textile
industrial sector and trace its network. Figure 4 shows the sustainable supply chain
network of the textile industry where the water footprint needs to be calibrated for
each unit process and operation.
5 Conversion of Fiber to Yarn
The process of converting cotton fiber into a yarn involves a series of steps that help
to clean, remove short fiber, alignment of fiber, ultimately spin the yarn. Various
steps involved in the processing of fiber to yarn are mentioned in the Fig. 5. Most
of the operations performed in this section are dry processes, in which the usage of
water is minimal or null. These processes mentioned below varies from industry to
industry and also with the quality of fiber cultivated.
Blow room operation consists of blowing of air preferably at high temperature than
the cotton fiber collected from the field, to remove the moisture content present in the
fiber. Then the fiber is conveyed to the gin stands, in which they are passed through