Non-aqueous dyeing of cotton fibre with reactive dyes: A review

This study reviews the evolution of and recent developments in non-aqueous reactive dyeing systems for cotton fibre. As conventional water-based reactive dyeing causes adverse effects to the environment because of the need for huge quantities of water and chemicals, as well as generating a substantial amount of effluents, one of the alternative ways to alleviate pressure on the environment is to switch the dyeing medium from an aqueous water-based approach to a non-aqueous solvent-assisted approach. Among a wide variety of non-aqueous dyeing methods, this review focuses on several non-aqueous dyeing systems, including dyeing textile fibres with chlorinated solvents, dyeing cotton with the use of reverse micellar systems, a dye/solvent suspension system and a non-nucleophilic solvent-assisted dyeing system.