Development of a one-stage process for pretreatment and cationisation of cotton fabric

A one-stage process for cationisation and pretreatment of cotton fabric was developed. Cationisation of cotton cellulose was carried out with 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyltrimethylammonium chloride, whereas pretreatment comprised enzymatic and oxidative desizing, scouring, bleaching with hydrogen peroxide, combined desizing and scouring as well as combined desizing, scouring and bleaching, Each of these pretreatment operations or their combination with and without cationisation was carried out using three techniques, namely, cold pad-batch, pad-steam and exhaustion. It was found that the cationisation chemicals were compatible with the scouring ingredients and, to a lesser extent, with the formulation of enzymatic desizing. On the other hand, cationisation chemicals were not compatible with oxidative desizing or peroxide bleaching ingredients. Efficiency of the one-step process for scouring and cationisation was maximised through detailed investigation of the process parameters. The treated fabric can be dyed without electrolyte and the fabrics show a high levelness of colour shade, residual wax content and nitrogen content.