ABSTRACT
There is an increasing demand to develop innovative textile
products of high quality and with remarkable functionality in
an environmentally friendly way, taking into account human,
production, and disposal ecology. Utilization of the best available
ecofriendly processing techniques and practices, especially in cotton-
based textile wet processing, the main producer of contaminated
textile wastewater in the whole production chain, would contribute
to promotion and adoption of cleaner production strategies, smart
use of resources, and reduction in waste generation and hence
minimization of environmental impacts and burdens as well as
production of ecofriendly textile materials to cope with the textile
users' demands and requirements. This chapter gives an overview
of textile fibers, textile chain, and conventional textile wet processes
and their negative impacts, especially on textile effluents, with a
special emphasis on the cotton-based textile industry. In addition,
the emerging technologies, criteria to identify the best available
techniques, and cleaner production opportunities to minimize
resource consumption and pollutant generation are discussed.
