ABSTRACT
Chemical processing of textiles is a vast subject dealing with application of various chemicals and processes for both natural and synthetic textiles in fibre, yarn and fabric forms encompassing preparatory processes, dyeing, printing and finishing activities. Preparatory processes are carried out as initial set of activities before the dyeing, printing and finishing processes to prepare the textile materials in order to remove the impurities, improve its absorption, achieve uniformity and at the same time retain the important properties. Effective preparatory process not only ensures optimal dyeing, printing and finishing performance of textile materials but also enhances the quality and durability of textile materials (Shenai 2000a). Preparatory processes in chemical processing of textiles have been often a neglected stage as it 154does not add value to the textiles directly, but nevertheless, it is gaining prominence recently as this stage utilizes maximum chemicals, auxiliaries, energy and time in chemical processing (Ali and Price 2015).
