The Effect of Leveling Agents in the ULLR of Cotton

Energy saving and environment-friendly dyeing method of cotton with reactive dyes is the ultra low liquor ratio dyeing because it reduces the total quantity of water, dye, salt and alkali during the dyeing process in the effluent as well as the energy consumption. However, this method may not guarantee the quality of the dyeing results due to the specs or unlevel dyeing depending upon the dyes used. The study has focused on the effect of leveling agents in the dyeing of cotton with reactive dyes under the ultra low liquor ratio (1:5). Especially Sunfix N/B MF-D which was selected for ULLR showed low-leveled dyeing comparing with the other MF-D series. A leveling agent having polycarbonate structure increased LDF values of Sunfix N/B MF-D without changing of dyeing fastness. We recommend some leveling agents to improve the leveling behavior for ULLR dyeing.