Washing process, life-cycle

Life-Cycle of the Washing Process - an Example for Sustainability in Consumer Goods... 

For an assessment of the sustainability profile, it is not enough to look at laundry detergent surfactants in isolation the whole life-cycle has to be taken into account.In order to arrive at soundly based conclusions, the total washing process must be analyzed. To enable the findings for different systems to be compared, all results must be related to a functional unit e.g. the cleaning of 1 kg of laundry. A systematic analysis of the total process is then carried out in the context of a so-called life-cycle assessment (LCA), in which all the system s inputs and outputs are systematically recorded and assessed. ... 

Figure 5.4 Key phases of the life-cycle of the washing process.

Consideration of the impact of washing and water within the life cycle of inkjet printed textiles might be complemented by steps in the supply chain that are upstream or downstream from the inkjet print process. Downstream are the uses for the printed cloth, usually as raw material for another industry, such as fashion, before it reaches the final consumer. Upstream, the process of inkjet printing on textiles, can be considered to begin with the preparation of the fabric for ink jet or digital printing. 

Some of the carbon released by decomposition may be washed into rivers and the ocean. Some of it may be taken up by other living things for use in their life processes. Some of it maybe buried in sediments and, over long periods of time, converted to fossil fuels. The burial and conversion of carbon compounds to fossil fuels upsets the balance between photosynthesis and respiration because these processes remove the carbon from the cycle for such long periods of time. Some carbon is also removed from the cycle for longs periods of time when the shells of some small ocean-dwelling... 

As such, ToFSIMS (often in combination with XPS) is a useftil tool for process/coating optimisation. Coatii durability can also be studied by these techniques, as a fimction of, for example, washing (e.g. time, temperature, detergents, wash cycles) and ageii (e.g. shelf life, exposure to ultra-violet/sun). 

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