Development of sustainable, cost effective foam finishing approach for cellulosic textile employing succinic acid/xylitol crosslinking system

Clothing is an essential human need that must fulfil the purpose of protecting against weather in addition to satisfying the functional and aesthetic need without sacrificing serviceability and comfort. The escalating awareness about personal hygiene and environmental concerns, especially in the current frenzied world with a pandemic, has generated a huge demand for functional, ironing-free clothing with impeccable hygiene while maintaining the true spirit of sustainability in all three aspects i.e. performance, chemical, and process domains. Conventional textile processing is highly unsustainable in terms of the excessive use of water, energy, and toxic chemicals. In this study, we introduced a sustainable foam processing method for the development of easy-care textile with improved physical, aesthetic, and comfort performance while maintaining zero toxicity in the finishing formulation. Foam of the succinic acid crosslinker was systematically optimized using natural thickeners as the stabilizing agents. Xylitol was introduced in the recipe as an extender to promote crosslinking. The finished sample of the optimized foam formulation showed remarked improvement of 32% in strength and 13% in stiffness with comparable easy-care performance as that of the conventional padded sample. The unparallel dominancy and sustainability of the foaming process were established through a detailed cost and effectiveness index which heralded the rapid adaptation and industrialization.