The use of fresh water in the textile wash-off process is becoming more expensive day by day due to declining water levels in the region. In this study, the potential of using Fenton oxidation in wash-off cotton reactive dyeing was investigated. The spent wash-off wastewater from one dyeing was first treated with Fenton oxidation, and then reused in several washing-offs employing widely used reactive dyes, C.I. Reactive Yellow 145, C.I. Reactive Blue 21, and C.I. Reactive Red 195. Experimental results showed that at acidic pH (3) using optimized quantities of FeSO4 and H2O2, Fenton process yielded a significant reduction (90–95%) of color in 30 minutes of treatment time. New washing-offs were then carried out in Fenton decolorized wash-off wastewater, and dyed cotton fabric samples were subjected to quality evaluations in terms of color difference properties (ΔL*, Δc*,Δb*, Δa*, ΔE*cmc) and wash fastness properties. This study concluded that after Fenton oxidation, treated liquor can be effectively reused subsequent washing-offs without compromising fabric quality parameters as ΔE*cmc was less than 1, and washing and crocking was also in the range of 4.5–5 which is commercially acceptable. Moreover, the difference in color strength in terms of k/s was also negligible.

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In this study, a novel wash-off method was investigated wherein the use of Fenton’s reagent was evaluated to get rid of hydrolyzed and unfixed reactive dyes from wash-off liquor and reused in next wash-off process. After dark shade dyeing (5% o.w.f) with C.I. Reactive Blue 72, C.I. Reactive Blue 221, C.I. Reactive Red 141, C.I. Reactive Red 198, C.I. Reactive Orange 84, C.I. Reactive Orange 122, C.I. Reactive Yellow 105 and C.I. Reactive Yellow 138 , fabrics were subjected to both clean water (reference) and treated wash-off liquors (batch) and comparisons were made. Fenton reagent was proved capable to achieve 88-97% color reduction in wash-off liquor at pH 3 by using optimal dose of FeSO4 and H2O2 at room temperature. Then effectiveness of Fenton’s reagent treated wash-off was evaluated in terms of color difference values (ΔL*, ΔC*, Δh* and ΔE*), wash fastness and crocking properties. For color fastness properties the commercially tolerable value of ΔE*≤1 was observed for blue and red dyes and slightly higher value for yellow and orange dyes. Wash fastness and crocking results are almost similar for reference and batch dyed fabrics and their values ranges 4-5 on grey scale. Color strength (K/S) showed negligible difference in values indicating that fabrics absorbed almost same amount of dyestuff for each dye .Fenton method of treatment proved to be an eco-friendly and economically feasible treatment method and treated liquor can be effectively used in next dyeing, without compromising quality parameters.