A review of energy use and energy efficiency technologies for the textile industry

The textile industry is a complicated manufacturing industry because it is a fragmented and heterogeneous sector dominated by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). There are various energy-efficiency opportunities that exist in every textile plant. However, even cost-effective options often are not implemented in textile plants mostly because of limited information on how to implement energy-efficiency measures. Know-how on energy-efficiency technologies and practices should, therefore, be prepared and disseminated to textile plants. This paper provides information on the energy use and energy-efficiency technologies and measures applicable to the textile industry. The paper includes case studies from textile plants around the world and includes energy savings and cost information when available. A total of 184 energy efficiency measures applicable to the textile industry are introduced in this paper. Also, the paper gives a brief overview of the textile industry around the world. An analysis of the type and the share of energy used in different textile processes is also included in the paper. Subsequently, energy-efficiency improvement opportunities available within some of the major textile sub-sectors are given with a brief explanation of each measure. This paper shows that a large number of energy efficiency measures exist for the textile industry and most of them have a low simple payback period.