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The dyeing process contributes most to the water consumption and wastewater emission associated with the textile industry, leading to water depletion and degradation. The water footprint is an effective concept for evaluating the environmental impact of textile production processes on water bodies, and serves as a reference for practitioners seeking to develop suitable water management strategies. Water degradation can be quantified in terms of several sub-indicators, such as aquatic eutrophication, acidification, and ecotoxicity. However, some processes (such as the production of viscose fiber and dyeing) produce significant quantities of alkaline wastewater that can alkalize the receiving water bodies. In this study, we proposed the concept of water alkalization footprint to assess the potential impact of water alkalization caused by textile production. To achieve this, we constructed an evaluation framework and calculated the relevant characterization factors by considering the mechanisms of chemical reaction. A dyeing mill was selected as a case study to demonstrate the feasibility of the concept. The results indicate that the dyeing of 1 ton of viscose fabric produces a water alkalization footprint of 15.478 kg OH− equiv, and that NaOH in the wastewater from the desizing and dyeing phases was the largest contributor at 97.23%. Unlabelled Image • Water alkalization footprint calculation model was proposed and established. • The WAF of 1 ton dyed viscose fabric was calculated as 15.478 kg OH− equiv. • Sodium hydroxide was the major contributor to WAF in viscose fabric production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution is a major concern of the new civilized world due to its adverse impact on human health and environment. As typical air pollutants, nitrogen oxide (NO X ) and sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) not only pollute the atmosphere by forming acid rain and particulate matter, but are also harmful to the human respiratory system. Significant emissions of NO X and SO 2 in the production phases make the textile industry under enormous environmental pressure. Chemical footprint (ChF) is an effective method for transforming the potential environmental risks of pollutant emissions into an intuitive form of toxicity. In this study, we present a ChF assessment method for NO X and SO 2 emissions from textiles production. For this purpose, we adopt the USEtox model and calculate the relevant characterization factors (CFs) by considering the physicochemical properties and toxicity of NO X and SO 2 . The textile industry in Zhejiang Province, China, is chosen as a case study to demonstrate the feasibility of this proposed ChF assessment methodology. Results indicate that ChF caused by NO X emission in Zhejiang's textile industry is approximately eight times larger than that caused by SO 2 emission. The four sub-sectors of Zhejiang's textile industry (textile manufacturing sector; textile wearing apparel, footware, and caps manufacturing sector; leather, fur, feather and related products manufacturing sector; chemical fibers manufacturing sector) also have similar proportional distributions of ChFs. Besides, the textile manufacturing sector has the largest ChF, accounting for 73% of the total ChF caused by NO X and SO 2 emissions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)