Nadeem Abdullah, Tariq Muhammad Atiq Ur Rehman, Safi Abdur Rasheed, Malik Zaheer Muhammad, Sarwar Kaleem, Rajabi Zohreh
Centre of Excellence in Water Resources Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54890, Pakistan.
Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Water Sci Technol. 2025 Sep;92(5):704-719. doi: 10.2166/wst.2025.123. Epub 2025 Aug 14.
Pakistan's fresh water supply declined significantly from 5,260 to 1,014 m/person/year between 1950 and 2018. Water-intensive operations of the textile industry further aggravate this fresh water scarcity by contributing significant pollution. This study uses life cycle assessment (LCA) to examine the environmental effects of textile production with emphasis on human health, resources, and ecosystem. Potential sustainable solutions are offered by innovations like energy efficiency techniques and closed-loop water recycling systems. Environmental trade-offs in this study are measured between energy optimization and water recycling. Effects such as resource depletion (RD), global warming potential (GWP), and eutrophication potential (EP) are evaluated. The efficacy of these integrated techniques is demonstrated in results. Energy optimization and integrated solutions reduce GWP by 30.7 and 33.1%, respectively, and water consumption by 43.6 and 43.9%, respectively. However, these approaches also result in trade-offs, including increased freshwater ecotoxicity and depletion of fossil resources. In summary, combining renewable energy with water recycling has significant environmental advantages, but long-term sustainability necessitates rigorous trade-off management and optimization. The textile sector should adopt similar circular economy strategies, supported by robust data collection and monitoring frameworks.
1950年至2018年间，巴基斯坦的人均淡水资源供应量从每年5260立方米大幅降至1014立方米。纺织业的高耗水作业通过造成大量污染，进一步加剧了这种淡水短缺状况。本研究采用生命周期评估（LCA）来考察纺织品生产对环境的影响，重点关注人类健康、资源和生态系统。诸如能源效率技术和闭环水循环系统等创新提供了潜在的可持续解决方案。本研究衡量了能源优化和水循环利用之间的环境权衡。评估了资源耗竭（RD）、全球变暖潜势（GWP）和富营养化潜势（EP）等影响。结果证明了这些综合技术的有效性。能源优化和综合解决方案分别使全球变暖潜势降低了30.7%和33.1%，水消耗量分别降低了43.6%和43.9%。然而，这些方法也会带来权衡，包括淡水生态毒性增加和化石资源枯竭。总之，将可再生能源与水循环利用相结合具有显著的环境优势，但长期可持续性需要严格的权衡管理和优化。纺织部门应在强大的数据收集和监测框架支持下，采用类似的循环经济战略。
