Dyes
Synthetic dyes colour textiles, leather and paper; a roughly 1.35 Mt industry where China makes over 70% and India most of the rest.
Specialty chemicals · Coatings, adhesives & colourants · No. 84
- Product family
- Feedstock: Oil, gas or coal
- about 1.35 Mt a year (2025, derived: China 983 kt at just over 70% of world output)
- 10.0 t CO₂e per t
- HS 320411, 320416
Almost every colourful shirt was dyed with chemicals from China or Gujarat, which together make nearly nine-tenths of the world's dyes.
Chart: Illustration: Dyes
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Benzene and naphthalene are nitrated, sulphonated and reduced into intermediates, then coupled into azo dyes; each tonne of H acid leaves about 30 t of phenol-laden wastewater.
Three things to know
- Disperse dyes for polyester are about 40% of the market, because only small, non-ionic molecules can enter that water-shy fibre.
- Vat, sulphur and direct dyes make up about 12% of the market; indigo alone colours almost all denim.
- About 75% of India's dye output comes from Gujarat, where effluent rules are a major cost and closure risk.
The journey
- 1 AromaticsBenzene, toluene, naphthalene from refineries, coke ovens
- 2 IntermediatesNitrated, sulphonated, reduced into H acid, amines
- 3 Dye synthesisDiazotised and coupled in batch reactors
- 4 Dye bathDissolved or dispersed at textile mills
- 5 Coloured fabricPolyester, cotton, denim, leather, paper