Sustainable Enzymatic Desizing of Cotton with Bio-surfactant Extracted from Soapnut

Surfactant is one of the major consuming auxiliaries in textile processing. The rising demand for petroleum-based surfactants is in focus and it is tremendously utilized to fulfil the need for surfactants in textile industries. These petroleum-based surfactants are one of the major pollutants of textile wastewater. Many attempts have been made to replace this with low toxicity to make the process sustainable. The present investigation works on the same objective to replace the petroleum-based surfactant from desizing by using soapnut extract as a wetting agent. The process was optimised by using a modern statistical technique of Response Surface Methodology [RSM]. The initial designing was conducted using 10 g/l soapnut extract and 2% enzyme for 30 min at 75 °C and found satisfactory results. Additional desizing experiments were performed to optimize the process using RSM with weight loss as the primary outcome. An optimised desizing recipe provided by DOE numerical optimisation, viz., a concentration of 10 g/l soapnut extract and 2% enzyme at 75 °C for 40 min, was performed to validate. The findings demonstrate that optimum weight loss (6.58%) and desirable levels of absorbency (14 s), whiteness (73.52), yellowness (22.84 indices, bending length (2.1 cm), Flexural rigidity (98.13 mg.cm), while minimally affecting tensile strength (10.77). Enzymatic desizing with synthetic or soapnut-extracted wetting agents yields identical results and satisfies performance standards for industrial use. The Sustainable way of enzymatic desizing of cotton with bio-surfactant extracted from soapnut may be the green alternative to synthetic surfactant-based desizing

Valorization of Corn Husk Waste for Textile Applications

Agriculture biomass is a widely known renewable source that has a high possibility of recycling. The present investigation deals with the extraction, pre-treatment, dyeing, and characterization of natural fiber obtained from agricultural residues of corn husk. Water retted corn husk fibers were subjected to two steps of scouring and bleaching with hydrogen peroxide. The process effectively reduced non-cellulosic impurities, increased cellulose content to almost 79%, enhanced water absorption (431.5%), and increased fiber whiteness (54) with minimal impact on breaking tenacity (17.17 CN/tex). Natural dyeing was performed by using dye extracted from Sappan wood, and it was observed that fiber dyed without mordant exhibits a good color strength (K/S) of 13.21. Optimum dyeing conditions were determined by the response surface methodology, where K/S was kept as the main response. Modern spectroscopic characterization techniques were used for confirmatory analysis. The optimized recipe for natural dyeing is a 20% liquid dye concentration at 70°C for 1 hour, which achieved a K/S of 10.2–10.5 with adequate wash and light fastness properties in the range of 3–4 and 7–8, respectively. The current study will pave the way for the efficient textile application of this abundant but unnecessarily wasted biomass

Recycling of waste PET for functionalised textile finishing

80-84The glycolysis of waste bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) has been carried out at 190oC for 8 h with sodium acetate catalyst. Products of reaction are then characterised by spectroscopy, thermogravimetry and calorimetry. The bis-hydroxyethyl terephthalate (BHET) obtained from the reaction is formulated using an emulsifying and dispersing agent and further utilised as an antistatic finishing chemical for imparting functional effect on polyester textile. The application has been performed by padding polyester fabric with a solution containing antistatic agents of different concertations (10, 20 and 40 g/L), followed by drying at 110° C for 60 s and then thermoset at 170°C for 40 s. The treated fabric is compared with a commercial antistatic agent for functional performance and then evaluated in terms of absorbency, wicking height, charge decay time, and hand feel. The results show that the fabric finished with 20 g/L BHET based formulation performs better than the commercial antistatic agent finished fabric, and the waste PET bottles can be effectively utilised as a textile finishing chemical