Investigation of Stabilization of Natural Dyes to Textile Dye Industry

The major problem regarding natural dyes was lack of availability of standard shade cards and reproducibility of shades; as a result the synthetic dyes have captured the market. Because clothing is in constant contact with our skin, the chemicals used in dyeing are absorbed into our skin through the pores and these create various skin diseases. The alternative to the problem is natural dyes which are more aesthetic and safe for dyers as well as wearers. The aim of this research is to investigate the suitability of natural dyes on a range of different fabric types and their storage stability for industrial purposes. An attempt has been made in laboratory scale and in pilot plant also using some selected flowers like Mari-gold for dyeing of textile fibre to get a clear idea of preparation of dye from these flowers & using it in Textile Industry and making the process economically viable. Tegetus erecta (marigold) belongs to family Asteraceae. It produces natural dye from its stem, which has been used for dyeing textiles. In this research innovative dyeing with tegetus was shown to give good dyeing results. Pretreatment with 1-2% metal mordant and by using 5% of plant extract (owf) was found to be optimum and showed very good fastness properties for cotton, wool and silk dyed fabrics. As the first step, a comprehensive analysis, which describes the nature of selected natural materials, was carried out inorder to select the suitable mordant to obtain the required colour. An analysis was done on the dye extraction method. Secondly it`s very vital to present detailed specification which contain the characteristics of the dye which will be indicative of the life time of a dye and colour fastness for washing and sunlight. This made easier to analyze the fabric requirements for the particular dye and justify the selections as well. The ultimate aim of this research is to come up with a technically viable solution to provide natural dyes with shelf stability to be used as textile dyes. In addition, it is proven that the method of freeze drying is capable of converting liquid dye extracts into soluble powder. According to the results it can be concluded that best method for the converting liquid dye solution to the powder form is by using rotary evaporator and freeze drying. And it is obvious that by converting a liquid in to powder form will increase the life time of the dye solution since in the powder form there is no water which is necessary for the living of fungus that makes the lesser life time. When observing the fastness properties all the fastness properties are within the acceptable range. Thus it can be concluded that the stability of the dye can be improved by converting liquid dye into powder form since dye powder is free from water.Keywords: Synthetic dyes, Natural dyes, Stability, Colour fastnes

Utilisation of Sepalika (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis) Flowers, a Temple Waste as a Source for a Potential Colouring Agent for Textile Substrates Used in the Textile Industry

The island of Sri Lanka is a mass of land where the plant life is very rich and vibrant with allshades of green colour leaves and multicoloured flowers. There are around 3500 flora speciesin Sri Lanka and about one quarter of that is endemic to the country. A huge amount offlowers are widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions in Sri Lanka.These flowersare used as decoration, medicinal purposes or for offering to Buddha and God. A surveyreport on flora of Ceylon reveals that 40% of the total productions of flowers are unsold andwasted daily, they are thrown into water or dumped into landside causing water pollution aswell as environmental pollution. These wasted flowers can be used in various ways and wecan get wealth from waste materials. This research reveals one of the options of wastemanagement and pollution control strategies.A vast array of colourants obtained from natural sources such as plants, insects/animals andmicrobes have been scrutinized in recent past for their use in different kinds of applications.Research into new natural dye sources along with eco-friendly, robust and cost effectivetechnologies for their processing and application have greatly aided in widening the scope ofnatural dyes in various traditional and advanced application disciplines. Today textile andfashion trade is a global industry of significance. However, from a national perspectivebecoming greener by using natural dyes may at this stage of transition prove to be quitebeneficial. This study explores such an opportunity.Sepalika flowers (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis) (Harshingar, Parijat) belongs to the familyOleaceae. The flower has white petals with an orange calyx. Nyctanthes stems have beenfound to be a rich source of antioxidants. The aqueous extracts of the flower, calyx and petalswere evaluated for cotton dyeing and found to be excellent fixing properties of dyes onfabric. This signifies that the main colour yielding part is in the orange coloured calyx of theflower. In this research, attempts have been made to carry out an innovative study with theNyctanthes flower as a part of an exploration for a cheap natural dye source. In this study,Sepalika flower extract was used to dye bleached cotton fabrics with metal mordants toachieve acceptable colour shades and fastness levels. The dyed fabrics with Sepalika flowerextracts were investigated with pre-mordanting, simultaneous mordanting and postmordanting conditions at optimum dyeing parameters. These dyed fabrics were investigatedfor their fastness properties. These fastness properties showed excellent to moderate results.In this research innovative dyeing with Sepalika flower extracts were shown to give gooddyeing results. Pretreatment with 1-2% metal mordant and by using 5% of plant extract (owf)was found to be optimum and showed very good fastness properties for bleached cottonfabrics.

Microencapsulation of Essential Oils (Citronella) and Impregnation into Cotton Fabric

Microencapsulation is a micro packaging technique that has traditionally involved the deposition of thin polymeric coatings on small particles of solids or liquids. Microencapsulation is a rapidly expanding technology and finds greater applicability in textiles in recent years. Uniqueness of microencapsulation is the smallness of coated particles and it provides a means of packaging, separating and storing materials on a microscopic scale for later release under controlled conditions. The properties of microcapsules, size, shape, wall material, active substance release mechanism, have had to be adapted to the requirements of textile processing methods and use of final products. Some of the herbal compounds obtained from plants are well known from time immemorial as antibacterial and antifungal products. These plants and tree products are applied directly on skin or wounds as paste or ticaution either for skin care or wound healing. These natural products are abundantly available in nature and are widely distributed. These plant products are nonirritant to skin and non-toxic. Many of these materials are skin care products. The stem, bark, leaf, root and tuber of the plants and trees can be used for special applications. In recent years various essential oils have been reported as mosquito repellents due to their eco-friendly and biodegradable nature, in particular, the essential oil extracted from citronella, one of the main aromatic crops. Citronella has been found to be possessed effective repellent activity against a female mosquito for 12h after the direct application of pure oil on the skin of human subjects. The present study was focused on the preparation of the microencapsules from citronella oil. The prepared extracts were applied on the cotton fabric and the mosquito repellant efficiency of the fabric was tested against the microencapsulated extract finished cotton fabric. Citronella essential oil was used as mosquito repellent agent. The fabric used was a bleached 100% cotton plain weave with a specific weight of 140 g/m2. Repellent textiles were achieved by padding cotton fabrics with microcapsules slurries using a conventional pad-dry method. This methodology requires no additional investment for textile finishing industries, which is a desirable factor in developing countries. The wash durability of the finished fabrics was evaluated at four intervals; 5, 10, 15 and 20 washes. Fabrics treated with microencapsulated citronella oil presented a higher and longer lasting protection from mosquitoes compared to fabrics sprayed with an ethanol solution of the essential oil, assuring a repellent effect higher than 90% for three weeks. Therefore this is a simple, low cost, scalable and reproducible method of obtaining encapsulated citronella oils for textile application.Keywords: Microencapsulation, Herbal, Mosquito repellent, Cotton fabri

Investigation of Waste Tea Leaves (Black) as a Source for a Potential Colouring Agent for Textile Substrates for the Sri Lankan Textile Industry

Until the invention of synthetic dye “Perkin Mauve” (1856), people used natural sources likestem, bark, leaves of plants etc and for dyeing of clothes. In todays context people areconcerned about the harmful effect of using synthetic dyes and is going for natural dyesinstead. This is a result of the stringent environmental standards imposed by many countriesin a response to the toxic and allergic reactions associated with synthetic dyes. The textileindustry is an important economic activity with a 70% contribution to the Sri Lankaneconomy. Dyes are an important process requirement for which the country spends about 8.5mn US$ annually. Almost all dyes presently used for textile dyeing purposes are of syntheticorigin that are imported to the country.Some work on the application of tea on wool, silk jute and cotton are available in theliterature (Vankar P.S., 2006). Applications of tea extracts on wool using acetone as thedyeing medium are also reported in the literature. Recently an exhaustive review on thesubject of natural dyes in textile applications has been published by Taylor. In this work,natural tea was used to dye cotton fabrics. The colour of the tea leaves was extracted usingwater as extraction medium. The dyeing was carried out with the dye extracted from wastetea leaves. Washing fastness, light fastness etc, were compared for dyeing carried out usingthe pre-extracted dye. The effect of mordanting in such dyeing was also investigated andcompared.The present investigation was carried out to revive the old art of dyeing with a natural dyeobtained from tea leaves (Camelia sinensis). It belongs to the family Theaceaee, and iscommonly known as tea and is a crop plant in Sri Lanka. The dye has good scope in thecommercial dyeing of cotton in textile and garment industry. In the present study cottonfabrics were dyed with an aqueous extract of waste tea leaves (black), containing tannins asthe main colourant species. The dyeing was carried out without and with metal salts (Coppersulphate) and natural mordants such as Sepalika (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis), Aralu (Ailanthusexcelsa). Their fastness properties were investigated. The wash, rub and light fastness of thedyed fabrics were good to excellent. Aqueous extracts of tea yield brown shades with goodwash and light fastness on cotton fabrics. All the fastness properties can be further improvedby treatment with certain metal salts and bio materials as mordants. A range of attractivecolours were produced by the use of extracst of waste tea leaves.

Positive environmental management via waste minimisation in a textile washing factory

Textile and garment Industry is an important industry sector in the Sri Lankan economy. The finishing part comprises the final step in textile processing and it is known as a sector with high polluting potential. In the textile washing sector considerable quantities of water is used only once usually and is discharged without any recovery. To stay competitive this industry needs to be modernized and definitely needs better performance in the environmental management sector. This project was limited to looking at the environmental management aspects and that too with only a single pollutant stream -water. The sector of the textile industry considered is the textile washing industry. A garment washing plant is analyzed with the objective of promoting water recycling and waste minimization practices. Initially typical practices were reported, followed by a water balance for the system . Results of the water audit presented here forms the first essential element of the waste minimization process. Water stream is considered from the inlet to the exit, and the consideration is given to methods of conservation possible of this valuable natural resource while obtaining the optimal use in the process. The time that water was assumed to be a limitless low-cost resource has already passed. Today there is an increasing awareness of the danger to the environment caused by over-extraction and use of water. There is now considerable incentive to reduce both consumption and waste water production. The selection of the washing industry was selected for this study under that consideration. This industry sector today uses significant quantities of water and most of the factories neither utilize waste minimization nor water recycling techniques. The waste treatment methods are also not adequate. Thus there is a tremendous potential on savings on one hand and a need on the other hand. It was shown that it is feasible to utilize groundwater after treatment. Manganese is not appearing to be a major problem. The problem chemical appears to be the presence of iron. Iron can be removed from groundwater using several operations. This eliminates the transport of water from outside and serves many environmental needs such as reduced traffic, removing reliance on outside sources and events etc. A pilot plant was constructed in the laboratory and four methods of iron removal were analyzed. Ozonation was studied as a method of reducing this wastage. In this manner there would be a reduced demand on the freshwater resource as well as reduced discharge of effluents. Thus the situation would lead to a facility whereby the waste minimization has taken place and a facility with positive environmental management. It has been shown that this technology offers many advantages to the industry including the recycling option. Ozonation in addition provided abilities to provide the required input quality as well in addition to being able to reduce COD, BOD and the most importantly Color of effluents. It was seen that processes are carried out with less attention being paid to the overall efficiencies but only towards meeting production targets and/or meeting deadlines. The feasibility of recycling waste water was shown. The practice of this would be a major improvement on the current environmental performance

Investigation of mordanting activity of the flower of Nyctanthes arbor tristis L.(Sepalika) on natural dyed fabrics

The fossil fuel era led to the development of the use of textiles based on petrochemicals.  This in turn required different synthetic chemicals as dyeing and fixing agents to enhance consumer appeal of these textiles.  Today this is a global industry of significance.  However, from a national perspective becoming greener by using biopolymers and natural dyes may at this stage of transition prove to be quite beneficial.  This study explores such an opportunity.   Sepalika flowers (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis) (Harshingar, Parijat) belongs to the family Oleaceae. The flower has white petals with an orange calyx. Nyctanthes stems have been found to be a rich source of antioxidant. The aqueous extracts of the flower, calyx and petals were evaluated for cotton dyeing and found to be excellent fixing properties of dyes on fabric. This signifies that the main colour yielding part is in the orange colored calyx of the flower. In this research, attempts have been made to carry out an innovative study with the Nyctanthes flower as a part of an exploration for a cheap natural dye mordanting source. The natural dyed fabrics with Rambutan Fruit skin (Nephelium Lappacium), turmeric (Curcuma Domestica Valet), tea waste (Camelia sinensis), big onion (Alium cepa) and jak (Artocarpus heterophylus) were investigated for their fastness properties. These fastness properties showed excellent to moderate results. In this study, Sepalika (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis) flower extract was used to improve these fastness properties to an acceptable level and to obtain different colour shades. These dyed fabrics were investigated with pre-mordanting, simultaneous mordanting and post mordanting conditions at optimum dyeing parameters.   The fastness properties of naturally dyed cotton fabrics under conventional conditions with sepalika as natural mordanting agents were found under three different mordanting conditions, namely pre mordanting, simultaneous mordanting and post mordanting. Fastness values in the range of 2-4 for samples without mordanting agent were improved to be 4 with the mordanting agent.   The results of this research showed that the naturally dyed cotton fabrics treated under conventional conditions without mordanting showed very poor wash fastness, perspiration fastness, Rub fastness and Light fastness properties. But the treatment with aqueous extracts of fresh and old Sepalika flowers  enhance the fastness properties of naturally dyed fabrics in three different mordanting conditions with the conventional optimum dyeing parameters. Thus, it can be concluded that the extract of (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis) flowers are well suited as bio mordants for naturally dyed cotton textile substrates to enhance the fastness properties of dyed fabrics. These excellent fastness properties revealed that how natural fibres or polymers (cellulose) are bound together with natural mordants (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis) to enhance fastness properties of dyed which reflect the high quality of dyed textile fabrics

Positive environmental management via waste minimization in a textile washing facility.

Existing and developing national environment protection regulations have made it mandatory for all industries to establish a treatment system for wastewater to bring down all toxic, hazardous and offensive components to specified levels before releasing to the environment. The paper looks at the garment washing industry in the textile sector. The industry sector today uses significant quantities of water and none of the factories utilise waste minimisation nor water recycling techniques. A washing plant is analysed with the objective of promoting water recycling and waste minimisation practices. Initially typical practices are given, followed by a water balance for the system. Results of the water audit presented here forms the first essential element of the waste minimisation process. The method suggested look at the iron removal process to utilise ground water and then (eliminating water transport needs) to advance filtration to make recycling feasible. Iron is the key limiting factor in utilising the available ground water supply. These steps would preserve the water resource and would eliminate the current wasteful practices adopted by the industry

Influence of enzyme and chemical pretreatment processes on the colours of banana fibres

Colour is an important property of textile fibres. The colour of mechanically extracted fibre affects the colour of the fibre textiles products. The focus of this investigation is to compare the colour of different pre-treatment process for banana fibre and evaluate the suitability of the banana fibre treatment methods for dyeing process. Experimental research strategies were used to investigate the colour properties. Ambun (AAA/Cavendish) banana variety was selected for this research study. Treated and mechanically extracted banana fibre samples colour measurement was performed by using a data colour machine 600 spectrophotometer and assessed using CIELAB colour values. This experiment was conducted to the suitability of the banana fibre extraction methods for dyeing process. Results indicate that there is a significant change in colour due to the different treatments achieved higher ΔE values. Treatment of enzyme and 6% H2O2, 2% Na2SiO3, 3% NaOH, combined experiments shows higher ΔE values than the other treatments. The FTIR results show that the removal performance of the lignin component is satisfying after the enzyme and chemical combined treatments of banana fibres

Tea polyphenols as an indigenous natural plant resource in preparation of azo dyes for dyeing textiles

For thousands of years. until as recently as the discovery ofthe first synthetic dye in 1RS6. all colouring substances were of natural (vegetable. animal, lichen and mineral) origin. After the discovery of first synthetic dye, there was a gradual decrease in the use of natural dyes. which were more expensive and in many ways more difficult to use. Today. many of the natural dyes have been replaced by synthetic dyes. The major problem threatening the textile industry today is the environmental pollution, arising out of the wet processing of the textiles. The production of synthetic dyes involves many violent reactions. using. manv hazardous petroleum based primary chemicals as well as the production of hazardous intermediates. Therefore it is high time that the over utilization of synthetic dyestuffs should be thought about in the context of health of the people and environment. Natural dvcs extracted or developed from natural resources exhibit better biodegradability. higher compatibility with the environment and also a lower toxicity and allergic reactions not to mention the unique and fascinating colours