Eco-friendly dyeing of cotton fabric using natural dye from orange peel
Ke Li, Qijiao Ding, Hui Zhang
Abstract
We present a novel application of tannic acid as mordant for dyeing cotton fabric with natural orange peel. Orange peel (OP) pigments were extracted from orange peel with 95% ethanol. Cotton knitted fabric (for baby garment use in the future) was dyed with OP extracts using tannic acid as mordant which avoids environmental pollution and health damages from metal mordant. Effects of dyeing methods and conditions, including concentration of tannic acid, liquor ratio, temperature and time on the colors of the dyed cotton fabrics, were studied. Then, CIELab color characteristic values (L*, a*, b*, c*, and h°), color strength (K/S) values of dyed cotton fabrics were examined and the fastness of dyed cotton against both dry and wet rubbing were evaluated. All the dyed cotton fabrics demonstrated good colorfastness to rubbing, good colorfastness to washing with soap and acceptable colorfastness to light.