LABORATORY STUDIES ON NATURAL FABRICS TEXTILE PRINTING WITH SPIRULINA PLATENSIS SOURCED PHYCOCYANIN

Abstract

Naturally sourced elements represent a sustainable alternative solution for the textile finishing industry, in the context of intense use of contamined, fossil-based raw materials. This study focuses on the exploration of an alternative naturally sourced blue colorant matter solution, by validating the possibility of the employment of Spirulina platensis sourced phycocyanin in natural fabrics coloration through the pigment printing technique. The experiments involved the laboratory-scale exploratory studies of the application of this blue colorant matter on cotton and wool textile substrates, using commercial synthetic printing mother paste. The influence of five different mordants(Cream of tartar, Alum, Tartaric acid, Tanic acid and Aluminum triformate), though pre-mordanting treatment and the printing mother paste were analyzed by measuring the chromatic coordinates and calculating the color strength (K/S), together with the measurement of VIS absorbance spectrum. The color characterization revealed good compatibility of wool -phycocyanin – synthetic paste. Results on cotton were not as good as expected. They conclusions evidence reduced affinity between the fibres and the phycocyanin. In terms of color improvements, Tannic acid revealed the most promising results, for both cotton and wool experiments. The validation of the finishing process was obtained through a fair behavior in laundering fastness, showing low response when analyzed against light degrading external factors.

Keywords

• phycocyanin
• blue
• microalgae
• wool
• cotton
• pigment printing