Abstract—The current research studied the dyeing

properties and spectroscopic characteristics of natural dyes on

PLA and PET fabrics. The natural dyes used were the dyes

extracted from turmeric and cassumunar powder and the

commercial dyes viz. Natural Orange and Natural Red Brown.

The water solubility and partition of the dyes in octanol and

water (logP) were studied. It was found that the dyes with poor

water solubility that were the turmeric and cassumunar dyes

exhibited a high degree of exhaustion and visual color yield (K/S)

than the readily water soluble commercial dyes viz. Natural

Orange and Natural Red Brown. Turmeric and cassumunar

dyes can be used for dyeing PLA and PET fabrics to a

medium-deep shade with the turmeric dye providing a deeper

shade. The fluorescence properties of the turmeric and

cassumunar dyes were examined on the PLA and PET fabrics

and it was observed that the dyes exhibited a stronger

fluorescence emission on PLA than PET for both turmeric and

cassumunar dyes. Cassumunar dye displayed less fluorescence

properties than turmeric dyes on both fabrics. The fluorescence

emission properties of the turmeric dyes at different K/S levels

were also investigated.

Index Terms—Natural dye, polyester, polylactic acid,

turmeric, cassumunar, fluorescence.

I. INTRODUCTION

Polyester fiber (poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET) is an

important synthetic fiber holding a highest market share in

textile industry, both for apparel and non-apparel uses. As it

is a petroleum-based fiber, its life cycle is claimed to cause a

global warming. For this reason, a greener polyester fiber has

been developed to use for textile production. Poly(lactic acid),

PLA, is considered as the eco-polyester fiber. It is derived

from renewable materials e.g. corn, sugar and starch.

Fermentation of the materials yields lactic acid which is then

used for PLA polymerization. The properties of PLA as a

textile fiber have been confirmed to sufficiently serve the

textile clothing industry, although some of its technical

properties are still poorer than PET [1, 2]. PLA and PET are

hydrophobic fiber, so they can only be dyed with the less

water soluble dye, disperse dyes. Dyeing these fibers with

natural dyes has not been studied widely.

Dyeing textiles with natural dyes has long been studied,

Manuscript received April 24, 2012; revised May 31, 2012.

V. Sriumaoum is with the Department of Textile Science, Faculty of

Agro-Industry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand (e-mail: vorabodee@yahoo.co.th).

J. Suesat is with the Department of Textile Science, Faculty of

Agro-Industry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand (Tel.: 66-2-5625064; fax: 66-2-9428663; e-mail: Jantip.s@ku.ac.th ).

P. Suwanruji is with the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science,

Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand (e-mail:fscipjs@ku.ac.th).

especially for natural fibers like cotton and silk. Majority of

the natural dyes are well soluble in water, so they can readily

dye on hydrophilic textile fibers. Natural dyes are rarely

found in use for dyeing synthetic fibers as these fibers are

rather hydrophobic, in particular polyester fibers. This makes

a marginal possibility to produce the natural-dyed synthetic

fiber textiles to fulfill a demand on a more eco-friendly textile

products. It was proposed that the solubility parameter of the

dyes and the textile substrates was the parameter took part in

dyeability of the dye on the textiles. The dye which has a

solubility parameter nearly similar to that of the fiber would

exhibit a good dyeing properties, then again, if the dye and

the fiber have a great difference in the solubility parameter,

the dye would exhibit a poor dyeing properties on the fiber.

This may be applied for studying polyester dyeing with

natural dyes having varying water solubility. It was expected

that the less water soluble, hydrophobic dyes would build-up

well on the polyester fabric, whilst the water soluble ones

would hardly dye on the fabric.

In this research, the dyeing of polyester fabric viz. PLA

and PET, with natural dyes was investigated. The

commercial natural dyes, Natural Orange and Natural Red

Brown, were studied against the extracted dyes from turmeric

and cassumunar rhizome powder. The dissolution percentage

and partition of the dyes in octanol and water (logP) were

determined in order to gain a vision of their correlation with

the dyeing properties of the natural dyes. The shade and

degree of the dye exhaustion were measured. The

fluorescence spectroscopic properties of the turmeric and

cassumunar dyes were also investigated on the PLA in

comparison with PET fabric.

II. MATERIALS AND METHOD

A. Materials

The interlock-knitted PLA fabric was prepared from 40Ne

PLA spun yarn purchased from Hebei Tianlun Textile Co.

Ltd., China and the interlock-knitted fabric of PET was

derived from 40Ne PET spun yarn purchased from Far East

Knitting & Spinning Co., Ltd, Thailand. Turmeric (Curcuma

Longa.) and Cassumunar (Zingiber cassumunar Roxb)

rhizome powders were supplied by Simaasoke community,

Thailand. The commercial natural dyes which were Natural

Orange and Natural Red Brown were supplied by Brenntag

Co., Ltd, Thailand. Sera Wash, a nonionic surfactant, was

supplied by DyStar, Thailand and Dypidol CRM, a

nonionic/anionic wetting agent was from Brenntag Co., Ltd,

Thailand.

Dyeing and Spectroscopic Properties of Natural Dyes on

Poly (Lactic Acid) and Poly (Ethylene Terephthalate)

Fabrics

Vorabodee Sriumaoum, Jantip Suesat, and Potjanart Suwanruji

International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics, Vol. 2, No. 3, May 2012

155

B. Preparation of the Natural Dyes from Turmeric and

Cassumunar Powder

The natural dyes from turmeric and cassumunar were

prepared by extracting the turmeric and cassumunar powders

using acetone as an extracting solvent. The extraction

procedure is described in our previous work [3]. The turmeric

and cassumunar dyes were oven-dried and kept in solid form

for dyeing. The two commercial natural dyes viz. Natural

Orange and Natural Red Brown were used directly in their

as-received powder form.

C. Study of the Solubility of the Natural Dyes

The solubility in water of four natural dyes was determined

by stirring 50 mg dye in 50 ml distilled water for 24 hr and

subsequently filtered to separate the insoluble solid portion

out and dried in the oven at 80oC for 4 hr. The weight of the

dried solid (W1) was used to calculate the %dye soluble in

water against the total dye weight (Wo) as seen in equation

(1).

Water solubility of the dye % = (Wo− W1)

Wo× 100% (1)

The partition ratio (p) of the dyes in the mixture of octanol

and water was also investigated in order to evaluate the

logP(octanol/water) of each dyes by following the

shake-flask method [4]. The 50 mg of each dye was agitated

in octanol/water mixture for 24 hr. The amount of the dyes

partitioned in octanol and water was examined by measuring

the absorbances of the dye solution in octanol and water. The

amount of the dye was analyzed against the calibration curve

of the dyes in octanol and water. The logP values were

calculated from equation (2) and the obtained values were

evaluated and their correlation with the dyeing behavior of

the dyes on the PLA and PET fabrics was analyzed.

logP(octanol /water ) = log (weight of dye dissolved in octanol

weight of dye dissolved in water) (2)

D. Dyeing of the Natural Dyes on Polyester Fabrics

The PLA and PET fabrics were scoured in a bath

containing 1 g/l Sera Wash and 1 g/l sodium carbonate at

60oC for 15 mins. The scoured fabrics were taken to dye with

the natural dyes at concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 5.0, 7.0

and 9.0%owf at a liquor ratio of 10:1 using a Daelim Starlet II

infrared dyeing machine. PLA was dyed at 110oC whereas

PET was dyed at 130oC for 30 mins. After dyeing, soaping of

the dyed fabrics were performed in a bath containing 1 g/l

Dypidol CRM at 60oC for 15 mins and subsequently rinsed

with water and dried at room temperature. The visual color

yield (K/S) of the dyed fabrics was measured using a McBeth

ColorEye 7000 Spectrophotometer. The Build-up curves of

the dyes on PLA and PET fabrics were established by

plotting the graph between K/S values and the concentrations

of dye applied (%owf).

The degree of exhaustion of the dyes on polyester fabrics

was determined by measuring the absorbance of the dyebath

solution before and after dyeing. The %exhaustion was

calculated from equation (3).

Dye exhaustion % = (A0−A1)

A0× 100 (3)

where 𝐴0 is the absorbance of the dyebath solution before

dyeing

𝐴1 is the absorbance of the dyebath solution after dyeing

The K/S values and the color properties (L*a*b*) of the

dyed fabric was examined with McBeth ColorEye 7000

Spectrophotometer.

E. Measurement of Fluorescence Characteristics of the

Turmeric and Cassumunar Dyes on Polyester Fabrics

The PLA and PET fabrics were dyed with turmeric and

cassumunar dyes to the same level of K/S values of 5, 10, 15

and 20. The K/S values of the dyed fabrics were checked with

McBeth ColorEye 7000 Spectrophotometer. The

fluorescence spectra of the dyed fabrics were measured using

LS55 Fluorescence Spectrometer. The excitation wavelength

for the turmeric-dyed fabrics was set at 430 nm while

excitation wavelength of 360 nm was used for

cassumunar-dyed fabrics. The fluorescence emission bands

were monitored at 510 nm for both turmeric and cassumunar.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A. Interrelation of Water Solubility and Partition of the

Natural Dyes in Octanol/Water Solvent with Their Dyeability

The data on the % dyes dissolved in water and their

partition in octanol and water (logP) showed a varying degree

of such properties of the natural dyes studied (Table 1). The

commercial dyes exhibited very good water solubility

whereas the turmeric and cassumunar can only dissolved in

water to a small extent. The logP values indicated the degree

of dye partition between octanol and water. The higher the

logP values are, the more hydrophobic the dye is. The logP of

each dyes corresponded to their water solubility ability.

Natural orange and Natural Red brown had negative logP

values which indicated that these two dyes did prefer to stay

in water, whereas most of the turmeric and cassumunar dyes

went into octanol rather than water (high logP). This

difference in solubility of the dyes was correlated with their

dyeability, expressing by % dye exhaustion and the visual

color yield (K/S) obtained on the fabrics. The water soluble

dyes, viz. Natural Orange and Natural Red Brown, had

poor %exhaustion and K/S value. In the meanwhile, the

turmeric and cassumunar dyes which had very poor water

solubility, showed a very high degree of exhaustion and color

yield. This inferred that the dyes with poor water solubility

could dye very well on PLA and PET fabrics. Suesat et al. [5]

reported that the dyes with solubility parameter closed to

those of the polyester, PLA and PET, would dye very well on

the fabrics. From this study, it elucidate that turmeric and

cassumunar dyes are the natural dyes well suited for dyeing

polyester fabrics, while, the dyes which are readily soluble in

water are not recommended for dyeing these two

hydrophobic polyester fabrics.

The dye extracted from turmeric was reported to be

curcumin which can be used as a natural dye for dyeing

textile fibers both natural and synthetics. The curcumin,

turmeric dye, was studied in our previous work that it could

dye well on PLA and PET fabrics. Cassumunar dye was

reported to be cassumunarin, a complex curcuminoids [6],

however, it did not perform well on the polyester fabrics as

compared with turmeric dye.

International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics, Vol. 2, No. 3, May 2012

156

TABLE I: % DYE DISSOLVED IN WATER, LOGP(OCTANOL/WATER) OF THE NATURAL DYES AND THEIR DYEABILITY APPLIED AT 1%OWF

Dye Water solubility (%wt) LogP(octanol/water) Exhaustion (%) K/S

PLA PET PLA PET

Turmeric 0.69±0.08 1.90±0.44 72.42±1.85 56.40±0.55 1.95 1.84 Cassumunar 2.16±0.10 1.49±0.29 59.17±2.70 32.67±2.92 1.22 1.05

Natural Orange 89.12±1.83 -1.23±0.53 1.22±0.05 2.17±0.39 0.81 1.08

Natural Red Brown 96.70±1.63 -1.79±0.57 1.75±0.33 2.55±0.57 0.83 1.18

TABLE II: COLOR PROPERTIES OF THE NATURAL DYES ON PLA AND PET FABRICS AT SAME LEVEL OF VISUAL COLOR YIELD

Dye PLA PET

L* a* b* Shade obtained L* a* b* Shade obtained Turmeric 85.94 -2.79 23.30 Very bright yellow 86.20 -4.39 23.17 Bright yellow

Cassumunar 87.45 -2.63 17.15 Bright yellow 88.33 -0.19 14.90 yellow

Natural Orange 69.82 11.28 17.37 Brownish orange 71.72 6.37 10.29 Brown Natural Red Brown 71.28 9.20 11.48 Reddish brown 72.51 4.80 9.67 Brown

B. Color Properties of the Dyes on PLA and PET Fabrics

The shades of the dyes obtained on the polyester fabrics

are depicted in Table 2. At the same level of color yield, the

color properties of the dyes can be compared on PLA versus

on PET. A slightly different shade of each dye was observed

on PLA comparing with PET as seen from the different L*,

a* and b*. This shade variation occurred on different

polyester fabrics is explained by the influence of the

polyester polymer (fiber). The same dye applied on different

fiber type could display a shade variation due to the effect of

different dye-fiber interaction. Therefore, it points out from

the results that the shade of the natural dyes obtained on PLA

is slightly different from that on PET.

Fig. 1. Build-up curves of the dyes on PLA

Fig. 2. Build-up curves of the dye on PET

The build-up profiles of the dyes on PLA and PET fabrics

are depicted in Fig 1. and Fig 2., respectively. The turmeric

dyes exhibited excellent build-up properties on the PLA

fabric with attained color yield of about 35 and a fairly good

build-up on PET. A relatively poor build-up of cassumunar

dye was found on PLA and PET while the two commercial

dyes could hardly build-up on the fabrics. These results

corresponded with the results in Table 1. that the

hydrophobic dyes (turmeric and cassumunar) would dye well

on hydrophobic fibers. The dyeability of the natural dyes was

inversely proportional to their water solubility and directly

proportion to logP values. When the dyeing properties were

compared between the two polyester fabrics, better dyeability

was found on PLA for both turmeric and cassumunar dyes.

Form this result, it elucidates that turmeric and cassumunar

dyes can be used for dyeing PLA and PET fabrics to a

medium-deep shade, especially turmeric dye. Apart from

their good dyeability, it was also observed that under UV

light source, a noticeable fluorescence yellow color appeared

on the PLA and PET fabrics. The fluorescence yellow shade

was more pronounced for turmeric dye than cassumunar.

These properties will be mentioned in the next section.

C. Fluorescence Spectral Characteristics of Turmeric- and

Cassumunar-Dyed PLA and PET Fabrics

Fig. 3. Fluorescence spectra of PLA and PET fabrics dyed with turmeric dyes

at the same K/S level of 5.

Fig. 4. Fluorescence spectra of PLA and PET fabrics dyed with cassumunar dye at the same K/S level of 5.

The fluorescence properties of turmeric and cassumunar

dyes were examined on the PLA and PET fabrics being dyed

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International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics, Vol. 2, No. 3, May 2012

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to the same K/S value so that the fluorescence properties

could be compared. Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 show the fluorescence

emission curves of the dyed PLA and PET at the same K/S of

5. The fluorescence emission took place at the wavelength of

510 nm. A higher emission was observed on PLA as

compared with PET both for turmeric and cassumunar dyes.

The fluorescence properties of the dyes were influenced by

the fiber. It was reported that the polarity of the surrounding

environment affected fluorescence properties of fluorophore

molecule [7]. As a result of the difference in polarity of PLA

and PET, they influenced on the fluorescence characteristics

of the dyes to a different extent. It seemed that the dyes

exhibited a stronger fluorescence emission on the less polar

PLA fiber than PET for both turmeric and cassumunar dyes.

The yellow dye from turmeric is curcumin. This curcumin is

a fluorophore molecule, so it glows when exposed to UV

light and makes turmeric dyes be a fluorescence dye.

Cassumunar dye was claimed to be a complex curcuminoids

[6], however, it displayed less fluorescence properties on

both fabrics, especially the cassumunar dyed-PET,

fluorescence virtually disappeared.

The results from Fig. 3 showed that turmeric dye exhibited

a pronounced fluorescence properties on PLA. So, the work

was further studied the fluorescence emission properties of

turmeric dye on PLA at a higher K/S levels as seen in Figure

5. The fluorescence emission capacity of turmeric dye

increased with increasing K/S values. It means that the higher

amount of the dye is applied, the higher the fluorescence

emission obtains on the fabric. It can be said that turmeric dye

is a potential fluorescence dye for polyester fabrics, in

particular for PLA.

Fig. 5. Fluorescence spectra of turmeric dye applied at various K/S levels on

PLA fabric.

From this research work, it is conclusive that natural

dyeing of polyester fabrics is feasible and the natural dyes

recommended are the hydrophobic turmeric and cassumunar

dyes. The natural dyes which are highly soluble in water, are

not suited for polyester dyeing due to the poor dye-fiber

interaction. Comparing between PLA and PET, PLA was

better dyeable with the natural dyes studied.

IV. CONCLUSION

From the study, it suggests that dyeing PLA and PET

fabrics with natural dyes are practically realistic. The yellow

dyes from turmeric and cassumunar are recommended for

dyeing polyester fabrics. Apart from their good dyeing

properties on polyester fabrics, these dyes also render

fluorescence properties which may be useful for a production

of special textiles. Furthermore, the antimicrobial properties

of the turmeric and cassumunar dyes would help the fabrics

to resist microorganism. A further study on the color fastness

properties will be investigated to evaluate the performance of

these natural dyes on polyester fabrics and the improvement

of the color fastness properties of the dyes will be developed

to get a clear view on the potential of natural dyeing of

polyester in textile industry.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors are indebted to National Innovation Agency

(NIA) for their support on the research project C53-53. A part

of this research was funded by Center of Advanced Studies

for Agriculture and Food, Institute for Advanced Studies.

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K/S 5

K/S 10

K/S 15

K/S 20

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