Search and Technical Evaluation of Natural Sources to Obtain Textile Dyes

Abstract

Textile dyeing seeks to provide color to fabrics in a uniform manner using dyes or pigments. Currently most of dyes are synthetic derived from petrochemical industry, highly permanent in water sources and with negative implications for human health, and environment.

There are also natural dyes that were used by first civilizations and are currently used mainly in handicrafts, but whose use in textile finishes has been increasing since they can be an option to counteract the adverse environmental effects related to obtaining and using synthetic textile dyes. The main sources of these dyes come from agriculture, forestry, and the food and beverage industries.

This paper presents results of the search and analysis of possible natural sources available for obtaining textile dyes in the Bogotá Cundinamarca, as well as the result of the color fastness tests carried out on cotton and polyamide textiles dyed with the subproducts from agro-industrial banana residues and yellow and purple onion peels. Fastness tests showed encouraging results regarding color transfer, however, there are opportunities for improvement to counteract color shift after washing.