A STUDY ON THE ECOFRIENDLY DYES EXTRACTED

FROM THREE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF Curcuma L.

By: Nikhala Shree
Department of plant biology and plant biotechnology Women’s christian college
An Autonomous Institution – Affiliated To The University Of Madras

1.Introduction:
Natural dyes are known for their use in colouring of food substrate, leather, wood as
well as natural fibers like wool, silk, cotton and flax as major areas of application since
ancient times. Natural dyes may have a wide range of shades, and can be obtained
from various parts of plants including roots, bark, leaves, flowers, and fruit (Allen
1971). Since the advent of widely available and cheaper synthetic dyes in 1856 having
moderate to excellent colour fastness properties, the use of natural dyes having poor to
moderate wash and light fastness has declined to a great extent.
However, recently there has been revival of the growing interest on the application of
natural dyes on natural fibers due to worldwide environmental consciousness (Agarwal
2009). Although this ancient art of dyeing with natural dyeing with natural dyes
withstood the ravages of time, a rapid decline in natural dyeing continued due to the
wide available of synthetic dyes at an economical price. However, even after a century,
the use of natural dyes never erodes completely and they are still being used. Thus,
natural dyeing of different textiles and leathers has been continued mainly in the
decentralized sector for specialty products along with the use of synthetic dyes in the
large scale sector for general textiles owing to the specific advantages and limitations of
both natural dyes and synthetic dyes.
REFERENCEID: PHARMATUTOR-ART-1645

In many of the world’s developing countries , natural dyes can offer not only rich and
varied source of dye stuff, , but also the possibility of an income through sustainable
harvest and sale of these plants (Jothi, 2008). The natural dyes present in plants and
animals are pigmentry molecules, which impart colour to the materials. These
molecules containing aromatic ring structure coupled with a side chain are usually
required for resonance and thus to impart colour. There is a correlation of chemical
structure with colour, chromogen-chromophore with auxochrome (Purrohit, 2011).
Recently, a number of commercial dyers and small textile export houses have started
looking at the possibilities of using natural dyes for regular basis dyeing and printing of
textiles to overcome environmental pollution caused by the synthetic dyes (Glover
1993). Natural dyes produce very uncommon, soothing and soft shades as compared
to synthetic dyes. On the other hand, synthetic dyes are widely available at an
economical price and produce a wide variety of colours; these dyes however produce
skin allergy, toxic wastes and other harmfulness to human body.
There are a small number of companies that are known to produce natural dyes
commercially. For example, de la Robbia, which began in 1992 in Milan, produces water
extracts of natural dyes such as weld, chlorophyll, logwood, and cochineal under the
Eco-Tex certifying system, and supplies the textile industry. In USA, Allegro Natural
Dyes produces natural dyes under the Ecolour label for textile industry (Hwang 2008).
Aware of the Toxic Substance Act and the Environmental Protection Agency, they claim
to have developed a mordant using a non-toxic aluminium formulation and
biodegradable auxiliary substance. In Germany, Livos Pflanzenchemie Forschungs and
Entwicklungs GmbH marked numerous natural products. In France, Bleu de Pastel sold
an extract of woad leaves. Rubia Pigmenta Naturalia is The Netherlands company,
which manufactures and sells vegetable dyes. There are several small textile companies
using natural dyes. India is still a major producer of most natural dyed textiles (Vankar
2007).
For successful commercial use of natural dyes, the appropriate and standardized dyeing
techniques need to be adopted without scarifying required quality of dyed textiles
materials. Therefore, to obtain newer shades with acceptable colour fastness behaviour
and reproducible colour yield, appropriate scientific techniques or producers need to be
derived from scientific studies on dyeing methods, dyeing process variable, dyeing
kinetics and compatibility of selective natural dyes. A need has also been felt to
reinvestigate and rebuild the traditional processes of natural dyeing to control each
treatment and pre-dyeing process (preparation, mordanting) and dyeing process
variables for producing uncommon shades with balanced colour fastness and eco-
performing textiles.
Production of synthetic dyes is dependent on petrochemical source, and some of
synthetic dyes contain toxic or carcinogenic amines which are not eco-friendly (Hunger,
2003). Moreover, the global consumption of textiles is estimated at around 30 million
tonnes, which is expected to grow at the rate of 3% per annum. The colouration of this
huge quantity of textiles needs around 700,000 tonnes of dyes which causes release of
a vast amount of unused and unfixed synthetic colourants into the environment
(Agarwal 2009).
A renewed international interest has arisen in natural dyes due to increased awareness
of the environmental and health hazards associated with the synthesis, processing and
use of synthetic dyes. Natural dyes comprise colourants that are obtained from animal
or vegetable matter without any chemical processing. During the last decade the use of
natural dyes, obtained from animal or vegetable matter without any chemical
processing, has gained momentum due to increased demand for these dyes by the
food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic as well as the textile colouration industry.
The effluent generated by this much water would pollute the environment as it contains
a heavy load of chemicals including dyes used during textile processing (Ali et. al.,
2007). Over 7 x 105 tonnes and approximately 10,000 different types of dyes and
pigments are produced world-wide annually. It is estimated that 10-15% of the dye is
lost in the effluent during the dyeing process (Iqbal and Ashiq, 2007). Thus, there are
two main ways to limit the environmental impact of textile processing. One is to
construct sufficiently large and highly effective effluent treatment plants, and the other
way is to make use of dyes and chemicals that are environment friendly.
However, in spite of the merits of natural dyes as compared to the synthetic ones, the
use of the former is still not widespread due to non-availability of standard shade cards
and standard application procedures. Most of the natural dyes have no substantivity for
the fibre and are required to be used in conjunction with mordants. A mordant, usually
a metallic salt, is regarded as a chemical, which itself be fixed on the fibre and which
also combines with dyestuff. A link is formed between the fibre and the dye, which
allows certain dyes with no or little affinity for fibre to be fixed (Gulrajni, 1992).
Primitive dyeing techniques included sticking plants to fabric or rubbing crushed
pigments into cloth. The methods became more sophisticated with time and techniques
using natural dyes from crushed fruits, berries and other plants, which were boiled into
the fabric and which gave light and water fastness (resistance), were developed. Some
of the well-known ancient dyes include madder, a red dye made from the roots of
the Rubia tinctorum L., blue indigo from the leaves of Indigofera tinctoria L., yellow
from the stigmas of the saffron plant (Crocus sativus L.) and from the rhizome of
turmeric (Curcuma longa Koenig non L.; C. aromatica Salisb.;C. zeodaria Roxb.).
Today, dyeing is a complex and specialized science. Nearly all dyestuffs are now
produced from synthetic compounds. This means that costs have been greatly reduced
and certain application and wear characteristics have been greatly enhanced. However,
practitioners of the craft of natural dying (i.e. using naturally occurring sources of dye)
maintain that natural dyes have a far superior aesthetic quality, which is much more
pleasing to the eye. On the other hand, many commercial practitioners feel that natural
dyes are non-viable on grounds of both quality and economics. In the West, natural
dyeing is now practised only as a handicraft, while synthetic dyes are being used in all
commercial applications. Some craft spinners, weavers and knitters use dyes as a
particular feature of their work.
Advantages & limitations of natural dyes
Natural dyes are less toxic, less polluting, less health hazardous, non- carcinogenic &
non- poisonous. Added to this, they are harmonizing colours, gentle, soft and subtle
and create a restful effect. Above all they are eco-friendly and can be recycled after
use. However, studies have shown that certain natural dyes may have detectable
mutagenic effects e.g., elderberry colour and safflower yellow; others, like carmine, can
cause asthma by continuous inhalation, but it can be said that most of the natural dyes
are safe and some even have curative effect e.g., curcumin in turmeric has antibacterial
properties (Han and Yang, 2005; Hill, 1997).
Although natural dyes have several advantages, there are some limitations as well.
Tedious extraction of the colouring compound from the raw material, low colour value
and longer time make the cost of dyeing with natural dyes considerably higher than
with synthetic dyes. Some of the natural dyes are fugitive and need a mordant to
enhance their fastness properties. Some of the metallic mordants are hazardous. Also
there are problems like difficulty in the collection of plants, lack of standardization, lack
of availability of precise technical knowledge of extracting and dyeing technique and
species availability. (Teli et. al., 2000; Bhuyan et. al., 2004)
In India, the extraction of dyes from natural source and their use for dyeing have been
known from time immemorial. The process of extraction and methods of applications
have been localized in the areas of abundance of the dye bearing plants. There is hardly
any commercial adaptable process available for manufacturing natural dyes.