Indian Journal of Textile Research

Vol. 6, December 1981, pp. 151-153

Preparation and Application of Sodium Percarbonate as Bleaching Agent for

Cotton Fabric
EM ABDEL-BARY, M M MOSTAFA* & S EL-BAZZA
Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Mansoura University, Egypt
Received 30 July \979; accepted 24 July \98\

A new method has been developed for the preparation of sodium percarbonate for use as a bleaching agent for coloured
and white textiles. The maximum stabilization of sodium percarbonate is obtained with 2.2% crystalline magnesium sulphate
and 1.2% sodium silicate.

Sodium percarbonate is an important bleaching agent Results and Discussion

for coloured and white textiles1 -3. Methods of
preparation and the conditions for getting maximum
bleaching efficiency with this compound are covered
by patents4 -7 which do not give full information
about its preparation and application conditions. In
the present paper, a new method for preparing sodium
percarbonate and the conditions for its application as a
bleaching agent for cotton fabrics have been described.
Experimental Procedure
Preparation of sodium percarbonate - Sodium
percarbonate was prepared by mixing sodium
carbonate (10 g)and sodium silicate (0.175 g) in 17.5 ml
bidistilled water. To the cold mixture, 20 ml hydrogen
peroxide (30% wt/vol) containing '0.325 g magnesium
sulphate heptahydrate was added and the slurry of
sodium percarbonate formed was dried in an oven at
60-65°C for 20 min.
Evaluation-Copper numbers, fluidity9 and
wettability10 of cotton fabric were determined by the
standard methods. The percentage of hydrogen
peroxide stabilized in sodium percarbonate at room
temperature as well as after boiling for 2 hr was
determined by the potassium permanganate
method11.
The degree of whiteness was measured using a
Hunterlab reflectometer (Model D 40).
Bleaching process-A bleaching solution of pH
10.7-10.9 was prepared by dissolving sodium
percarbonate (1-6 g/litre) in the required amount of
water. The cotton fabric specimen was placed in the
The main parameters which can affect the
stabilization of hydrogen peroxide in sodium
percarbonate are: (1) type and amount of stabilizer, (2)
amount of water, and (3) amount of sodium
percarbonate. While studying the effect of both the
type and amount of stabilizer, all other parameters
were kept constant. It was found that increase in the
quantity of sodium silicate or magnesium sulphate
used up to 0.14 and 0.12 g respectively increases the
amount of hydrogen peroxide which reacts with 109
sodium carbonate. Further increase in the quantity of
sodium silicate has no effect, while increase in the
quantity of magnesium sulphate decreases the amount
of combined hydrogen peroxide. Better results were
obtained by using a mixture of 0.325 g magnesium
sulphate and 0.175 g sodium silicate (Fig. 1). Sodium
4"4
408
<l:
U 4,0
4'6
g
0,
Q:
w 4·2
~
0·1 0'2 0·3 04

bleaching solution for 1.5 hr at 95°C. The specimen I I SODIUM

I SILICATE, g
I I
0·5 0"4 0·3 0·2 ().1 o
was then removed from the bleaching solution, rinsed MAGNESIUM SUlPHATE,g
with water, squeezed and finally dried at 60°C.
Fig. \- Variation of stabilized hydrogen peroxide in sodium
percarbonate with the amount of sodium silicate and magnesium
*To whom all correspondence may be addressed. sulphate added

151
 INDIAN J. TEXT. RES., VOL. 6, DECEMBER 1981

~
percarbonate so obtained contained 30.8% stabilized E
88
0
~
C B A D
A
B
COPPER
0r--FlUIDITY
E OF
AVERAGE
DEGREE NUMBER
WETTABIUTY
~~STABILIZEDWHITENESS
A
[;"
X C
hydrogen peroxide at room temperature. The 92r • 84
80
formation of colloids by silicate hydrolysis inhibits the
catalytic effect of metal ions present in sodium
carbonate and maintains the pH value at 10-11. This 80 0·16
0·10
12
02 8~ 24

indicates the importance of adding sodium silicate as a50 0

40 20
70 004
60
0'8
10
30 0·14
Q.Q6 7r- 21
stabilizer. Also, magnesium hydroxide (obtained by 6~ 18
the hydrolysis of magnesium sulphate) assists the 5~ 15
precipitation of heavy metal ions, res~lting in
4r- 12 r- 76
improved stability of sodium percarbonate.
Effect of water-Only a small amount of bidistilled "K....'X.....:. X
water should be used in the preparation of sodium 23t 9t 72
6 68 .~.~ B
percarbonate. Excess water accelerates the decom- E
position of hydrogen peroxide 12. If the amount of oL 03t 60
64
water is less than that required, a part of sodium 1 2 3 4 5
CONCE NT RATION,g/Iitre
carbonate remains suspended without reacting with
Fig. 3-ElTect of concentration of sodium percarbonate
hydrogen peroxide. The maximum stabilization is on fabric characteristics
obtained by using 17.5 ml bidistilled water.
Effect of sodium carbonate-The optimum ratio of matters in the fabric without scission of the cellulosic
the quantities of hydrogen peroxide and sodium chains. The rate of decomposition of hydrogen
carbonate is 5: II; about 4.7 g hydrogen peroxide peroxide increases with increase in temperature and it
reacts with 10 g sodium carbonate. The optimum reaches its maximum value at 90°C. The wettability of
quantity of sodium carbonate is 109. the fabric also improves.
Bleaching of cotton fabric with sodium Both the fluidity and copper number remain
percarbonate-Sodium percarbonate which contains unaffected after bleaching for 2 hr. However, the
65.8% sodium carbonate, 30.8% stabilized hydrogen increase in bleaching period in alkaline medium at
perox.ide, 1.16% crystalline magnesium sulphate and 95°C causes partial hydrolysis of the cellulosic chains.
1.1% sodium silicate can be used as a bleaching agent. Also, the degree of whiteness improves and it is not
The main parameters which govern the bleaching dependent on the bleaching period.
process, such as temperature, period of bleaching and The relationships between copper number (NcJ,
the concentration of sodium percarbonate, have also fluidity (F) and the concentration of sodium
been studied. percarbonate (Cpc) are shown in Fig. 3 and can be
The effect of temperature on the characteristics of expressed as follows:
the bleached cotton fabric is shown in Fig. 2. The
degree of whiteness improves and reaches its Ncu m Cpc+ K
maximum value of 86.5 (in comparison to 62.5 for grey F = m Cpc+ k
fabric) at 100°C without any change in fluidity and
copper number. This means that the oxygen released The values of m, m, K and k are found to be 0.19,
from sodium percarbonate destroys the coloured 0.76, 0.003 and 2.1 respectively. This illustrates that
both copper number and fluidity increase with increase
12
21
27
E \I24
18
15
B
Cr --
76
OL 850C 60
80
90
0A ...A\l5
.•.
CCPPER OF
DEGREE
"
FlUDITY
NUMBER
WHITENESS
0
68r
7 OL 2 ·C 4 AVERAGE
TEMPERATURE, 3 TA8ILIZED
H202S
75
64WETTA8lUTY B in the concentration of sodium percarbonate. The
degree of whiteness and wettability improve with
152 I on fabric
ElTect of temperature [ properties increase in sodium percarbonate concentration. It
follows that in contrast to the conventional bleaching
agents, sodium percarbonate is relatively stable during
storage at room temperature up to 5 months in an open
vessel. However, the content of hydrogen peroxide
decreases from 30.8 to 26.0%.

References
I Takashi S, Yoshio M & Mashairo M, Japan Pat 7,107, 371 (to
100 Japan Peroxide Co. Ltd), 24 Feb. 1971; Chem Abstr, 75
(1971) 38564 Y.
2 Riyouichi M & Takashi F, Germ Offen 2,420,561 (to Kao Soap
Co. Ltd) 30 Oct 1975; Chem Abstr, 84 (1976) 19570 s.
 ABDEL-BARY et al.: SODIUM PERCARBONATE AS A BLEACHING AGENT FOR COTTON FABRIC

} Fumikatsu T & Takehiko K, Japan Pat 7,592,870 (to Kao Soap 6,734,899 (to Toyo Soda Manufacturing Co. Ltd) 24 March
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