Sustainable Dyeing of Silk with Natural Dyes Using Natural Sources of Water

Abstract

River water containing different types of metals and heavy metals are far more efficient in promoting sur face colour strength and all round colourfastness properties of silk fabrics when dyed with aqueous extract of Ceriops decandra and Diospyros malabarica. However, pre-mor danting with aluminium and/or ferrous sulphate would promote the depth of shade and colourfastness properties further. Calcium and magnesium are found to be present in appreciable amount in the different river water considered in this study and are found to be higher than that present in water collected from Kolkata Municipality Corporation. Analysis of different river and aquifer water showed the presence of different metals and heavy metals and their value stays well below the specified permissible limit as mentioned in WHO standard. The presence of such trace amount of different metals played a significant role in promoting dye uptake and all round colourfastness prop erties also. The presence of such metal in the dyed fabric also appeared to stay much below the limit of Oeko-Tex standard referred often for producing environment friendly textiles.