research papers on natural dyes

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• Published: 14 July 2015

Extraction of eco-friendly natural dyes from mango leaves and their application on silk fabric

• Mohammad Gias Uddin 1  

Textiles and Clothing Sustainability volume  1 , Article number:  7 ( 2015 ) Cite this article

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The aim of the study was to evaluate the performance of dyes extracted from mango leaves in silk dyeing. Extraction medium was optimized by extracting dyes from fixed quantity of crushed leaves under pH values from 3 to 12. The maximum relative color strength of the extracted dye liquor was found to be at pH 10. The optimum dye extraction conditions i.e., the temperature, time, and material-to-liquor ratio were found to be 98 °C, 60 min, and 1:10, respectively. Dyeing was carried out with the optimized dye extract on mordanted and unmordanted silk fabrics. The dyed materials were evaluated by measuring the color yield and fastness properties. It was concluded that the color values were found to be influenced by the addition of mordants, consequently different fashion hues were obtained from the same dye extract using different mordants. It can also be said that mango leaves have good potentiality for dyeing of silk fabric.

Textile dyeing industry at present uses excessive amount of synthetic dyes to meet the required coloration of global consumption of textiles due to cheaper prices, wider ranges of bright shades, and considerably improved fastness properties in comparison to natural dyes (El-Nagar et al. 2005 ; Iqbal et al. 2008 ). But the production of synthetic dyes is dependent on petrochemical source, and some of these dyes contain carcinogenic amines (Hunger 2003 ). The application of such dyes causes serious health hazards and influences negatively the eco-balance of nature (Bruna and Maria 2013 ; Goodarzian and Ekrami 2010 ; Jothi 2008 ). Moreover, many countries already imposed stringent environment standards over these dyes. For instance, Germany has banned the azo dyes (Almahy et al. 2013 ). In this situation, a higher demand is put towards the greener alternatives or agricultural residues (Ammayappan et al. 2014 ). As a result, natural dyes are among the promising options for developing a greener textile dyeing process and such interest is reflected to the increased number of recent publications. Plant leaves are potential sources of natural dyes because of their easy availability and abundant nature.

Silk has been known as the “queen of fibers” since its discovery. Clothes made from silk are luxurious and have many excellent qualities including the material’s luster, light weight, superior mechanical performance, fine and smooth texture, excellent moisture transportation, and excellent draping quality (Cai et al. 2001 ). Mango bark has been reported to be used on silk and cotton materials as a source of natural dyes, and a wide range of colors have been produced using different mordants (Bains et al. 2003 ; Win and Swe 2008 ). On the other hand, the use of acid activated mango leaf powder (MLP) has been reported in another study for the removal of the Rhodamine B (RB) dye from aqueous solution (Khan et al. 2011 ). However, apart from this application of mango leaves, different leaves such as peach, poinsettia, acalypha, and parthenium leaves have also been reported to extract colors which were used in dyeing of silk materials (Mahajan et al. 2005 ; Rawat et al. 2006 ; Saravanan et al. 2013 ; Suneeta and Mahale 2002 ) while mango leaves have been reported to be used in batik painting technique on silk fabric in comparison with other four natural dyes (Klaichoi and Padungtos 2010 ). There is scope to extract color from mango leaves for the use in dyeing of silk fabric in order to get different fashion hues. The aim of the research was to evaluate the performance of dyes extracted from mango leaves in silk dyeing. The specific objectives were to analyze the aqueous extraction process of the dyes, to explore the possibilities of producing fashionable hues from the dyes using different mordants, to compare between unmordanted and mordanted dyed fabrics, to analyze the color values, and to assess the color fastness properties of dyed fabric.

Mango leaves used for the extraction purpose was collected from Roads & Highways Department, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Mangiferin as shown in Fig.  1 (1,3,6,7-tetrahydroxyxanthone-C-2-β-D-glucoside) was the chemical responsible (Luo et al. 2012 ) for providing color from mango leaves.

Chemical structure of mangiferin

Plain weave (1/1) raw silk fabric (22 g/m 2 fabric) purchased from Sopura Silk Limited, Dhaka, was used for this study.

The leaves were washed thoroughly with water to remove dirt. They were dried under direct sunlight and grinded into very small units with the help of a grinding machine. The wastages are removed using a fine strainer, and finally, weight was taken. After drying, crushing, and removing wastages, the weight of 1 kilogram leaves was found to be 318 gram. Raw, dried, and crushed leaves are shown in Fig.  2 .

( a ) Raw, ( b ) dried, and ( c ) crushed mango leaves

The color component was extracted from the leaves in aqueous extraction process. Extraction was carried out with fixed quantity of crushed leaves (10 gram) under ten different pH values from pH 3 to 12 with a liquor ratio of 1:10 (Weight of crushed leaves in gram; amount of water in milliliter) at 98 °C for 60 min to optimize extraction medium. In each process of extraction, the mixture was cooled down and finally the dye extracts were filtered with fine filter paper three times to ensure clear dye solution.

The dye extracts obtained at different pH values were used for obtaining standard calibration curves through their absorbance values found using a dual beam reflectance spectrophotometer. The dilution of the extracts was carried out for the linear dependence on the concentration-absorbance relation at an absorbance peak ( λ max ). The absorbance values of extracted dye liquors under alkaline (pH 8–12) and acidic (pH 3–6) conditions were considered as batches, and relative color strength values of these batch solutions were measured from the spectrophotometer by comparing with the absorbance value of extracted dye liquor under neutral condition (pH 7) which was considered as standard.

Again, the dye extract which gave the maximum color strength was utilized to optimize the extraction levels of temperature, time, and material-to-liquor ratio. An orthogonal design of experiments was undertaken for this purpose.

Raw silk fabric was degummed in an aqueous solution containing soap (15 g/L), sequestering agent (1 g/L), and wetting agent (1 g/L) maintaining the bath at pH 9. The material-to-liquor ratio during the treatment was maintained at 1:50. The temperature was gradually raised to 80 °C and run for 60 min. The degummed fabric was washed with 2 g/L detergent at 65 °C for 10 min.

The degummed fabric was bleached by treating with 35 % hydrogen peroxide (3 mL/L), sequestering agent (1 g/L), wetting agent (1 g/L), and trisodium phosphate (2 g/L), maintaining a material-to-liquor ratio of 1:50 at pH 9 and temperature 60 °C for 60 min followed by washing with 2 g/L detergent at 65 °C for 10 min. CIE whiteness index of the bleached fabric was found to be 63.26.

Pre-mordanting was carried out on silk fabric using 5 % (on fabric weight) of ferrous sulfate, alum (potassium aluminum sulfate), and tin (stannous chloride) mordants individually and using four different combinations of mordants such as ferrous sulfate-alum (2.5 + 2.5 %), ferrous sulfate-alum-tin (2 + 2 + 1 %), alum-tin (2.5 + 2.5 %), and alum-tin-tannic acid (2 + 2 + 1 %) at 60 °C for 60 min keeping a material-to-liquor ratio of 1:30. Again, cream of tartar (CT) was used as a mordant assistant (Mortazavi et al. 2012 ) with stannous chloride, written as tin-CT.

Dyeing was carried out IR sample dyeing machine with the optimized dye extract as per standard parameters recommended for silk fabric, reported in Clariant manual, i.e., at 80 °C for 60 min under pH 5, keeping a material-to-liquor ratio of 1:50. Opticid PSD (1.5 g/L) was used as a buffering agent in the extracted dye liquor.

Color yield of dyed fabrics

Dyed samples were analyzed by measuring the reflectance curve between 350 and 750 nm with the spectrophotometer with illuminant D 65 at 10 0 observer. The minimum of the curve ( R min ) was used to determine the ratio of light absorption ( K ) and scatter ( S ) via the Kubelka-Munk function (Mcdonald 1997 ).

Color coordinates of dyed fabrics

The color coordinates of the dyed samples were determined based on the CIELab system via the spectrophotometer. In addition, ∆E CMC value was determined to show the color difference between mordanted and unmordanted samples.

Color fastness

Washing and light fastness tests were carried out in ISO 105 C02 and ISO 105 B02 method, respectively.

Results and discussion

Color strength of extracted dye liquors.

Optimum pH was selected based on the relative color strength value of the extracted dye liquor at which maximum color was extracted. Changes in color strength were found due to changes in pH as shown in Table  1 .

It can be seen from the extraction results that the extracted solution showed maximum color strength at pH 10 which was 108.5. It was also found that from the neutral condition (pH 7), relative color strength values gradually decreased up to pH 4 and then increased at pH 3. The reason of extracting more coloring component in alkaline medium was due to the presence of acidic phenolic groups in mangiferin which reacted with alkali and formed more soluble salts in water as shown in Fig.  3 . The solubility of the coloring component was increased due to the increased ionization of hydroxyl (phenoxide) groups in alkaline medium (Ali 2007 ).

Reaction of mangiferin with caustic soda

Again, increasing the pH from neutral condition improved the color strength of the extracted dye liquors up to a certain point. A further increase in alkaline pH resulted in decrease in the color strength of the extract. This decline in color strength was due to the high reactivity of mangiferin in concentrated alkaline medium (Spyroudis 2000 ).

Furthermore, the cell wall of leaves is composed of cellulosic material which gains anionic charge under alkaline medium. Because of these anionic repulsive forces among the cell walls, they lose their strength and ruptured easily (Ali 2007 ). In addition, as the observed leaf dyes have polyphenolic chromophoric structure, hence better extractions were observed using aqueous method (Sivakumar et al. 2009a , b ).

Study of pH stability of dye extracts

It was noticeable during extraction that pH of the extraction bath changed gradually with time. Table  2 shows the pH variation after filtration and with time elapsed.

pH was found to be decreased in all the extraction baths from pH 3 to 12. This was due to the release of acidic color components from the leaves during extraction. From the neutral pH bath where the pH was set 7, the higher the alkalinity of the extraction bath, the greater was the pH drop rate. The drop rate became gradually slower while gradually approaching to more acidic bath from neutral bath. The pH was also measured after 24 h of the filtration process to notice the stability of the extracted bath at acidic pH, and no major noticeable change was reported.

Again, the dyes can show resonating form and give different tones with the change in pH because for natural dyes, pH changes very often. Furthermore, silk dyeing is recommended to be carried out in acidic medium as silk is sensitive to alkaline medium of dyeing, but extraction of the mangiferin dyes was optimized at alkaline pH. Therefore, the stability of the dyes after extraction is of importance.

Optimization of aqueous extraction conditions

The levels for each of the three factors in the orthogonal design of experiments are shown in Table  3 . The extraction experiments were performed under optimum pH condition (pH = 10). The results of the orthogonal design of experiments are shown in Table  4 .

Optimum factors: A 3 B 2 C 1 ,

Absorbance = 1.041.

The optimum extraction conditions were 98 °C for temperature factor, 60 min for time factor, and 1:10 for material-to-liquor ratio. It has been found that dye liquor extracted under optimum conditions had the maximum absorbance value, which was 1.041. From the range analysis of the average absorbance results as shown in Table  4 , the most influential factor of extraction was material-to-liquor ratio, while extraction time factor was the least influential.

Dyed samples

The use of mordants and their combinations produced different shades on silk fabric which are shown in Table  5 .

Color measurements of dyed fabrics

The results of color measurements of the dyed silks are shown in Table  6 .

K / S value of the unmordanted dyed sample was found to be 11.85. This dye uptake on the silk fiber is attributed to the structural features of the fiber. However, in the mordanting method, mordant resulted in improved color yield of the dyed fabrics, except tin. Ferrous sulfate as a mordant significantly increased the color yield of silk. The K / S value was found to be 17.46 using ferrous sulfate which showed the maximum relative surface color strength value of 147.4 % considering the unmordanted dyed sample as reference. Besides, using alum with ferrous sulfate, and tin and alum with ferrous sulfate as a combination, color strengths were found to be 140.3 % ( K / S  = 16.62) and 121.7 % ( K / S  = 14.42), respectively.

In single mordanting process of silk, the order of color yield was found to be ferrous sulfate > alum > tin. It was obvious that color yield gradually decreased when approached from ferrous sulfate to tin. Again, among the four different combinations of mordants, the order was found to be ferrous sulfate-alum > alum-tin-tannic acid > ferrous sulfate-alum-tin > alum-tin.

The addition of ferrous sulfate mordant increased the greenness quality 21.58 % when compared with the reference dyed sample. Tin reduced 22.23 % redness while tin-CT increased 34.05 % redness of the reference dyed sample. Again, from b * values, it was noticed that all the ferrous sulfate mordanted samples were bluer than the reference samples while tin-CT and alum-tin-TA mordanted samples increased yellowness of dyed fabric. The color saturation value ( C *) were found to be least in ferrous sulfate mordanted sample (8.7) whereas the values were found to be maximum in the case of alum (32.3) and tin-CT (32.6) mordanted samples. Moreover, the hue angles lie within 67.8° to 83.7°, so all of the dyed samples were closer to yellowish shade than the reddish. Higher color difference (∆ E CMC ) was noticeable between reference and ferrous sulfate mordanted samples, and the difference reduced from ferrous sulfate to alum and then alum to tin as shown in Table  6 .

The presence of hydroxyl or carbonyl groups in dye structure is capable to form metal complex with the positively charged metals. Dye anions and metal cations have strong attraction towards positively charged amino and negatively charged carboxyl groups of silk, respectively. Hence, they form ionic bonding between dye and fiber, metal and fiber, and finally dye and metal ions. The dye-metal complex also forms coordinate bonds with the uncharged amine (−NH 2 ) groups of silk as shown in Fig.  4 . In addition, one molecule of dye can form a bond with one site of fiber molecule while one molecule of mordant can form bonds with two or more molecules of dyes. Therefore, these are some of the different features indicating application of mordants increased the color yield (Bhattacharya and Shah 2000 ; Temani et al. 2011 ; Uddin 2014 ).

Structure of mangiferin with ferrous sulfate on silk

Again, ferrous sulfate as a transition metal having coordination number 6 forms a large number of complexes with the dye molecules (Mongkholrattanasit and Punrattanasin 2012 ). As a result, when they interact with the silk fiber, some coordination sites remain free, and at that time, amino and carboxylic groups on the fiber can occupy these free sites. Thus, ferrous sulfate can form a ternary complex on one site with the fiber and in another site with the dye (Fig.  4 ). This strong coordination tendency can enhance interaction between the fiber and the dye (Bhattacharya and Shah 2000 ). This resulted in higher dye uptake as well as shade change due to mordanting with ferrous sulfate (Uddin 2014 ).

In contrast, aluminum and tin salts formed weak coordination complexes with the dyes. This tends to form quite strong bonds with the dye molecule but not with the fiber (Cotton and Wilkinson 1972 ). Thus, they block the dye and reduce its interaction with the fiber. This is the reason behind the lower K / S values in the case of aluminum and tin salts than those obtained from ferrous sulfate. Moreover, CT as an assistant increased the color yield from 11.16 to 13.19 when used with tin. CT is chemically potassium hydrogen tartrate which can be used in addition to dyes and mordants to change the pH in order to change colors and to help the absorption of the mordant metal (Mortazavi et al. 2012 ).

Fastness results

Washing fastness.

The results of washing and light fastness of the dyed fabrics are shown in Table  7 .

The unmordated dyed silk showed color change rating of 4. This can be explained that the good fastness to washing for the sample dyed without mordant was due to the affinity of coloring component through H-bonding and van der Waals forces. Using mordants, the color change ratings were found to be within 3/4 to 5, where a rating of 5 (excellent) was found using tin-CT mordant. The ratings were found to be 4/5 in the case of using alum and alum-tin. So it can be said that the overall ratings of color change were good. As wash fastness is influenced by the rate of diffusion of dye molecules and state of dyes inside the fiber, dyes has a tendency to aggregate inside the fiber. Thus, their molecular size is increased resulting in good wash fastness. In addition, in the case of mordanted samples, complexing with mordant also has the effect of insolubilizing the dye, making it color fast.

On the other hand, the color staining ratings were found to be from 4/5 to 5 for all the dyed fabrics, except when ferrous sulfate and its combinations were used as mordant. There were very slight staining observed on to the adjacent wool fiber of the multifiber fabric in the case of ferrous sulfate and its combination samples where the ratings were 4 and almost no staining on the other fibers of the multifiber fabric.

Light fastness

Light fastness as shown in Table  7 was found to be better, and among those, the lowest ratings attained were 5 in the case of tin and alum-tin combination while the unmordanted dyed fabric showed a rating of 6.

In the case of metallic mordants, ferrous sulfate mordanted samples dyed with the mango leaf extracts showed excellent light fastness. This happened due to the formation of a complex with transition metal which protected the chromophore from photolytic degradation. The photons sorbed by the chromophoric group dissipated their energy by resonating within the six-member ring thus formed and, hence, protecting the dyes. Thus, ferrous sulfate can bind with more dye molecules than alum or tin. During exposure to light, the fabrics mordanted with ferrous sulfate, alum, or tin may have the same number of dye molecules destroyed. But as the fabrics mordanted with ferrous sulfate had deeper shades due to bonding with more number of dye molecules, it seemed to fade less compared to the fabric mordanted with alum or tin.

Conclusions

This study was planned in search of greener alternative to satisfy the consumers’ growing demand of eco-friendly products, and progress has been made with this study in the use of mango leaves extracts. The maximum relative color strength of the extracted dye liquor was found to be at pH 10. But the extracted dye liquors have shown good pH stability in acidic conditions. It was shown that different fashion hues were obtained on silk fabric from the same dye extract using mordants and their combinations. Again, color yields were found to be influenced by the addition of mordants. In single mordanting, the order of color yield was ferrous sulfate > alum > tin. In combined mordanting, the order was ferrous sulfate-alum > alum-tin-tannic acid > ferrous sulfate-alum-tin > alum-tin. Other color values were also found to be influenced due to mordanting. Washing and light fastness properties were found to be from good to excellent in most of the cases. Thus, on the basis of the results, it can be said that mango leaves have good scope for application on silk fabrics.

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Uddin, M.G. Extraction of eco-friendly natural dyes from mango leaves and their application on silk fabric. Text Cloth Sustain 1 , 7 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40689-015-0007-9

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Home > Books > Chemistry and Technology of Natural and Synthetic Dyes and Pigments

Fundamentals of Natural Dyes and Its Application on Textile Substrates

Submitted: 15 May 2019 Reviewed: 30 September 2019 Published: 22 December 2019

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.89964

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The meticulous environmental standards in textiles and garments imposed by countries cautious about nature and health protection are reviving interest in the application of natural dyes in dyeing of textile materials. The toxic and allergic reactions of synthetic dyes are compelling the people to think about natural dyes. Natural dyes are renewable source of colouring materials. Besides textiles it has application in colouration of foods, medicine and in handicraft items. Though natural dyes are ecofriendly, protective to skin and pleasing colour to eyes, they are having very poor bonding with textile fibre materials, which necessitate mordanting with metallic mordants, some of which are not eco friendly, for fixation of natural dyes on textile fibres. So the supremacy of natural dyes is somewhat subdued. This necessitates newer research on application of natural dyes on different natural fibres for completely eco friendly textiles. The fundamentals of natural dyes chemistry and some of the important research work are therefore discussed in this review article.

• colour fastness
• extraction of natural dyes
• natural dyes

Author Information

Virendra kumar gupta *.

• M.L.V. Textile and Engineering College, Bhilwara, Rajasthan, India

*Address all correspondence to: [email protected]

1. Introduction

No health hazard

Easy extraction and purification

No effluent generation

Very high sustainability

Mild dyeing conditions

Renewable sources

Mostly applicable to natural fibres (cotton, linen, wool and silk)

Poor colour fastness properties

Poor reproducibility of shades

No standard colour recipes and methods available.

Use of metallic mordants, some of which are not eco friendly.

Hill [ 1 ] had given his views that research work with natural dyes is inadequate, and there is need of significant research work to explore the potentials of natural dyes before its important application to textile substrate.

In India initially Alps Industries Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh, India) and later Ama Herbals, Lucknow, and Bio Dye Goa done extensive work for industrial research and production of natural dyes and natural dyed textiles. Textile-based handicraft industries in many countries engaged local people to dye textile yarn with natural dyes and weave them to produce specialty fabrics. Printing of textile fabrics with natural dyes in India are specially done in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

Vegetable origin

Animal origin

Mineral origin

Natural dyes are having wide application in the colouration of most of the natural fibres, e.g. cotton, linen, wool and silk fibre, and to some extant for nylon and polyester synthetic fibre. However, the major issues for natural dyed textiles are reproducibility of shade, non availability of well-defined standard procedure for application and poor lasting performance of shade under water and light exposure. To achieve good colour fastness to washing and light are also a challenge to the dyer. Several researchers had proposed different dyeing methods and process parameters, but still these information are inadequate, so this calls for the need of research to develop some standard dye extraction technique and standardisation of whole process of natural dyeing on textiles. Here there are examples of few important natural dyes [ 17 ] which are widely used in the dyeing of textile materials, described below.

1.1 Jack fruits ( Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam)

It is a very popular fruit of south India and other parts of India. The wood of the tree is cut into small chips and crushed into dust powder and then subsequently boiled in water to extract the dye. After mordanting treatment of dyed fabrics, yellow to brown shades are obtained. The cotton and jute fabrics are dyed by this dye. It belongs to the family of Moraceae. The dye consists of morin as colouring molecule ( Figure 1 ).

Molecular structure of morin (3,5,7,2′,4′pentahydroxy-flavone).

1.2 Turmeric ( Curcuma longa )

The dye is obtained from the root of the plant. The turmeric root is dried, crushed in powder form and boiled with water to extract the dye. It can be used in the dyeing of cotton, wool, and silk. Proper mordanting treatment improves colour fastness to wash. The brilliant yellow shade is obtained after dyeing with turmeric natural dye. Turmeric is a rich source of phenolic compounds known as curcuminoids. The colouring ingredients in turmeric are called curcumin. Curcumin is diarylheptanoid existing in keto-enol form. Turmeric is a member of Curcuma botanical group ( Figure 2 ).

Molecular structure of curcumin (diarylheptanoid).

1.3 Onion ( Allium cepa )

The papery skin of onion is the main source of the dye. Onion skin is boiled to extract the colour and subsequently can be dyed with or without mordanting the fabric. The resulting colour is from orange to brown. It contains colouring pigments called pelargonidin (5,5,7,4 tetrahydroxy antocyanidol). The amount of colouring pigment present varies from 2.0 to 2.25% ( Figure 3 ).

Molecular structure of pelargonidin (5,5,7,4 tetrahydroxy antocyanidol).

1.4 Hina ( Lawsonia inermis L)

It is the leaf of the plant that is traditionally used in making the coloured design on the hands of women. The leaf of the plant is dried, crushed and subsequently boiled with water to extract the dye from leaf. The mordanted fabric gives colour from brown to mustard yellow. This is the dispersed dye type colour; hence, polyester and nylon can be dyed by hina. However, it stains wool and silk giving a lighter brown colour. Hina is commonly known as lawsone. The chief constituent of hina leaves is hennotannic acid; it is a red orange pigment. Chemically hennotannic acid is 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone. The colouring molecules have strong substantivity for protein fibre ( Figure 4 ).

Molecular structure of lawsone (2-hydroxyl-1,4-naphthoquinone).

1.5 Indigo ( Indigofera tinctoria )

It is the seed of the plant. The full matured plant has 0.4% colour on weight of the plant. The plants are steeped in the water until the fermentation start. When the hydrolysis of glucoside is completed, the liquor is separated from the plant debris. The extract is aerated which converts indoxyl to indigotin which separates out as a precipitate. The shade of natural indigo is difficult to reproduce exactly. The variety of blue shade on cotton can be obtained by the application of natural Indigo. It is kind of vat dye and hence need reductive vatting with liquid jiggery and citric acid or dithionate.

The precursor to indigo is indican which is a colourless water-soluble compound. Indican hydrolyzes in water and releases β-D-glucose and indoxyl. The oxidation of indoxyl resulted in indigotin. The average yield of indican from an indigo plant is 0.2–0.8%. Indigo is also present in molluscs. The molluscs contain mixture of indigo and 6,6′-dibromo indigo (red), which together produce a colour known as Tyrian purple. During dyeing due to air exposure, dibromo indigo is converted into indigo blue, and the mixture produces royal blue colour ( Figure 5 ).

Molecular structure of natural indigo.

1.6 Madder or manjistha or Rubia ( Rubia tinctorum )

The dye is obtained from the root of the plant. The root is scrubbed, dried in sunlight and finally boiled in the water to extract the dye in solution. The dye has red colour. The cotton, silk and wool fibre can be dyed with madder at a temperature of 100°C for time period of 60 min, and subsequently dye solution is cooled. Bright red shade is produced on wool and silk and red violet colour on cotton. This is a mordantable type of acid dye having phenolic (-OH) groups. The colouring matter in madder is alizarin of the antharaquinone group. The root of the plant contains several polyphenolic compounds, which are 1,3-dihydroxyanthraquinone, 1,4-dihydroxyanthraquinone, 1,2,4-trihydroxyanthraquinone and 1,2-dihydroxyanthraquinone ( Figures 6 and 7 ).

Molecular structure of alizarin and purpurin.

Molecular structure of 1,4-dihydroxyanthraquinone and 1,8-dihydroxyanthaquinone.

1.7 Tea waste ( Camellia sinensis )

India is one of the biggest consumer of tea. The left over waste of tea is collectable in large quantity. The extract of tea waste can be used as a natural dye in combination with different mordants, which can produce yellowish brown to brown shade. This is a mordantable dye. Flavonoids, flavonols and phenolic acids are the main colouring components in waste of the tea. Polyphenols, which are mostly flavonols, are known as catechins with epicatechin and its derivatives.

1.8 Safflower ( Carthamus tinctorius )

The safflower petals are soaked in distilled water and subsequently boiled with water for more than 2 h, and it is repeated two times. The solution is filtered and the filtrate is vacuum dried. The obtained powder is having strength of 20–30%. In dyeing it produces cherry red to yellowish red shade. Safflower contains natural pigment called carthamine. The biosynthesis of carthamine takes place by chalcone (2,4,6,4-tetrahydroxy chalcone) with two glucose molecules and that resulted in the formation of safflor A and safflor B ( Figure 8 ).

Molecular structure of carthamine (safflower).

1.9 Sappan wood ( Caesalpinia sappan )

Aqueous extraction is used to extract the dye from sappan wood. Alkali extraction can also be used. It produces bright red colour. It produces an orange colour in combination with turmeric and maroon shade with catechu. The sappan wood tree is found in India, Malaysia and the Philippines. The colouring pigment is similar to logwood. The same dye is also present in Brazil wood.

1.10 Logwood ( Haematoxylon compechianum )

The dye is extracted from the stem of the tree. The stems are broken into small pieces and steepened in cold water for several hours followed by boiling. The extracted dye solution is strained. The logwood natural dye is used to produce black shade on the wool. The logwood trees are found in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean islands. It is also known as compeachy wood. The colouring matter in logwood natural dye is haematoxylin, which after oxidation forms haematein during isolation ( Figures 9 and 10 ).

Molecular structure of haematoxylin and brazilin.

Molecular structure of haematein.

1.11 Saffron ( Crocus sativus )

The dye is extracted from the stigma of flower, which is boiled in water, and the colour is extracted. It imparts a bright yellow colour to the textile material. The wool, silk and cotton can be dyed with saffron. Alum mordant produces orange yellow shade which is also called saffron yellow. This is also used as food colouring. Saffron is a perennial plant which belongs to the Iridaceae family. The aqueous extract of saffron petals contains 12% colourant. The colouring matter of saffron contains phenolic compounds, flavonoids and anthocyanins. Anthocyanidins (pelargonidin) is responsible for the colour in saffron petals. The oxidation of anthocyanidins produces flavonol ( Figure 11 ).

Molecular structure of pelargonidin (anthocyanidin) purple and kaempferol (flavonol) yellow.

1.12 Pomegranate rind ( Punica granatum )

Rind of pomegranate fruit waste is used as a natural dye. Pomegranate fruit is rich in natural tannins. The anar peel produces a yellow colour dye. This natural dye is used in dyeing of wool, silk and cotton fibre. The colouring molecule in pomegranate rind is flavogallol which is called granatonine. It exists in alkaloid form (N-methyl granatonine). The pomegranate rind is rich in tannin content; therefore, it is also used as tanning material ( Figure 12 ).

Chemical structure of granatonine.

1.13 Lac insect ( Laccifer Lacca Kerr)

It is a resinous protective secretion from the insect lac which work as a pest on a number of plants. Lac dye can be obtained by extracting stick lac (shellac) with water and sodium carbonate solution and precipitating with lime. Lac contains a water-soluble red dye. It produces scarlet to crimson red shade after dyeing. The lac dye is obtained from an insect named as coccus lacca. Resin which produced by insect is called stick lac. The lac dye contains laccaic acid A and B which are responsible for the colour of the dye. The amount of colouring matter (laccaic acid) is 0.5 to 0.75% on the weight of the resin ( Figures 13 and 14 ).

Chemical structure of laccaic acid A.

Chemical structure of laccaic acid B.

1.14 Cochineal ( Dactylopius coccus )

Cochineal is obtained from an insect. It produces beautiful crimson, scarlet and pink colour on cotton, wool and silk. After mordanting with alum, chromium, iron and copper; the colour from purple to grey are produced. Cochineal is a scale insect from which natural colourant carmine is derived. Carminic acid is extracted from female cochineal insects. The body of insect is 19–22% carminic acid ( Figure 15 ).

Chemical structure of carminic acid.

1.15 Mineral sources

Some kinds of mineral ores, red clay and ball clay can yield light colours along with mineral salts. But colour composition is not constant and depends on source.

2. Classification of natural dyes

2.1 by chemical constitution, 2.1.1 indigoid class.

Two important dyes in this class are indigo blue and Tyrian purple. It occurs as glucoside indicant in the plant. Another blue dye is woad having the same chemical class. The chemical structure which belongs to indigoid class is shown in Figure 16 .

Indigoid structure.

2.1.2 Anthraquinone class

Dyes that belong to this class are having anthraquinone structure and obtained from plant and insect. The red shade is specific to this class. Madder, lac, kermes and cochineal are some of the examples. The general chemical structure of this class is shown in Figure 17 .

Anthraquinoid structure.

2.1.3 Alpha naphthoquinone

The dyes are having alpha naphthoquinone structure such as 2-hydroxy 1-4-naphthoquinone. Hina, lawsone and juglone are examples of this class. The chemical structure of this class is shown in Figure 18 .

Naphthoquinone structure.

2.1.4 Flavones

The dyes are having yellow shade. The natural dye weld belongs to this category. Most of the dyes are derivatives of hydroxyl and methoxy substituted flavones or isoflavones. The chemical structure of this class of dye is shown in Figure 19 .

Flavones structure.

2.1.5 Carotenoids

The natural dyes saffron and annatto belong to this class. The dye structure of this class has long-chain conjugated double bonds. The chemical structure of this class is as shown in Figure 20 .

Carotenoid structure.

2.1.6 Dihydropyrans

The dyes which belong to this category are logwood and sappan wood. Logwood, a natural dye, produces dark black shade on silk, wool and cotton.

2.1.7 Anthocyanidins

The natural dye carajurin belongs to this category. The blue and orange shades are obtained from this class.

2.2 Chemistry of natural dyes

Different natural colourants contain different chromophoric and auxochromic groups. Depending on the presence of a particular group in the dye structure, the chemistry of the dyes can be explained in terms of their chromophoric groups. The different dye structures and chromophoric groups are as explained.

2.2.1 Quinoid-based structure

The quinoid-based dye structure can be overviewed as three chemical structures (a) benzoquinone, (b) naphthoquinone and (c) anthraquinone. The natural colourant carthamine belongs to benzoquinone group, and juglone and lawsone are having naphthoquinone structure. Alizarine dye possesses anthraquinone structure.

2.2.1.1 Benzoquinone dyes

In this dye structure the л electron system is small, and the dye contains another unsaturated group in conjugation to л electron system ( Figure 21 ). The red colourant carthamine is present in safflower (Natural Red 26). Safflower ( Carthamus tinctorius ) is a subtropical plant and cultivated in India, China, North and South America and Europe. In dyeing, the water-soluble yellow dye (safflor yellow) is extracted [ 18 ] by cold water, and then red safflorcamin is extracted by diluted sodium carbonate solution. After the neutralisation of extracted solution, it can be used in dyeing of wool, silk and cotton.

Structure of carthamine.

2.2.1.2 Naphthoquinone dyes

Lawsone and juglon natural dye belongs to this category. Lawsone is extracted from hina plant; the leaves also contain flavonoid colourants lutcolin. It is cultivated in countries like India, Africa and Australia. Naphthoquinone is present in glycosidic [ 19 , 20 ] form named as Hennosid A, B and C. The quantitative analysis of lawsone can be performed by high-performance liquid chromatography on reverse-phase C 18 column. Chloroform extracted hina leaves were analysed by high-performance thin layer chromatography ( Figures 22 and 23 ).

Lawsone (2-hydroxy, 1,4 naphthalene).

Juglone (5-hydroxy, 1,4 naphthoquinone).

2.2.1.2.1 Lawsone

Lawsone form 1:2 complex with Fe(II) and Mn (II) and useful in dyeing of wool and silk fibre. The better dye uptake is obtained at pH 3.0. Agarwal et al. [ 21 ] studied the effect of different mordants and different mordanting methods to get the different shades. Hina can be used for dyeing of cotton, polyester, polyamide and cellulose triacetate as the structure of dye molecules are similar to disperse dyes [ 22 , 23 , 24 ].

2.2.1.2.2 Juglone

Juglone is representative of natural dye with naphthoquinone structure. The dyestuff is extracted from different part of nut trees. Juglone is present as a glycoside form in trees and plants. Wool dyed with juglone are having good resistance with moths and insects. Mordanting treatment further enhances the fastness properties. Dyeing of textile materials with aqueous walnut extract yields brown shade. Wide range of textile fibre, e.g. wool, silk, nylon and polyester, can be dyed with juglone.

2.2.1.3 Antharaquinone

It possess biggest group of anthraquinone dyes. Rhubarb (CI Natural Yellow 23) is extracted from the root of the plant. The extracted dye contains emodin, chrysophenol, aloe emodin and pyscion ( Figure 24 ). Rhubarb extract is used in dyeing of wool fibre [ 25 ]. It produces yellow to orange shade after mordanting with alum. The mordanting treatment improves light fastness of dyed materials.

Different representative structurers of anthraquinone group-based dye molecules.

Natural dye alizarin, pseudo purpurin and purpurin ( Figure 25 ) belongs to plant of Rubiaceae family and has an anthraquinone structure [ 26 ]. The dye is obtained from the root of plant.

Structures of alizarin, pseudo purpurin and purpurin.

Madder (C.I Natural Red 8) natural dye produces red colourant; the cultivation of madder is done as a source material for red colour in Europe, Asia and Northern and Southern America. The dyestuff is extracted from the dried roots of the plant. The roots of the plant contain 2–3.0% of di- and tri-hydroxyl anthraquinone glucosides.

2.2.2 Carotenoids

Hydrocarbon carotenoid

Oxygen containing called xanthophylls

Structure of β-carotene.

Structural changes by hydrogenation, double bond migration, isomerization and chain lengthening and shortening resulted in many carotenoid structure. Carotenoids possess strong UV light resistance, and β carotene ( Figure 26 ) is a typical structure generally found in natural colourants.

2.2.2.1 Pyron dyes

Pyron dyes contain flavonoids and anthocyanins having structure as shown in Figures 27 and 28 . The pyron structure is bound to various sugars by glycosidic bonds [ 17 ]. Flavonoids are classified as flavonols, flavones, anthocyanidins, isoflavones, flavon-3,4-diols and coumarins. Yellow flavones and flavonols are used as vegetable dyes. The valuable and very popular flavonoid is yellow quercetin which possess several bio effect.

Structure of anthocyanins.

Structure of quercetin.

2.2.2.2 Anthocyanins

Anthocyanins are found in fruits and vegetables; some are grape wine, sweet and sour cherries, red cabbage, hibiscus and different varieties of oranges. There are more than 500 varieties of anthocyanins that produces red, pink, violet and orange colours. There are some important anthocyanins which are cyaniding, delphinidin, pelargonidin, malvidin, peonidin and petunidin. Many plants besides anthocyanins also contain quercetin and chlorophylls, and the resulted colour is a mixture of all these.

2.2.3 Dyes from lichens and mushrooms

Violet and purple colours were generally obtained from molluscs and shellfish, and they were source of dyestuff from ancient to the beginning of the Middle Ages. Royale purple and Tyrian purple were the name of the colour obtained originally from molluscs [ 27 ]. Lichens and mushrooms are source of natural dyes, and they produce violet and purple colours. Lichens are found in coastal areas and were easier to collect. The dyeing methods with lichens are easy; however, disadvantage associated with lichens is poor light fastness. Therefore, the dyeing of lichens are limited to cheap quality fabrics. Fungi are also used for dyeing of textiles. In America and India, red colour is obtained from fungus Echinodontium tinctorium . In Italy and France, fungi obtained from Polyporales were used to dye the wool.

The colourants in lichens and fungi are benzoquinone derivatives, especially terphenylquinone. Some of these species possess compounds such as Sarcodon , Phellodon , Hydnellum and Thelephora [ 28 , 29 ]. Orchil and litmus are the colourants that are responsible for the colour in lichens. The lichens’ colour are produced through pre-compounds of orchil and litmus by consecutive enzymatic, hydrolysation, decarboxylation and oxidation [ 30 ] reactions, respectively. Then some pre-compounds are lecanoric acid, atranorin and gyrophoric acid which take part in the formation of orchil and litmus as shown in Figure 29 .

Structures of different colourants occurring in fungi and lichens.

In the past, the extraction of colourants from lichens were performed by keeping the lichens in water with ammonia for several days. The reaction occurred through enzymatic hydrolysis in which non coloured compounds such as lecanoric acid are converted into orcinol by hydrolysis and decarboxylation. Orcinol after oxidation forms purple orceins or litmus. The colour of both litmus and orchil depend on the pH of the solution [ 30 ]. In acidic pH dyestuff forms red cation, and in basic pH, it forms bluish violet anion. The lichens which belong to species Parmelia , Xanthoria parietina , Ochrolechia tartarea and Lasallia pustulata are capable to produce yellowish, brownish and reddish brown colours in dyeing of wool with lichens [ 31 ]. The dyeing is done by boiling the wool with lichen solution either premordanted or without mordanted wool in presence of ammonia.

The mushrooms which belongs to species Sarcodon , Phellodon and Hydlnellum contain terphenylquinone compounds as a main colourants which produce blue colour in mushrooms. They are benzoquinone derivatives. The Cortinarius species mushrooms are richly coloured in brown, red, olive green and violet. They are anthraquinone derivatives.

2.2.4 Tannins

Tannins are polymeric polyphenols with typical aromatic ring structure with hydroxyl constituents and have relatively high molecular weight. In plants two different groups of tannins are found, (a) hydrolysable tannins and (b) proanthocyanidins (condensed tannin) [ 32 , 33 ]. Tannins are present in plant cell and are concentrated in epidermal tissues. Tannins are found in wood, leaves, buds, stems, florals and roots [ 34 ]. The hydrolysable tannins are concentrated in the roots of several plants. The plants are the source of different variety of tannins. The three major tannins (hydrolysable tannins) are grouped as gallotannins [ 35 ] or ellagitannins and which are gallic acid or ellagic acids. The most widespread gallotannins are pentagalloyl glucose. Ellagitannins are esters of hexahydroxydiphenic acids. Gallic acid and hexahydroxydiphenic acid occur together in some hydrolysable tannins [ 36 ].

Condensed tannins are polymers of 15-carbon polyhydroxyflavan-3-ol monomer units such as (−) epicatechin or (+) catechin. The complex chemical nature of tannins makes the biosynthesis and polymerisation a difficult task; however, there are some established pathways for bio synthesis. The precursor for biosynthesis of hydrolysable tannins is shikimic acid. The direct aromatization of 3-dehydroshikimic acid produces gallic acid, which upon esterification forms polyol.

The bio synthesis of condensed tannins occurs through two different ways (a) by phenylpropanoid and (b) by polyketide. The polyketide pathway takes malonyl moieties for aromatic ring formation in flavonoid biosynthesis. The phenylpropanoid pathway takes aromatic amino acid, L-phenylalanine, which is non-oxidatively deaminated to E-cinnamate by phenylalanine ammonia-lyase.

2.3 By hue or colour produced

Red: Colour index has 32 red natural dyes. The prominent members are maddar, manjistha, Brazil wood, Morinda , cochineal and lac dyes.

Blue: There are four natural blue dyes. Some prominent colours are indigo, Kumbh and flowers of Japanese Tsuykusa. Natural indigo blue is known from very ancient time to dye cotton and wool.

Yellow: There are 28 yellow natural dyes available which are used in dyeing of wool, silk and cotton. Prominent examples are barberry, tesu flowers, Kamala, turmeric and marigold.

Green: Plants that yield green natural colour are very rare; they are made by mixing yellow and blue primary colours. Woad and Indigo produce green colour.

Black and brown: There are six black natural dyes. Cutch is used to produce brown shade; for getting black shade lac, carbon and caramel are used.

Orange: Natural dyes which produce red and yellow colour are used to produce orange shade. Barbeny and annatto are the examples of orange colour.

2.4 Application based classification

Vat dyes: Indigo is a water-insoluble dye, and before application it is solubilised in water. The solubilisation of natural indigo is done with the help of sodium hydrosulphite and sodium hydroxide. After solubilisation, it is applied on cellulosic fibre, and after dyeing the development of colour is done by oxidation with hydrogen peroxide. Indigo dye is the representative of indigoid class of vat dyes

Direct dyes: The natural dyes which are water soluble and have a long and planar molecular structure and presence of conjugated (single and double bonds) bonds can be applied by direct dyeing method. The dye molecules may contain amino, hydroxyl and sulphonic groups. Turmeric, Harda, pomegranate rind and annatto can be applied by direct dyeing method. Common salt is used to get better exhaustion of dyes. The dyeing temperature is kept at 100°C

Acid dyes: The dye molecules possess sulphonic or carboxylic groups in their structure, which produce affinity for wool and silk fibre. The dyeing is done at acidic pH of 4.5–5.5. After dyeing the fastness improvement is done with tannic acid. The dyeing of wool and silk with saffron is done by acid dyeing method. The presence of common salt in dye bath produces levelling effect

Basic dyes: The dye molecules produce coloured cation after dissolution in the water at acidic pH. The dye molecules contain –NH 2 groups and react with –COOH groups of wool and silk. The dye bath pH is kept 4–5 by adding acetic acid

3. Extraction of natural dyes

The amount of natural dyes present in natural products are very less [ 11 , 37 ]. They need specific technique to remove dye from their original source. Here there are some methods which are suitable for extraction of natural dyes from their source materials [ 28 ]; the different extraction methods are as follows:

3.1 Aqueous extraction

In this method, the dye containing materials are broken into small pieces or powdered and then soaked in water overnight. It is boiled and filtered to remove non-dye materials. Sometimes trickling filters are also used to remove fine impurities. The disadvantages of this technique are that during boiling, some of the dye decompose. Therefore, those dyes which do not decompose at boiling temperature are suitable by this method. The molecules should be water soluble.

3.2 Acid and alkali extraction

Most of the natural dyes are glycosides; they can be extracted under acidic or alkaline conditions. Acidic hydrolysis method is used in extraction of tesu natural dye from tesu flower. Alkaline solution are suitable for those dyes which contain phenolic groups in their structure. Dyes from annatto seeds can be extracted by this method. The extraction of lac dye from lac insect and red dye from safflower is also done by this method.

3.3 Ultrasonic microwave extraction

Microwave and ultrasonic waves are helpful in extraction of natural dyes. This technique is having several advantages over aqueous extraction. In this technique less quantity of solvent (water) is required in extraction. The treatment is done at lower temperature and less time as compared to aqueous extraction. Ultrasonic and microwaves are sent in aqueous solution of natural dye, which accelerate the extraction process.

3.4 By fermentation

In the presence of bio enzymes the fermentation of natural colour bearing substances becomes faster, and the extraction of natural dyes takes place. Indigo extraction is the best example of fermentation method of extraction. Enzymes break glucoside indican into glucose and indoxyl by the indimulsin enzyme. Amatto natural dye extraction is also done by enzyme method. Cellulose, amylose and pectinase are having application in the natural dye extraction from the bark, stem and roots.

3.5 Solvent extraction

There is use of organic solvents such as acetone, petroleum, ether, chloroform and ethanol in the extraction of natural dyes. It is a very viable technique as compared to aqueous extraction. The yield of dye is good, and the quantity of water requirement is less. The extraction is done at lower temperature.

4. Characterisation of natural dyes

For successful commercial use of natural dyes, there is need of standardized dyeing technique for which characterisation of natural dyes is essential.

4.1 UV-visible spectroscopy

It is useful in characterising the colour in terms of the wavelength of maximum absorption and dominating hue. The application of UV-characterization is to identify the ability of dye molecules to absorb UV wavelength and fading characteristics of dyes. Some researchers [ 38 ] had done UV analysis of natural dyes. Mathur et al. [ 9 ] studied UV spectra of neem bark, and it has two absorption maxima at 275 and 374 nm. Beat sugar [ 39 ] shows their absorption bands at 220, 270 and 530 nm. Gulrajani et al. [ 40 ] studied the absorption bands of ratanjot and observed that at acidic pH, the absorption occurs at 520–525 nm, and in alkaline pH, it occur at 610–615 nm. Red sandal [ 41 ] wood shows strong absorption peak at 288 nm and maximum absorption at 504 and 474 nm in methanol solution at pH 10. Gomphrena globosa flower has peak at 533 nm. The dye does not have difference in peak value at pH 4 and 7 in visible region; however it shifted towards 554 nm [ 42 ]. Bhuyan et al. studied the dye absorption extracted from Mimusops elengi and Terminalia arjun and concluded that dye absorbed by the fibre varies from 21.94 to 27.46% and from 5.18 to 10.78%, respectively, depending on bath concentration [ 43 , 44 , 45 ]. He also reported absorption of colour extracted from the roots of Morinda angustifolia Roxb using benzene extract. The colour shows absorption at 446, 299, 291, 265.5 and 232 nm.

The value of the wavelength of the maximum absorption for a particular dye depends on the chemical constitution of the dye molecules which is variable and depends on the growth environment of a particular natural dye. The characterisation of a particular dye is helpful in deciding the hue of the dye.

4.2 Chromatographic technique

Thin layer chromatography is used to identify different colour components in natural dyes. Koren [ 46 ] analysed insect dye, madder and indigoid. Guinot [ 47 ] analysed plants containing flavonoids colour compounds. Balakina [ 48 ] analysed quantitatively and qualitatively red dyes such as alizarin, purpurin and carminic acid by high-performance liquid chromatography. Mc Goven [ 49 ] et al. identified the dyes stripped from wool fibre by HPLC with C18 column. Szostek [ 50 ] et al. studied the retention of carminic acid, indigotin, corcetin, gambogic acid, alizarin, flavonoid, anthraquinone and purpurin. He studied examination of faded dyes through emission and absorption spectra by non destructive method. Cristea [ 51 ] et al. had reported quantitative analysis of weld by HPLC and informed that after 15 min. Extraction in methanol/water mixture, 0.448% luteolin, 0.357% luteolin 7-glucoside and 0.233% luteolin 3′7 diglucoside were obtained. Son et al. [ 52 ] reported analysis of longer dyeing time in indigo dyeing and their effect on structural change in dye molecules through HPLC analysis. The derivative spectroscopy and HPLC were used to analyse annatto dyestuff; the sample preparation involved extraction with acetone in the presence of HCl and removal of water by evaporation with ethanol. The residue was dissolved in chloroform and acetic acid mixture for derivatives spectroscopy or with acetone for HPLC.

5. Theory of dyeing

Natural dyes are very suitable for dyeing of protein fibres as compared to cellulosic fibres. Synthetic fibres which contain polar groups such as nylon, acrylic and viscose are also accessible to natural dyes. Natural dyes are thermo unstable and have poor chemical stability, which make the natural dyes unfit for dyeing at high temperature and pressure. The presence of hydrogen bond and Van der Waals force of attraction play important role in the fixation of natural dyes on the fibre. Natural dyes are having poor exhaustion value due to subdued affinity for fibre materials, so to increase the exhaustion of dyes, common salt/Glauber’s salt are added in the dye bath. The isotherm of the natural dyes sorption obeys Nernst isotherm [ 17 , 53 , 54 ].

Natural dyes are having poor affinity and substantivity [ 55 , 56 ] for cellulosic fibres such as cotton and viscose. The absence of reactive groups in fibres and dyes does not allow for bond formation, so they need mordanting treatment to fix the dye on fibre surface. Protein fibres are having bond-forming groups in fibre structure, and the presence of carboxylic groups in natural dyes provides opportunity for bonding and gets bonded with fibre and shows good fastness properties. Natural dyes are having smaller molecular size, and they are not having conjugated linear structure [ 57 ]. Therefore, natural dyes are having inferior exhaustion behaviour. Sometimes salt sodium chloride is also used to improve the dye exhaustion % ( Figure 30 ).

Sorption isotherm of dyeing of silk fabric (without mordant) with eucalyptus leaves extract at three different temperature 30, 60 and 90°C [ 17 ].

6. Application of natural dyes

Different researchers had proposed different methods of dyeing of natural and synthetic fibres with natural dyes. The dyeing of textile substrates depends on dyeing parameters which are fibre structure, temperature, time and pH of the dye bath and dye molecule characteristics. The fastness properties of dyes on textile substrates depend on bonding of dyes with fibre. Since natural dyes are lacking in the presence of active groups to make bonds with textile fibres, the fastness properties are not very good. The cellulosic fibres are difficult to dye with natural dyes as they have poor affinity and substantivity. The lack of bonding of natural dyes with cellulosic fibre requires mordanting treatment. Protein fibres have ionic groups and get bonded with natural dyes possessing ionic groups in dye structure.

The dyeing of proteins fibre can be done by exhaust method of dyeing. The dyeing process parameters in wool and silk dying is pH at 4.5–5.5 and dyeing temperature 80–90°C. The exhaustion % of dyes in dyeing is very poor. The longer liquor ratio may be preferred because of poor solubilities of natural dyes in water. Stainless steel-made dyeing machines are suitable in dyeing of wool and silk.

Since natural dyes are having poor affinity for cellulosic fibre and due to poor exhaustion, mordanting treatment [ 29 , 58 ] is done to fix the dyes on cellulosic fibre. The dyeing of cellulosic fibre can be done at temperature of 80–90°C.The exhaustion of dyes can be increased by adding exhausting agents, sodium chloride or Glauber’s salt in dye bath. Most of the dyeing is done at neutral pH. Dyeing of cotton with natural indigo is done at alkaline pH in the presence of sodium hydrosulphite in a container made of stainless steel. The copper container gives deeper shade in dyeing of cellulosic fibre. The mordanting treatment improves the washing fastness of dyed samples. There are three methods of mordanting [ 44 , 45 ].

6.1 Conventional method of dyeing

In the state of Maharashtra, Gujrat and Rajasthan [ 59 ], the people follow conventional method of dyeing of cotton fabric with natural dyes which may be explained with the following process sequences. The fabric is pretreated before dyeing to get the absorbency. The grey fabrics are given dunging treatment followed by washing. The bleaching treatment is given to make the fabric white, after that it is steamed and stepped into alkaline solution, and finally rinsing and washing treatment is given. After thorough pretreatment the fabric is soaked into solution of harda/myrobolan and dried. The dried fabric is premordanted with alum and subsequently dipped into natural dye solution at boiling temperature. After dyeing the fabric is given washing and rinsing treatment and dried in the sun light. Water is sprayed on the fabric to brighten the shade. The process is repeated 2 to 4 days. The dyeing method differs from place to place. Here are some examples:

6.1.1 In Bengal

The commonly used natural dyes are haldi, babul, madder, pomegranate rind and marigold [ 59 ]. In the dyeing of fabric with sappan wood, the fabric is dipped in aqueous extract of sappan wood with or without alum solution and boiled for 2–3 hours. In the dyeing of Indian madder, the madder is extracted either from the stem or root and boiled with water to extract the natural colourants. The pretreated fabric is boiled with dye extract solution. Mordanting treatment may be given either before dyeing or after dyeing with alum solution.

6.1.2 In Orissa

The sappan wood chips are boiled with alum and turmeric and after boiling it was cooled. In cooled solution of dye, the fabric materials are kept for 3–4 h. It is a premordanting process. At some places the cold solution of natural dye is taken with sufficient quantity of water, and the fabric is dipped in cold solution for 24 h and finally boiled for 2 h.

6.1.3 In Uttar Pradesh

The application of natural indigo on cotton fabric is done by two methods which are called Khari Mat and Mitha Mat.

6.1.4 Khari Mat

In Khari Mat’s process to dissolve natural indigo, 40 gallon of water is taken in an earthen vessel, and in that water there are addition of 2.0 lbs. indigo, 2.0 lbs. of lime, 2 lbs. of sajji mati and 1.0 ounce of gur (molasses). After 24 h of fermentation, the indigo dye became water soluble. The indigo dye solution is ready for dyeing. This technique is successful in hot weather.

6.1.5 Mitha Mat

In this technique, the solubilisation of natural indigo is done by taking 60 gallon of water; in that water there are addition of 4 lb. of lime, and after 1 day again 4 lb. of lime is added. After 4–5 days natural indigo dye became fully soluble. During application this mitha vat is added with old mitha vat with continuous string. The fabric is dyed in the dissolved indigo dye solution at temperature of 50–60°C.

6.2 Dyeing of cotton fabric with natural dyes

Dyeing time = 60–120 min. (depends on depth % of shade)

Temperature of dyeing = 70–100°C

M:L ratio of the bath = 1:20–1:30

Amount of dye in bath = 10–50% (on weight of the material)

Concentration of common salt = 5–20 g/l

pH of the dye bath = 10–11

After dyeing, soaping treatment is given to remove any residual/unreacted dyes and auxiliary chemicals from the surface of the fabric. An after treatment with natural dye, fixing agent may be desirable.

6.3 Dyeing of protein fibres

Wool and silk are protein fibre; both fibres have complex chemical structure and susceptible to alkali treatment. Alkaline pH of aqueous solution damage the fibre. At isoelectric pH of 5.0, the wool is neutral and the silk is slightly positive. The wool and silk can be dyed with natural dyes through premordanting or after mordanting. Mordanting is done with tannin-rich natural source chemical like harda or metal salt aluminium sulphate or ferrous sulphate.

The pH of the dye bath = 4–5

Temperature of dyeing = 80–90°C.

Time of dyeing = 50–60 min.

After dyeing, soaping treatment is given to remove any residual/unreacted dyes and auxiliary chemicals from the surface of the fabric. An after treatment with natural dye fixing agent may be desirable.

6.4 Dyeing of synthetic fibres

Different synthetic fibres like nylon, polyester and acrylic can be dyed with natural dyes like onion skin extract, babool bark extract and hina. The dyeing can be done either by padding (cold pad batch) method or exhaust method with or without mordanting. Dyeing is carried out at acidic pH. High-temperature high-pressure dyeing gives better results in terms of colour strength than other dyeing methods.

6.5 Fixation of natural dyes

Most controversial are lead salts and chromates (potassium, sodium, ammonium dichromate).

The salt SnCl 2 also works as mordant. It is water soluble, having reducing agent properties. It is toxic in nature.

Copper sulphate (CuSO 4 5H 2 O) and ferrous sulphate (FeSO 4 7 H 2 O) molecules are also used as a mordant. They are good chelating agents.

Tannins are poly phenolic compounds and able to form complexes with metals and bind with organic substances such as proteins, alkaloids and carbohydrates. The tannins are also called bio mordants. Tannins can be used either alone or in association with metal salts. The phenolic groups of tannins can form effective bonds with fibre and natural dye molecules.

6.5.1 Metallic mordants

Metal salts of aluminium, chromium, iron and copper are used as a mordants. The important mordants are potassium dichromate, ferrous sulphate, copper sulphate, stannous chloride and stannic chloride.

6.5.2 Tannins and tannic acid

Tannins are obtained from the excretions of bark and other parts, e.g. leaves and fruits of the plant. Extractions are either used directly or in concentrated form. Large number of tannin containing substances are employed as a mordant in textile fibre dyeing.

6.5.3 Oil mordants

Oil mordants are used in dyeing of madder. Oil mordants make a complex with alum used in mordanting treatment. Metal atom combined with carboxylic groups of oil and bound metal then makes bond with the dye molecules, and in this way, superior wash fastness can be achieved.

6.6 Mordanting process

Premordanting: In premordanting process, mordanting is done before dyeing; subsequently the fabric is dyed with natural dye in aqueous media. It is a two-bath process in which the first bath is used for mordanting of fabric and in the second bath, dyeing is done with natural dyes. Dyeing and mordanting are done at the same temperature of 60–70°C. the mordants are complexing agents, and if they are taken in the same bath, they may react to each other, and precipitation of dyes may occur. That deteriorate fastness properties of dyed fabrics

Metamordanting: In metamordanting treatment, the mordant chemicals are added with natural dye in the same dye bath; dyeing and mordanting take place simultaneously. The mordanting and dyeing temperature are 80–90°C

After mordanting: In after mordanting treatment [ 53 , 54 ], the dyeing of fabric is done first; after that in the same bath mordanting compounds are added. The temperature of chroming is 80–90°C. after chroming, the temperature is dropped to 60°C, and goods are run for 15 minutes after that liquor is drained

The application of natural dyes on cellulosic materials are done by the pad-dry-washing and pad-dry-steaming-washing method. High-temperature curing is not suggested as dye molecules are susceptible to decompose. Fibre and yarn dyeing can also be done with natural dyes similar to synthetic dye application.

7. Fastness properties of natural dyes

The quality parameters in dyeing is fastness properties. Several test methods are described to access the colour fastness. The fastness properties give idea about the quality of dyeing. In natural dyes, the fastness properties are strongly related to substrate type and mordant used for dyestuff fixation. Besides the dyestuff itself, there are many factors such as water, chemicals, temperature, humidity, light, pretreatments, after treatments, dyestuff distribution in fibre and fixation of dyestuff affect the fastness properties. In natural dyeing the colour and fastness of natural dyes need special attention for careful selection of materials and process. Natural dyes were in use up to end of the nineteenth century. At that time the dyeing with natural dyes were at peak with excellent fastness properties; however, after commercialization of synthetic dyes in the nineteenth century, the proficiency in natural dyeing started to decrease. The different fastness properties of dyes show the resistance of dyes towards different external environment in which fabric containing dyes are exposed. The fastness properties of dyes depend on the structure of dyes, exposure on the environment and fastness improvers and type of mordant used. There is need to explore some natural after treatment agents to improve the light and washing fastness.

7.1 Light fastness

Yellow dyes (old fustic and Persian berries), light fastness rating 1–2

Reds (cochineal with tin mordent, alizarin with alum mordant, lac with tin mordant), rating 3–4

Blue (indigo depends on mordants), rating 4–5 and 5–6

Black (logwood), rating 4–5

Effect of various additives on photo fading of carthamin in cellulose acetate film.

Critical examination of fading process of natural dyes to reproduce original colour of the fabric after fading.

The rate of photo fading effect is effectively suppressed in the presence of nickel hydroxyl-arylsulphonate. The addition of UV absorbers in bath has small effect in reducing photo fading effect.

7.2 Washing fastness

The washing fastness of natural dyes is poor to medium. The bonding of dye with fibre is very poor, and due to that dyes are not very fast with detergent solutions. Duff et al. [ 29 ] studied the effect of alkalinity of washing solution in washing of natural dyes dyed fabrics. The alkaline pH of the detergent solution changes the colour value in terms of the hue and value. Logwood and indigo are having good fastness value as compared to others. The mordanting treatment improves the washing fastness of dyes. Samanta et al. [ 68 ] reported some improvement in washing fastness by use of fixing agent.

7.3 Rubbing fastness

The rubbing fastness of most of the natural dyes are moderate to good. Samanta et al. [ 8 , 58 ] reported that jackfruit wood, manjistha, red sandal wood, babool and marigold having good rubbing fastness on jute and cotton fabric.

8. Advantages of natural dyes

8.1 uv-protective fabrics.

UV-protected fabrics are required to protect the skin and body of the human being from sunburns, tannings, premature skin burns and skin ageing. Researchers had done the work on to produce fabrics which had sun-protecting effect by the application of natural dyes in dyeing. Sarkar [ 69 ] evaluated ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) value of cotton fabric dyed with madder, indigo and cochineal with reference to fabric parameters. Grifani [ 70 , 71 ] studied the effect of natural dyes on cotton, flax, hemp and ramie and got good results. Metallic mordants [ 72 ] have potential to improve the UPF value of wool, silk and cotton. Orange peel extract natural dye applied on wool increased the UPF value of dyed wool fabric considerably.

8.2 Insect proof

Cellulosic materials and woollen are susceptible to moth and fungus attack in humid and warm conditions. Koto et al. [ 73 ] studied the effect of natural dyes on wool. The anthraquinone-based natural dyes cochineal, indigo and madder are able to produce insect proof and repellent fabric when used as a dyes in dyeing of wool.

9. Summary and conclusions

Natural dyes due to its unique character of natural origin are known as ecofriendly dyestuff; however the bonding of dye molecules with fibre-active sites are very poor, and they need some bridging chemicals to anchor the dye molecules with fibre, and mordanting agents are helpful in bridging the dye molecules with fibre. The synthetic mordanting agents are not very eco friendly, and some are toxic which depress the efficacy of natural dyes and sometime become matter of debate.

Natural dye does not have any shade card to match the samples or reproducing the shade. So there is need of collection of spectral data of natural dyes so that any shade can be reproduced.

There is need of awareness about natural dyes dyed fabric in people so that it can be popular in big way. and due to that demand and consumption of natural dyed fabric will increase.

Natural dyes are costly as compared to synthetic dyes. So some research work should be done to reduce the cost of production.

Big production houses, technical institutions and research houses should organised workshops and symposia to spread the advantages of natural dyes.

The government should promote the production of natural dyes by giving financial incentives to small manufactures of natural dyes.

There must be some very strong research and development work to improve the quality of natural dyes in terms of low cost, use of natural mordent and widespread applications.

Acknowledgments

I am very thankful to Prof. A.K. Samanta for inspiring me and giving very excellent suggestions for preparing this review paper. I am very thankful to the editor for his remarkable patience and monitoring.

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Natural dyes and pigments could be obtained from insects, plants, and animals. Natural dyes have been utilized in the dyeing of wool, cotton, and silk since the prehistoric ages. The first applications of natural dyes on textile fibers are estimated to have started in Mesopotamia and India in 4000 BC. In these first dyeing trials, it is thought that pigments were used for dyeing process and these pigments could be easily removed from fabrics by friction and washing because of their weak mechanical bonding onto the fibers, and therefore, dyeing process was not really successful. It is thought that mordant dyeing method may have been accidentally discovered. In many countries, such as India, Egypt, Anatolia, and China, many historical natural dyed fabrics were found. One of the first synthetic dyes, mauveine (also known as aniline purple), was accidentally synthesized by W.H. Perkin (at the age of 18) in 1856 during attempts to make quinine. The discovery of the first synthetic dye changed the natural dyeing habits and synthetic dyes replaced almost all natural dyes. However, it is known that the wastewater produced in the production steps of synthetic dyes and the chemicals used in the textile dyeing process can have toxic and pollutant effects on human and environmental health. Nowadays, the effects of environmental awareness, organic products, and the tendency toward healthy lifestyle also reflect on the textile sector. Disagreements on the risks of the usage of synthetic dyestuffs and increasing environmental awareness result in an enhanced interest in natural resources, environmentally friendly products, and new strategies. That is one of the reasons why the use of natural dyes came back to the agenda due to an increased ecological and sustainable awareness. Unlike non-renewable raw materials of synthetic dyes, natural dyes are mostly renewable and sustainable. Natural dye sources are agriculturally renewable sustainable vegetable-plant-based colorant sources. In terms of sustainability, synthetic dyes are produced from non-renewable resources; however, natural dyes are extracted from renewable sources. The ability to obtain the dye from renewable natural sources makes natural dyes an attractive dye class for more sustainable world. Natural dyes can be applied on the fibers not only with dyeing method but also with printing method. Textile printing is one of the most important and versatile methods among the methods used to design and colorize textile fabrics. Ancient men and women mixed the colorants such as coal or soil paint with oils and used them with their fingers in lines on various materials. The staining of the plant extracts and fabrics has provided different approaches. The patterns can be produced by the wax applications to provide resistant dye liquor, or the surrounding areas provide a tightly attached and reserved area. The word of print is referred to a process that uses pressure to impart colorant to the material. And there is no doubt that the first textile printing was occurred by the blocks with embossed printing surfaces, then these blocks were inked and printed on the fabric. Some of the first blocks were made of clay or terracotta, while others were made of carved wood. In this chapter, the information about various eco-friendly prints and different printing techniques which were applied to different kinds of fibers and fabrics using sustainable natural dyes and natural pigments are given in detail.

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Yıldırım, F.F., Yavas, A., Avinc, O. (2020). Printing with Sustainable Natural Dyes and Pigments. In: Muthu, S., Gardetti, M. (eds) Sustainability in the Textile and Apparel Industries . Sustainable Textiles: Production, Processing, Manufacturing & Chemistry. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38545-3_1

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Natural Colorants: Historical, Processing and Sustainable Prospects

1 Department of Chemistry, Y.M.D. College, Maharshi Dayanand University, Nuh, Haryana 122107 India

Mohd Shabbir

2 Department of Chemistry, Jamia Millia Islamia (A Central University), New Delhi, 110025 India

Faqeer Mohammad

With the public’s mature demand in recent times pressurized the textile industry for use of natural colorants, without any harmful effects on environment and aquatic ecosystem, and with more developed functionalities simultaneously. Advanced developments for the natural bio-resources and their sustainable use for multifunctional clothing are gaining pace now. Present review highlights historical overview of natural colorants, classification and predominantly processing of colorants from sources, application on textiles surfaces with the functionalities provided by them. Chemistry of natural colorants on textiles also discussed with relevance to adsorption isotherms and kinetic models for dyeing of textiles.

Graphical Abstract

Introduction

Nature has always dominated over synthetic or artificial, from the beginning of this world as nature was the only option for human being then, and now with advantageous characteristics of naturally derived materials over synthetics giving them priority. Color has always played an important role in the formation of different cultures of human being all over the world. It affects every moment of our lives, strongly influencing the clothes we wear, the furnishings in our homes. In the past, painters had used natural dyes extracted from plants, insects, molluscs and minerals for their paintings. The unique character of their works were the result of using different mixtures of dyes and mordants, as varnishes and lacquers responsible for cohesion of the pigments and protection of the layers destroyed by environmental effects. Natural dyes were also used in clothings, as well as in cosmetic industry (Henna, Catechu), pharmaceutical industry (Saffron, Rhubarb) and in food industry (Annatto, Curcumin and Cochineal) [ 1 , 2 ]. As now public’s awareness for eco-preservation, eco-safety and health concerns, environmentally benign and non-toxic sustainability in bioresourced colorants, have created a revolution in textile research and development [ 3 – 7 ]. Also, environmental and aquatic preservation aspects forced Western countries to exploit their high technical skills in the advancements of textile materials for high quality, technical performances, and side by side development of cleaner production strategies for cost-effective value added textile products [ 8 ].

However, during last few decades, ecological concerns related to the use of most of the synthetic dyes, motivated R&D scholars all over the globe to explore new eco-friendly substitutes for minimizing their negative environmental impacts, and various aspects of bio-colorant applications (Fig.  1 ). Therefore, both qualitative and quantitative research investigations have been undertaken all over the world on colorants derived from cleaner bio-resources having minimal ecological negative impacts [ 9 – 13 ]. Consequently, strict Environmental and Ecological Legislations have been imposed by many countries including Germany, European Union, USA and India [ 14 ]. As a result, eco-friendly non-toxic naturally occurring bio-colorants have gaining re-emergence as a subsequent alternative through green chemistry approaches with wide spread applicability to textile coloration and other biomedical aspects [ 15 ]. This review article is intended to discuss the isolated and dispersed impacts of bio-colorants derived from bio-resources, via significant aspects including, classification, extraction and dyeing, sustainability, adsorption and chemical kinetics and recent technological applications with future prospects.

Applications of natural colorants

Historical Background and Classification

The archaeological textile research involves the investigation through scientific technologies to detect the chemical composition and, to identify the sources of the dyestuffs used in old textiles. These studies of the colorants used by ancient peoples include a multidisciplinary research, combines micro-analytical chemistry, spectroscopical methods, history, archaeology, botany etc. The dyestuffs applied onto textile materials past civilizations have been examined to investigate the development and technological advancements in textile dyeing through various archaeological periods. In the past decades, researchers are very much benefited from the instrumental analyses of ancient artifacts and colorants were analyzed with micro chemical tests, such as TLC, HPLC, reversed phase HPLC, FT-IR spectroscopy, UV–Visible spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence, and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopic techniques [ 16 – 19 ]. Consequently, some more influencing surface micro-analytical techniques, such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), mass spectroscopy (MS), high performance mass spectroscopy (HPMS), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF–SIMS) and atomic emission spectroscopy (AES) have been employed to study ancient materials of art and archaeology, which provided the widest range of information with the minimal degree of damage to the tested object [ 20 – 24 ].

In the Ancient Stone Age, descriptions have shown that peoples were used various powders made up of colored minerals, and applied to their hair and body parts to confer magic powers while hunting as well as occasional dressings. Many antiquity writers regarded the Phoenicians as the pioneers of purple dyeing and they attribute the beginning of this art to the maritime occasion city of Tyre in the year 1439 BC. For this purpose they had used murex shells. Also, ancient purple dyeing craft in the Roman Empire was reported and, prove the cultural importance of natural colors, the techniques of producing and applying dyes. The spectroscopic analysis of ancient Egyptian cuneiform texts have found dyed with bio-colorants which was traded by the ingenious and industrious craftsman, like madder, Murex sp., Tyrian purple, Indigofera sp. etc. [ 25 , 26 ]. Ancient North African dyers were used bio-colorants derived from madder ( Rubia tinctoria ), cochineal ( Dactylopius coccus ) and kermes ( Kermes vermilio ) as sources of dyes and pigment lakes, but they were much more affordable and were widely used for dyeing and in medieval miniature paintings as well as in cosmetics [ 27 , 28 ]. The Egyptians were conscious as they excelled in weaving for many inscriptions extol the garments of the gods and the bandages for the dead, principally dyed with archil, a purple color derived from certain marine algae found on rocks in the Mediterranean Sea; alkanet, a red color prepared from the root of Alkanna tinctoria , Rubia tinctorum , which generates red colored materials, woad ( Isatis tinctoria ), a blue color obtained by a process of fermentation from the leaves, and indigo from the leaves of the Indigofera species [ 29 – 31 ].

Natural originated bio-colorants have been discovered through the ingenuity and persistence of our ancestors, for centuries and may be found veiled in such diverse places as the plant roots (i.e. Rubia tinctorum ), rhizomes ( Rheum emodi, Curcuma longa ), insects ( Lacifer lacca, Kermes) and the secretions of sea snails. However, in Mediterranean civilization, the most valuable colors were indigo for the blues, madder for the reds and 6,6′-dibromoindigo for purple [ 2 , 32 ]. Human being has always been interested in colors; the art of dyeing has a long history and many of the dyes go back to pre-historic days. The nails of Egyptian Mummies were dyed with the leaves of henna, Lawsonia inermis [ 33 , 34 ].

Chemical tests of red fabrics found in the tomb of King Tutankhamen in Egypt show the presence of alizarin, a pigment extracted from madder. Kermes ( Coccus ilicis/Kermes vermillio ) which flourished on evergreen Oak ( Quercus coccifera ) in Spain, Portugal and Morocco is identified in the Book of Exodus in the Bible, where references are made to scarlet colored linen. Sappan wood was exported from India to China as early as 900 BC [ 35 – 37 ]. The relics from excavation at Mohanjodaro and Harappa (Indus Valley Civilization), Ajanta Caves Painting and Mughal dyeing, printing and painting, show the use of natural dyes such as Madder, Indigo and Henna. Excavation at Mohanjodaro shows the use of madder on cotton clothes is the testimony of genius Indian craftspersons. Classics like Mahabharata and Code of Manu, refer to the colored fabrics, endowing them with specific social & religious connotations [ 38 ]. Colors communicate emotions with greater clarity; they were not used randomly but reflected the mood and emotions of the occasion. Irrespective of religious differences red became the symbol of bride’s suhag, saffron the color of earth, yellow the color of spring, black is associated with mourning and white with widowhood, representing life bereft of happiness [ 39 ].

The most famous and highly prized color through the ages was Tyrian purple, noted in the Bible, a dye obtained from the hypobranchial glands of several marine gastropods molluscs of the genera Murex, Bolinus, Purpura, Plicopurpura and Thias and it is probably the most expensive dye in the history of mankind. Indian dyers were perfect in the process of bleaching, mordanting and dyeing by the fourth and fifth century AD. Records of compound colors of black, purple, red, blue and green with various shades of pink and gold are available in contemporary accounts of tenth century, amongst them, the anonymous; Hudud-ul-Alam (982–983) is most important document in the history of dyeing. In the period of Mughal reign (1556–1803) dyers used Madder, Myrobalan, Pomegranate, Turmeric, Kachnar, Tun, Dhao, Indigo, Henna, Catechu, Saffron and Patang as natural dyes and pigments and the mordants which were used in those days were soluble salts of Aluminium, Chromium, Iron and Tin which adheres strongly with fibres and give fast colors [ 32 , 40 , 41 ]. Mordanting and block printing techniques are said to be originated as pre-historic antiquity of India and major towns like Delhi, Farrukhabad and Lucknow were the famous towns of Mughal era as stated in Mrs. Hameeda Khatoon Naqvi’s article Dyeing of cotton goods in the Mughal Hindustan (1556–1803) [ 42 ].

Classification of Natural Colorants

Natural dyes have been classified in a number of ways (Fig.  2 ). Major basis of classification of natural dyes are their production sources, application methods of them on textiles and their chemical structure.

Classification chart for natural colorants

Based on Chemical Structure

Classification of natural dyes on the basis of chemical structure is the most appropriate and widely accepted system of classification, because it readily identifies dyes belonging to a particular chemical group which has certain characteristic properties (Table  1 ).

Table 1

Classification based on chemical structure with typical examples [ 13 , 41 , 44 , 57 , 58 , 60 , 64 , 67 , 96 ]

Indigoids [ 43 – 46 ]

Indigoids (Indigo and Tyrian purple) are perhaps the most important group of natural dyes and the oldest dyes used by human civilizations. Natural indigo is a dye having distinctive blue color with long history and is regarded as one of the most important and valuable of all coloring matters. Indigo is extracted from Indigofera spp. ( Indigofera tinctoria ), Polygonam tinctorium (dyer’s knotweed), Perisicaria tinctoria, and Isatis tinctoria (woad) [ 47 ]. But nowadays large percentage of indigo (Several thousand tons per year) is synthetic. The dye Tyrian purple (C.I. 75800) also known as Tyrian red, royal purple and imperial purple is a bromine-containing reddish-purple natural dye, derived from the hypobranchial glands of several marine predatory sea snails in the family Muricidae . This dye has excellent light fastness properties [ 48 ].

Pyridine Based Dyes

Berberine ( natural yellow 18; C.I. 75160), an isoquinoline alkaloid with a bright yellow color, is the only natural dye belonging to this class [ 49 ]. Some important berberine yielding dye plants are Berberis aristata , Berberis vulgaris [ 50 ], Phellodendron amurense [ 51 ], and Rhizoma coptidis [ 52 ].

Carotenoids [ 53 , 54 ]

Carotenoids also called tetraterpenoids are brightly colored natural organic pigments found in the chloroplast and chromoplast nearly in all families of plants and some other photosynthetic organisms. Only plants, fungi and prokaryotes are able to synthesize carotenoids [ 55 ]. The color of the carotenoids is due to the presence of long conjugated double bonds. They absorb light in the 400–500 nm region of the spectrum and this give rise to yellow, orange and red color [ 56 ]. Bixa orellana, Crocus sativus , Curcuma longa, Nyctanthes arbor - tristis , and Cedrela toona, are some of carotenoids source plants.

Quinonoids [ 57 , 58 ]

Quinonoids are widely distributed and occurs in large numbers in nature ranging from yellow to red. Chemical structures of naturally occurring quinones are more diverse than any other group of plant pigments. On the basis of chemical structure these dyes are further classified as benzoquinones, α-naphthoquinones and anthraquinones. Carthamus tinctorius (Safflower), Choloraphora tinctoria (Gaudich), Lawsonia inermis/Lawsonia alba (Henna/Mehendi), Juglans regia (Walnut), Plumbago capencis (Chitraka/Chita), Drosera whittakeri (Sundew), Tabebuia avellanedae (Taigu/Lapachol), Alkanna tinctoria (Ratanjot/Alkanet), Lithospermum erythrorhizon (Tokyo Violet/Shikone), Dactylopius coccus (Cochineal ), Kermes vermilio/Coccus ilicis, Laccifer lacca/Kerria lacca/Coccus lacca, Rubia tinctorum, Rubia cordifolia (Indian Madder), Rheum emodi (Himalayan rhubarb), Oldenlandia umbellata (Chay Root), and Morinda citrifolia (Al/surangi/ach) are the natural resources for quinonoids class; subclass anthraquinonoids and naphthoquinonoids [ 6 , 7 , 13 , 43 , 59 ].

Flavonoids [ 60 ]

Flavonoids provide the largest group of plant dyes ranging in colors from pale yellow (isoflavones) through deep yellow (chalcones, flavones, flavonols, aurones), orange (aurones) to reds and blues (anthocyanins). Various plant sources of flavonoid dyes [ 61 – 65 ] are Reseda luteola (Weld), Allium cepa (Onion), Artocarpus heterophyllus/Artocarpus integrifolia (Jackfruit), Myrica esculenta (Kaiphal), Datisca cannabina (Hemp), Delphinium zalil (Yellow Larksur), Gossypium herbaceum , Sophora japonica/Styphnolobium japonicum , Butea monosperma/Butea frondosa (Flame of the forest/Palas), Mallotus philippinensis (Kamala), Bignonia chica/Arrabidaea china (Carajuru/Puca), Commelina communis, and Pterocarpus santalinus (Red Sandalwood).

Dihydropyran Based Dyes

These pigments comprise of brazilin (C.I. 75280) from brazilwood ( Caesalpinia sappan ) and haematoxylin (C.I. 75290) from logwood ( Haematoxylon campechianum) .

Betailains are a class of water soluble nitrogen containing plant pigments of the order Caryophyllales which comparise of the yellow betaxanthins and the violet betacyanins. Opuntia lasiacantha [ 66 ] and Beta vulgaris (Beetroot) are common natural sources for betalains class of colorants [ 67 ].

Tannins are astringent vegetable products found in most of the vegetable kingdom. Tannins are obtained from the various parts of the plants such as fruit, pods, plant galls, leaves, bark, wood, and roots. Tannins are defined as, water soluble phenolic compounds having molecular weights between 500 and 3000. Tannins are usually classified into two groups-hydrolysable (pyrogallol) and condensed tannins (proanthocyanidins). The hydrolysable tannins are polyesters of a sugar moiety and organic acids, grouped as gallotannis and ellagitannins which on hydrolysis yield galllic acid and ellagic acid, respectively [ 3 , 68 ].

Tannins are primarily used in the preservation of leather. Tannins are used in glues, inks, stains and mordants. Tannins are also used for heavy metal removal in surface water treatment. Tannins play very important role in dyeing with natural dyes by improving the affinity of fibres towards different dyes. By mixing with different natural dyes it gives different shades like yellow, brown, grey and black. Acacia catechu (Cutch), Terminalia chebula (Harda), Punica granatum (Pomegranate/Anar), Quercus infectoria (Gallnut), are plant sources for tannins [ 3 , 41 , 65 , 68 , 69 ].

Based on Production Sources [ 70 , 71 ]

On the basis of origin, natural dyes can be classified into three classes:

Vegetable/Plant Origin

Most of the natural dyes belong to this category. The colorants derived from various plant parts such as flowers, fruits, seeds, leaves, barks, trunks, roots, etc. fall in this category. In India there are nearly four hundred fifty dye yielding plants.

Insect/Animal Origin

Red animal dyes obtained from exudation of dried bodies of insects namely, Cochineal, Kermes, Laccifer lacca/Kerria lacca and molluscs such as carminic acid (cochineal), kermesic acid (Kermes), laccaic acid (Lac dye), and Tyrian purple belong to this category. They are well known for dyeing purposes from ancient times.

Natural colorants obtained from plants and animals are discussed in detail later in chemical structure basis classification with examples.

Mineral Origin

Various pigments from inorganic metal salts and metal oxides belong to this category of natural dyes. The most important mineral pigments are as follows:Natural colorants from mineral origin can further be classified with their colors.

Red Pigments Cinnabar, Red Ochre, Red lead and Realgar are some of the examples of red pigments originate from minerals. Cinnabar, also known as vermillion, refers to common bright scarlet to brick-red form of mercury sulphide (HgS), a common source ore for refining elemental mercury and serves directly as dyeing pigment. Red Ochre (Geru in Hindi) is a natural earth pigment containing anhydrous and hydrated iron oxide (Fe 2 O 3 ·nH 2 O). The color of red ochre is not as bright as that of Cinnabar but it is found in several hues, which ranges from yellow to deep orange or brown. Red Ochre is very stable compound and is not affected by light, acids and alkalies. Fine red ochre is obtained by washing its crude variety. Red ochre is used by monks to color their robes. Red lead (Sindur in Hindi) (Pb 3 O 4 or 2[PbO]·[PbO 2 ]) is a bright red or orange crystalline or amorphous pigment has been used in Indian paintings in abundance. Realgar (α-As 4 S 4 ) (Manasila in Hindi) is an arsenic sulphide mineral commonly known as Ruby sulphur or ruby of arsenic, found in combination with orpiment (As 2 S 3 ) which is also a mineral of arsenic. Both are sulphides of arsenic but these are not safe and have not been used much in paintings.

Yellow Pigments Yellow Ochre (Ram Raj), Raw Sienna, Orpiment and Litharge (Massicot) are classified in yellow pigments due to their yellow color range. The color of the yellow ochre is on the account of the presence of various hydrated forms of iron oxide, particularly the mineral limonite (Fe 2 O 3 ·H 2 O). The pigment is prepared from natural earth by selection, grinding, washing, and lavigation. Raw sienna belongs to Sienna (Siena earth) class of earth pigments containing iron oxide and manganese oxide. Along with ochre and umber it is first pigment to be used in human cave paintings. It is considerably transparent and used in paintings as a glaze for its transparency. Orpiment (Hartal in Hindi) is a deep orange-yellow colored arsenic sulphide mineral and gives a brilliant rich lemon-yellow color. Chemically, it is yellow sulphide of arsenic (As 2 S 3 ). Besides being used as a pigment, it has been used to tint paper to make it yellow. This process also imparts an insecticidal property to paper. Litharge (Massicot) is natural secondary mineral forms of lead oxide (galena) and is made by gently roasting white lead. White lead, which is chemically lead carbonate (2PbCO 3 ·Pb(OH) 2 ), upon decarboxylation and dehydration gives on heating at a temperature of about 300 °C is converted into a pale yellow powder which is monoxide of lead (PbO).

Green Pigments Terre-Verte (Green Earth), Malachite and Vedgiris are examples of green pigments. Among them, terre-verte has been the most widely used since earlier times. Green earth is a mixture of hydrosilicates of Fe, Mg, Al, and K (gluconite and celadenite) but other minerals are likely to be present. The color of green earth, depending on the source, varies from place to place. The hues are from yellow green to greenish grey and are not affected by light or chemicals. Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral with chemical formula of Cu 2 (OH) 2 CO 3 . This opaque, green banded mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system. Vedgiris was a common pigment used in paintings during Mugal era and later in miniature paintings. It is the normal acetate of copper [Cu(CH 3 COO) 2 ] and is prepared by the action of vinegar on copper foils. The pigment obtained is very bright and deep green. However, it has disadvantage that it chars the paper or textile if not used carefully.

Blue Pigments Ultramarine Blue and Azurite are blue pigments. Ultramarine blue (Lajward in Hindi) is a deep blue colored pigment obtained from the mineral lapis lazuli, which is semi-precious stone. It has been used in miniature paintings in India. Lapis lazuli was imported to India from Afghanistan during fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Azurite [Cu 3 (CO 3 ) 2 (OH) 2 ] is a soft, deep, blue colored pigment produced by weathering of copper ore deposits. This pigment was extensively used in Chinese paintings but rarely in Indian paintings. However, it has been reported that this mineral is found along with Indian copper ores.

White Pigments Chalk (White Lime), White lead and Zinc White. Chalk is one of the forms of calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ). It has been extensively used in paintings. Chalk is found with limestone deposits and has been used as pigment from very early times. In India, conch shell white was favoured by artists and is believed to have special properties. White lead (PbCO 3 ) is a complex salt containing both carbonate and hydroxide. It was formerly used as an ingredient in lead paint. It occurs in nature as the mineral Cerussite. However, normally white lead is prepared artificially. Zinc white (ZnO) (Safeda in Hindi) is another important pigment used in painting. Archaeological evidence dates back to the use of zinc white as pigments in India before it was introduced in Europe. Other white pigments are Talc, Barium White and Titanium White. Titanium White is titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ), used in textiles as delustrants.

Black Pigments Charcoal Black, Lamp Black, Ivory Black, Bone Black, Graphite, Black Chalk and Terre-noire (Black Earth) are among the list of black pigments. Well ground charcoal has often been used as black pigment. In India, charcoal prepared from twigs and woods of tamarind tree after burning in a closed pot, is powdered to make black pigment. Some other substances which after charring were used for preparing black pigment are the shells of almonds and coconuts. The charcoal so produced is soft and gives homogeneous and fine black pigment. By far, the most important black used India is ‘Kajal’ prepared by burning oil in a lamp and depositing the soot on an earthen bowl. Ivory black is prepared by charring ivory cuttings in a closed earthen pot and then grinding, washing and drying black residue. The black so prepared is very intense. It is not favoured now for ecological and animal rights considerations. Bone black is prepared by charring animal bones in closed earthen pots. It is not as intense as ivory black but used as a substitute. Powdered graphite, a mineral found in different parts of India, has been used as writing material. It gives a dull grey pigment. However, it has mostly been used for drawing rather than for painting. Black chalk is the name given to black clay used for paintings and terracotta. Terre-noire is the same as black clay. It is a mixture of carbonate of calcium, iron and manganese with clay.

Based on Application Methods

Based on method of application, natural dyes have been classified into following classes:

Mordant Dyes

Mordant dye/colorants are those which can be bound to a material for which it otherwise has little or no affinity by the addition of a mordant, a chemical that increases the interaction between dye and fibre. This classical definition of mordant dyes has been extended to cover all those dyes which are capable of forming complex with the metal mordant. Most of these dyes yield different shades or colors with different mordants with different hue and tone.

Vat dyeing is a process that takes place in bucket or vat. They are insoluble in their colored form, however can undergo reduction into soluble colorless (leuco) form which has an affinity for fibre or textile to be dyed. Re-oxidation of the vat dyes converts them again into ‘insoluble form’ with retention of original color. Only three natural dyes belong to vat dyes: indigo, woad and tyrian purple.

Direct Dyes

Direct dyes are water-soluble organic molecules which can be applied as such to cellulosic fibres such as cotton, since they have affinity and taken up directly. Direct dyes are easily applied and yield bright colors. However, due to the nature of chemical interaction, their wash fastness is poor, although this can be improved by special after-treatment. Some prominent examples of direct natural dyes are turmeric, annatto, harda, pomegranate and safflower.

Acid dyes are also another type of direct dyes for polyamide fibres like wool, silk and nylon. These dyes are applied in acidic medium and they have either sulphonic acid or carboxylic acid groups in the dye molecules. At least one natural dye, saffron has been classified as acid dye. This dye has two carboxylic acid groups.

Basic dyes are also known as cationic dyes. These dyes on ionization give colored cations which form an electrovalent bond with the carboxyl group of wool and silk fibres. These dyes are applied from neutral to mild acidic condition. Berberine has been classified as basic dye. Structurally, this dye carries a non localized positive charge which resonates in the structure of the dye, resulting in poor light fastness.

Disperse Dyes

Disperse dyes are water insoluble dyes which dye polyester and acetate fibres. The principle of disperse dyeing is recent one as compared to the age of natural dyeing. However, in view of their structural resemblance and solubility characteristics it is felt that some of the natural dyes such as lawsone, juglone, lapachol and shikonin can be classified as disperse dyes.

Processing and Sustainability Aspects

Natural colorants classified in the previous section, are to be extracted from their sources to be applied on textiles. Various techniques, solvents and parameters were used for extraction in natural dyeing literature. Figures  3 and ​ and4 4 represent the schematic representation for extraction of natural colorants and mordanting and dyeing profile, respectively.

Schematic representation for extraction of natural colorants

Schematic representation for mordanting and dyeing profile

First step of extraction is preparation of the plant material ready to be extracted such as collection of plant materials, drying and grinding to make homogenous mixture and to enhance surface area for maximum contact to solvent used. After that most important step, is selection of solvent, depending on the nature of compounds to be isolated or extracted. To extract hydrophilic compounds polar solvents such as methanol, ethanol or ethyl-acetate can be used and for extraction of lipophilic compounds, dichloromethane or a mixture of dichloromethane/methanol in ratio of 1:1 can be used. Various methods, including sonification, heating under reflux, soxhlet extraction and others commonly used depending on the target compound’s polarity and thermal stability. Some modern methods are also used for extraction like solid-phase micro-extraction, supercritical-fluid extraction, pressurized-liquid extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, solid-phase extraction and surfactant-mediated techniques owing to their advantages in terms of yield and easy collection of extracts. Extraction obtained generally is mixtures of compounds which are further to be separated by separation techniques named some of them are adsorption chromatography, thin layer chromatography (TLC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Then compounds are to be characterized by spectroscopic techniques such as ultra-violet spectroscopy (UV), fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) etc. [ 72 , 73 ].

Although, much research have been explored in the past with extraction of colorants from plant sources. A process has been used which employs sulfur dioxide for extraction in a patent [ 74 ]. The extract is passed through an ion exchange column to absorb the anthocyanin material and the adsorbed material is eluted by means of acetone, alkali or dimethyl formamide (DMF). Moreover, a process for the extraction of carotenoid dyes from pre-dried natural starting materials is described in a patent in 1998 using compressed gases such as propane and/or butane in which organic entraining agents can be additionally added in order to facilitate and complete the extraction process. With the aid of this process highly concentrated carotenoid dyes are obtained in high yield [ 75 ]. Extraction of anthocyanin dyes from red grape pomace with carbon dioxide, along with other solvents either methanol or water at high pressures were studied by Mantell et al., Various extraction parameters such as temperature, pressure, solvent flow rate, co-solvent percentage, solvent type and extraction time were studied for optimized results and the quantification was performed by colorimetric method. 20 mol% of methanol, 100 bar pressure, 60 °C temperature and 22 mmol/min flow rate were found optimized parameters for maximum yield [ 76 ]. Bechtold et al., extracted anthocyanin dyes from red pomace for textile dyeing in distilled water 1;20 of material to liquor ratio (M:L) at 95 °C temperature for 60 min [ 8 ]. Crude dyestuff from pomegranate peel for dyeing was extracted with 1:5 of material to solvent (ethanol water) ratio for 60 min at 60 °C of temperature. Obtained filtrate was distillated for 3 h at 70 °C temperature in soxhlet apparatus and concentrated dye was obtained for dyeing [ 9 ]. Dye (mixture of gallic acid, ellagic acid, quercetin and rutin compounds) was extracted from fresh eucalyptus leaves, dried in sunlight for 1 month and crumbled using a blender, by the reflux technique; 70 g of crumbled eucalyptus leaves was mixed in a litre of distilled water and refluxed for 1 h. Filtrate obtained by filtration was evaporated under reduced pressure and dried and used for dyeing silk and wool [ 77 ]. Aqueous extraction of tannin colorants from tea was prepared by adding 2 and 5 g commercially available tea powder to 100 ml distilled water and the mixture was stirred, heated, held at the boil for 30 min, allowed to stand for 15 min and then filtered and used for dyeing cotton [ 78 ]. Anthraquinone dyes were extracted from Cassia tora L. seed using various pH buffer solutions (pH 2–11) for 3 days at room temperature in material-liquor ratio of 1:10. The Cassia tora L. extract solution (natural dye solution) obtained at pH of buffer 9 was found of highest K/S and a yellowish red solution for dyeing of cotton and silk [ 79 ]. Coffee sludges were also used to extract the yellow colorant from them. Water was used as extractant at 90 °C for 90 min in material-liquor ratio of 1:10. The obtained dye solution was used for dyeing of cotton, wool and silk, and colorimetric, fastness and deodorising properties were evaluated [ 80 ].

Mordanting and Dyeing

Today, a large number of researchers around the globe are working on natural colorants advancements. After extraction processing, next step is application of natural colorants on textiles with or without the help of mordants. From the start of their use for textile dyeing via conventional methods to innovative and advanced methods trending in recent times, natural colorants are gaining their space in textile coloration and functionalization.

Mordanting Methods

To get the highest substantivity of natural colorants towards textiles, some metal salts or other chemicals or compounds, so called mordants are used with colorants. Mordanting is classified on the basis of application time of mordants that are pre-, meta- and post-mordanting.

Pre-mordanting

Textile materials treatment with mordants prior to dyeing is called as pre-mordanting, which provides exclusive, sufficient time and sites on textile material to bind to the mordants. A proper layering of dye, mordant and textile material formed in this type of processing of natural colorants on textiles. Metal complexation with textile surface sites from one side and from dye on the other make the color fast to light, washing and rubbing. Chelating complexation of this processing makes the proper energy dissipation of photons of light in the complex and provide better light fastness to dyed materials. Optimum utilization of resources in pre-mordanting makes this more sustainable towards environment and flora and fauna.

Meta-mordanting/Simultaneous Mordanting

Both mordants and dyes are dissolved into the dye bath simultaneously for dyeing. This kind of processing makes a large wastage of the resources, both dye and mordant, by complexation between each other. Some sites of the textile materials are occupied with mordants and some directly with the dye compounds causes to uneven dyeing. Three type of complexation occurs that are between textiles and mordants, textiles and dyes, and between dyes and mordants leads to overloading of dye effluent into the ecosystem, a threat to sustainability issues.

Post-mordanting

In this method, dye material or colorants are applied first to the bare textile material and then mordanting is carried out. This processing mainly applied to broaden the shade range with mordant complexation with dye molecules over the surface of textile materials. This method may not be an appropriate to fasten the color fastness.

In a general way, metallic mordants can be categorized as, (a) conventional mordants that are used from earliest times and (b) novel mordants that are used after the conventional mordants; newly invented as shown in Table  2 .

Table 2

Several mordanting agents [ 1 , 41 , 43 , 58 ]

Dyeing Methods

Conventional dyeing system.

From the time, textile dyeing started in past carried out conventionally. Textiles were directly processed with the dye bath at high temperatures. Numerous developments in dyeing context are observed in recent decades such as evaluation of effective mordants, printing techniques and dyeing procedures [ 34 – 36 ]. Several patents described the dyeing of textiles with indigo dye, first pre-treatment of textile materials with ecofriendly mordants and then with reduced indigo dye in inert atmosphere and then oxidation via flooding of cold water over the surface [ 81 ]. Cellulosic textile materials can be dyed with disperse dyes from supercritical CO 2 by treating the textile materials with an auxiliary that promotes dye uptake, typically polyethylene glycol [ 82 ]. Coloration method for textiles using chemically formed gels with considerable freedom for making color designs and precise pattern prints, and can be used with conventional dyeing and printing equi pment was developed [ 83 ]. With the time, dyeing also matured with the development of optimization of dyeing parameters, and in recent times advanced technologies evolved like plasma treatment and enzymatic processing etc.

Advanced Dyeing Systems

Advanced technologies or methods are trending in dyeing in recent times owing to their improved results over the conventional dyeing. Plasma treatment and ultrasonic dyeing methods are modern, advanced and sustainability compatible methods used in technologically evolved textile industry. Plasma, also known as fourth state of matter and ultrasound waves is having sufficient energy responsible to affect the energy of dye bath components. Improved results in ultrasound-assisted dyeing are generally attributed to cavitation phenomena and other mechanical effects are produced such as dispersion (breaking up of aggregates with high relative molecular mass), degassing (expulsion of dissolved or entrapped air from fiber capillaries), diffusion (accelerating the rate of diffusion of dye inside the fiber) and intense agitation of the liquid. The acceleration in dyeing rates observed by many workers might be the cumulative effects of all these factors [ 84 ].

Radiation Treatments (UV, Gamma Radiations and Plasma) : Ultrasonic is also found effective in extraction of colorants. Ultrasonic power appreciably increased the color strength values of lac dye on textile material in comparison to conventional heating [ 85 ]. In case of Eclipta as natural dye on cotton fabric using both conventional and sonicator methods, higher color strength values obtained by ultra-sonication method. Dyeing kinetics of cotton fabrics were compared for both the methods and the time/dye uptake revealed the enhanced dye uptake showing sonication efficiency [ 86 ]. Higher extraction from red calico leaves, color strength and color fastness properties of gamma radiations particularly, 15 kGy dose treated cotton fabric were obtained by inducing surface modification [ 87 ]. In another study, dyeing was performed using un-irradiated and irradiated cotton with the extracts of un-irradiated and irradiated turmeric powder in order to investigate the effect of radiation treatment on the color strength of dyed fabric. The color fastness to light, rubbing- and washing showed that gamma irradiation has improved the dyeing characteristics from fair to good [ 88 ]. Eucalyptus ( Eucalyptus camaldulensis ) bark powder (un-irradiated and irradiated) has also been used as natural colorant for dyeing un-irradiated and irradiated cotton fabric using different absorbed doses of gamma irradiation to study the effect of radiation treatment on the color strength of dyed fabrics and found that gamma irradiation has a potential to improve the fastness properties of dyed cotton [ 89 ]. Recently, investigations have been carried out in spectraflash, showed that gamma ray treatment of 30 kGy capacity was found optimum dose onto fabric’s surface modification. Lutein as a colorant extracted from marigold was observed to have ability for improvement in dye uptake, color strength and fastness criteria, significantly [ 90 , 91 ].

Enzymatic Processing : Enzymatic processing also has been used as a sustainable and eco-friendly method for textile coloration and functionalization [ 92 ]. Three enzymes named protease-amylase, diasterase and lipase were complexed with tannic acid as a pretreatment on cotton and silk, and dyed with natural dyes to evaluate effect of enzymatic treatment on color characteristics. The enzymatic treatment was found to give cotton and silk fabrics rapid dye adsorption kinetics and total higher adsorption than untreated samples [ 93 ]. Advanced technologies and methods of recent times for dyeing are accelerating the development in textile industry owing to the sustainability and environment friendly nature of them.

Representative schemes shown in Figs.  5 and ​ and6 6 describe the flow chart for dyeing methods with different mordanting techniques and plausible interaction of fibre-mordant-dye complex, respectively.

Flow chart for dyeing methods with different mordanting techniques

Plausible interaction of fibre-mordant-dye complex (For simplification, lawsone molecule is taken as dye)

Sustainability

In 1856, William Henry Perkin, while experimenting with coal tar in the hope of finding an artificial quinine as a cure for malaria, discovered the first violet synthetic dyestuff which he called Mauve . After the advent of synthetic dyes and their immediate acceptability throughout the world, the use of natural dyes in textile coloration industries slowly became a thing of the past [ 33 , 40 ]. Extraction of the colorant from biomass depends on the extraction technique employed and, it can be noted that the full range of colors might not yet be available for further application. Considerable weak discernible residues associated with the use of bio-colorants are: reproducibility, cost efficiency, inadequate degree of fixation, and low color fastness properties [ 59 , 93 , 94 ]. These drawbacks of natural dyes can be overcome with the use of appropriate mordants which are permissible up to some levels for textile dyeing [ 13 , 95 ]. However, due to environmental concerns and eco-protection has created the revival interest of R&D in the use of bio-colorants worldwide. Environmental awareness and pollution concerns implied ban on benzidine and azo dyes which produce any one of the 22 amines related with their carcinogenicity (Table  3 ).

Table 3

ETAD banned aromatic amines with CAS Numbers [ 94 , 152 ]

Further, the improvement in color fastness abilities to textile materials can be made using metallic salts under eco-limits. For example, alum, iron mordant were accepted for their improved fastness properties and broadening the color range. Currently, the studies on plant extracts as novel alternate to conventional mordants has proved more sustainability in natural dyeing system. Although metallic mordants are used to enhance the affinity of natural dyes to textile fibers, they generate wastewater containing residual toxic metal ions which leave negative impacts on the environment and, cause severe health-related problems and allergic responses [ 96 , 97 ]. Consequently, researchers searched for cleaner and greener substitutes from biomes and, green alternatives having high tannin and/or metal hyper-accumulating contents have been employed [ 3 , 13 , 98 – 100 ].

To adapt the use of bio-resourced materials for textile coloration and finishing, they should be reach the technical, eco-preservation, economic and ecological requirements of the twenty first century by which, equity and sustainability might be considered. Also, the unused residues by the process of natural dyeing can be returned to agriculture for composting or gasification for biogas production. Dyes from natural origin are believed healthier over synthetic ones, but due to lower substantive nature, durability and narrow shade range on textiles of them need further advancement in the application of bio-colorants for coloration and finishing of textile materials [ 13 , 68 ]. Thus, from the point of environmental safety, bio-colorants serve as promising and sustainable alternative to their synthetic counterparts.

Adsorption and Kinetic Aspects

Adsorption isotherms, thermodynamic and kinetic studies of dyeing are very much important to study the mechanism of dyeing with colorants on textiles. Some literature regarding these studies with synthetic as well as natural colorant’s application on textiles and textile materials available can be very much helpful to investigate the bonding and the dyeing parameters. These types of studies were popular for adsorption of pollutants from water bodies by various adsorbents for waste water treatment purposes [ 101 ]. But, to advance the conventional dyeing to developed technology with better results with the use of minimum sources, these studies are gaining popularity in textile dyeing.

Sun and Tang [ 101 ] studied the adsorption properties of honeysuckle aqueous extract’s application for dyeing wool. Kinetic equations such as pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, Elvoich, and intra-particle diffusion equations were employed and pseudo-second-order was found best fit for the adsorption data. Freundlich, Langmuir, Redlich-Peterson, and Langmuir-Nernst isotherm models were studied for their fitting to the adsorption data and Redlich-Peterson, and Langmuir-Nernst isotherm models were found best fitted with the data. Pseudo-second-order kinetic equation fitting of honeysuckle [ 102 ] onto wool justified the adsorption mechanism as a chemisorption process, involving the valency forces through the sharing or exchange of electrons between adsorbent and adsorbate as covalent force and ion exchange, also found in case of sodium copper chlorophyllin on silk [ 103 ], lac dye on wool and silk [ 104 ], and indigo carmine onto silk [ 105 ]. Various schemes of adsorbed dyes on textile materials were given according to the adsorption and kinetic studies for simplification of understanding of the chemical interactions between dye and textiles. Langmuir adsorption isotherm is considered as most common for dyeing processes, defined mainly for the monolayer and homogenous adsorption on the surfaces.

Adsorption isotherms to study dye adsorption on textiles:

Langmuir Adsorption Isotherm Model

Langmuir adsorption isotherm model assumes the monolayer, homogenous adsorption over the surface and kinetic modelling [ 103 – 105 ]. Adsorption occurs on definite localised sites on surface and the layer adsorbed is of one molecular thickness. In this isotherm derivation there is molecules adsorbed are considered of same sorption energies and affinity for adsorption. Once a layer occupied with molecules, adsorption process saturates and the graphically a plateau obtained [ 106 ].

A mathematical linear equation represents the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model is [ 94 ]:

where C f and C s are the amount of dye adsorbed per gram of wool fibre and dye concentration in dye bath at equilibrium, respectively. S c is the maximum dye adsorbed per unit weight of wool fibre for complete monolayer adsorption. K L is Langmuir constant related to affinity of binding sites.

The essential characteristics of Langmuir isotherm can be expressed in terms of the dimensionless constant separation factor for equilibrium parameter, R L , defined as follows:

where C 0 is the initial dye concentration (mg L −1 ) and K L is Langmuir constant.

Freundlich Adsorption Isotherm Model

Freundlich adsorption isotherm model is the earliest known adsorption model for multilayer adsorption describes the non-ideal and reversible adsorption. This model can be applied to the heterogeneous surfaces. According to this model, sites with higher binding energy occupied first and others thereafter. Generally not found fitted for natural dyes adsorption on textile materials [ 107 ].

Mathematically represented by equation for linear form:

where C f and C s are the amount of dye adsorbed per gram of wool fibre and dye concentration in dye bath at equilibrium respectively. K f is the Freundlich adsorption constant and n is that of the adsorption intensity.

Temkin Adsorption Isotherm Model

Temkin isotherm is also an early model describes mainly the adsorption of hydrogen onto platinum electrodes within acidic solutions. This isotherm contains a factor that explicitly taking into account of adsorbent-adsorbate interactions. The model assumes that heat of adsorption (function of temperature) of all molecules in the layer would decrease linearly rather than logarithmic with coverage by ignoring the extremely low and large value of concentrations. Its derivation is characterized by a uniform distribution of binding energies and Temkin equation is excellent for predicting the gas phase equilibrium, but complex adsorption systems including the liquid-phase adsorption isotherms are usually not represented by this model [ 108 ].

where A T is Temkin isotherm equilibrium binding constant, b T is Temkin isotherm constant, R and T are universal gas constant and Temperature respectively.

Hill Isotherm Model

Hill equation, originated from the NICA model, was proposed to describe the binding of different species onto homogeneous substrates. The model assumes that adsorption is a cooperative phenomenon, with the ligand binding ability at one site on the macromolecule, may influence different binding sites on the same macromolecule [ 109 , 110 ].

Linear equation representation of Hill isotherm model is:

where C e equilibrium concentration (mg/L), q e amount of adsorbate in the adsorbent at equilibrium (mg/g), q s H ; Hill isotherm maximum uptake saturation (mg/L), n H Hill cooperativity coefficient of the binding interaction, and K D Hill constant.

Redlich–Peterson Isotherm Model

Redlich–Peterson isotherm is a combined isotherm of both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms, which incorporate three parameters into an empirical equation. The model is evaluated to represent adsorption equilibrium over a wide concentration range, that can be applied either in homogeneous or heterogeneous systems due to its versatility. In the limit, it approaches Freundlich isotherm model at high concentration and is in accordance with the low concentration limit of the ideal Langmuir condition [ 111 , 112 ].

where a R Redlich–Peterson isotherm constant (1/mg), K R Redlich–Peterson isotherm constant (L/g), C e equilibrium concentration (mg/L), q e amount of adsorbate in the adsorbent at equilibrium (mg/g), and g Redlich–Peterson isotherm exponent.

Common kinetic models used for sorption studies [ 113 , 114 ] are discussed below:

Pseudo-First-Order

Lagergren suggested a rate equation for the sorption of solutes from a liquid solution. This pseudo-first-order rate equation is expressed as:

where q e and q t are the sorption capacity at equilibrium and at time t , respectively, and K 1 is the rate constant of pseudo-first order sorption.

Integrated equation for pseudo-first-order kinetics is:

log( q e -  q t ) verses t straight line plot gives fitting of pseudo-first-order kinetics for adsorption of dye on to textile surfaces.

Pseudo-Second-Order

Pseudo-second-order kinetic model fitting justifies the chemisorption process in textile dyeing, with the adsorption followed by chemical forces such as ionic bonding, coordinate bonding and H-bonding etc. Pseudo-second-order kinetic model rate equation can be expressed as:

where q e and q t are the sorption capacity at equilibrium and at time t , respectively and K is the rate constant of pseudo-second order adsorption kinetics.

Integrated rate equation for of pseudo-second order adsorption kinetics is:

And can also be solved further and written as:

Straight line fitting in the graph of t / q t verses t gives better correlation of pseudo-second order adsorption kinetics of dye adsorption.

Functional Applications

Antimicrobial finished textiles.

All textiles provide a growing environment for these micro-organisms. Natural fibres, such as cotton and wool, are especially susceptible to microbial growth and even dust mites because they retain oxygen, water and nutrients. Micro-organisms can embed themselves in clothes in a closet, curtains, carpets, bed, bath and kitchen linens, even pillows and mattresses. Many bacteria also grow on the skin while dust mites live on shed, human skin cells that have been deposited on items such as sheets, towels, and clothing. Like a house, a hospital contains an immense amount of textiles with the added threat of high transmission of microorganism.

Antimicrobial agents from both synthetic and natural origin were applied to get rid of these microorganisms. Due to eco-friendly nature of natural origin agents, are to be more favoured in the textile finishing. In past, natural dyes were applied to textiles for simultaneous coloration and antimicrobial finishing successfully. An attempt to examine the effect of Rheum emodi L. as dye and its dyed wool yarns activity against two bacterial ( Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus ) and two fungal ( Candida albicans and Candida tropicalis ) species was studied and resulted into successful antimicrobial finishing of wool fibres [ 59 ]. Evaluation of antimicrobial activity of catechu in solution and % microbial reduction of dyed wool samples against Escherichia coli MTCC 443, Staphylococcus aureus MTCC 902, Candida albicans ATCC 10261 and Candida tropicalis ATCC 750, by using micro-broth dilution method, disc diffusion assay and growth curve studies were studied with Haemolytic activity on human erythrocytes to exclude possibility of further associated cytotoxicity. Observed antimicrobial characteristics and negligible cytotoxicity of catechu indicated the dye as a promising antimicrobial agent for developing bioactive textile materials and clothing [ 65 , 115 , 116 ].

The inherent properties of the textile fibres provide room for the growth of micro-organisms. Besides, the structure of the substrates and the chemical processes may induce the growth of microbes. Humid and warm environment still aggravate the problems. Infestation by microbes cause cross infection by pathogens and development odor where the fabric is worn next to the skin [ 69 ]. Experimentation of synthetic/natural materials with antimicrobial finishing opened many doors for scientists. As knowledge of functional finishes and manmade fibres evolved, so did society’s view on health and safety. With this increase in health awareness, many people focused their attention on educating and protecting themselves against harmful pathogens. It soon became more important for antimicrobial finished textiles to protect the wearer from bacteria than it was to simply protect the garment from fibre degradation.

All textiles provide a growing environment for these micro-organisms. Natural fibres, such as cotton and wool, are especially susceptible to microbial growth and even dust mites because they retain oxygen, water and nutrients. Micro-organisms can embed themselves in clothes in a closet, curtains, carpets, bed, bath and kitchen linens, even pillows and mattresses. Many bacteria also grow on the skin while dust mites live on shed, human skin cells that have been deposited on items such as sheets, towels, and clothing. Like a house, a hospital contains an immense amount of textiles with the added threat of high volumes of traffic. Because of the constant flow of people, especially those with infectious diseases, many researchers have focused on creating finishes specifically for hospital use. Both patients and employees are at risk for cross transmission of diseases and other health issues. The majority of these microorganisms are passed from person to person by various textiles. The increasing rate of drug-resistant bacteria only heightens the importance of finding safe and durable antimicrobial finishes. Several elements and natural compounds have inherent antimicrobial properties. Heavy metals and metallic compounds hold a large portion of the market for antimicrobial textiles. Cadmium, silver, copper, and mercury are all effective antimicrobial agents. Metal based finishes are fairly durable to repeated laundering making them appropriate for use as a reusable finish. Several natural, non-metallic, antimicrobial finishes exist. One of these natural antimicrobial finishes, Chitosan, is the deacetylated form of Chitin which is a main component in crustacean shells. Chitosan has been shown to be effective against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria [ 117 – 119 ]. Researchers have responded to problems like this by experimenting with the currently available finishes available. Many antimicrobial textiles are treated with combinations of bioactive substances to enhance the antimicrobial efficacy of the finishes and counter act the negative aspects of the treatments. By combining finishes, the occurrence of drug resistant strains forming from the finish is decreased. Another trend in experimentation with antimicrobial finishes consists of adding antimicrobial agents to synthetic fibres during the spinning process.

Although known for a long time for dyeing as well as medicinal properties, the structures and protective properties of natural dyes have been recognized only in the recent past. Many of the plants used for dye extraction are classified as medicinal, and some of these have recently been shown to possess remarkable antimicrobial activity. Some common natural dyes have been showed antimicrobial activity such as curcumin from turmeric, naphthoquinones such as lawsone from Lawsonia inermis , juglone from walnut, lapachol from taigu, catechin from Acacia catechu , several anthraquinones such as Rubia tinctorum , Rubia cordifolia , Rheum emodi . Punica granatum and Quercus infectoria natural dyes are reported as potent antimicrobial agents owing to the presence of a large amount of bioactive phytochemicals [ 34 , 120 – 123 ].

Since, the synthetic antimicrobial agents are associated with the release of enormous amount of hazardous chemicals to the environment which, are cause of many skin disorders and related diseases, during their processing and application. To minimize the risks associated with the application of synthetic antimicrobial agents, there is a great demand for antimicrobial textiles based on non-toxic and eco-friendly bioactive compounds. Due to the relatively lower incidence of adverse reactions of natural products in comparison with synthetic pharmaceuticals, they can be exploited as an attractive and eco-friendly alternative for textile applications [ 3 , 13 , 124 , 125 ]. Although there are many natural antimicrobial agents, may significantly reduce the risk of infections especially when they are used in close contact with the patients or in the immediate and non-immediate surroundings. Natural bioactive compounds (natural dyes/pigments) have been reported as significant antimicrobial agents for textile finishing in eco-friendly dyeing.

UV Protective Textiles

Ultraviolet rays, a low fraction of solar spectrum influences all living organisms and their metabolisms. These Ultraviolet rays exposure can cause effects from tanning to skin cancers. Sunscreen lotions and clothing provide protection from the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiations. Alterations in the construction parameters of fabrics with appropriate light absorbers and suitable finishing methods can be employed as UV protection fabrics.

Three natural yellow dyes, namely Rheum emodi , Gardenia yellow and curcumin , were successfully applied for simultaneous dyeing and functionalization of silk to get UV protection abilities for textiles [ 126 ]. Dye extracted from the leaves of eucalyptus and applied to wool fabric by using two padding techniques, namely the pad-batch and pad-dry techniques under different conditions and it was observed that with an increase in the dye concentration, the ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) values ranged between very good and excellent for wool fabric [ 127 ]. UV-protection properties of chlorogenic acid, main ingredient of water-extract from honeysuckle, on wool were studied. The honeysuckle extract showed good UV transmittance in the range of UVA and UVB of wool treated with honeysuckle extract and thus extract of honeysuckle may be developed as a natural UV-absorbing agent applied to wool finishing [ 102 ]. Natural plant colorants madder ( Rubia tinctorum ) and indigo ( Indigofera tinctoria ) and the natural colorant of insect origin cochineal ( Dactylopius coccus ) were applied on cotton fabrics and tested for UV protection abilities, among them indigo was observed as having higher UPF values [ 4 , 128 ].

Deodorizing finishing

As far as, new generation is concerned about health and hygiene in recent time, there are more advancement to improve the performance of textiles with respect to odour with antimicrobial and UV protection properties. Grown bacterial colonies or waste released from human body are the main causes for odour in garments. To meet the consumer’s mature demand for hygienic clothing, extensive significant work has been published regarding the deodorizing property of textiles achieved with the application of natural colorants. The deodorizing performance of fabrics dyed with natural colorant extracts was comparatively studied and deodorizing efficiency of pomegranate was dominated among gardenia, Cassia tora . L., coffee sludge and pomegranate rind [ 129 ]. Gallnut dyed fabrics showed a better deodorizing function against ammonia, trimethyl amine and acetaldehyde, compared to the un-dyed fabrics. Also the dyed fabrics showed an excellent antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumonia [ 130 ]. Cotton, silk and wool fabrics dyed with pomegranate ( Punica granatum ) extract by Young-Hee Lee and co-workers for deodorizing functionalization and found excellent results in range of 99% [ 131 ]. Cotton fabrics were dyed with C. I. Direct Blue 200, a copper complex direct dye, and pre and post-mordanted with Cu(II) sulfate for deodorization of ethyl mercaptan. According to the results, all the deodorization effects plotted against the copper ion uptakes were found to increase quadratically with the copper ion uptake [ 132 ]. Thus, natural as well as synthetic dyes can be utilised for deodorizing functionalization of textiles by following proper protocol (optimized) of dyeing.

Moth Resistant and Insect Repellent Textiles

Wool and other hair fibres used for producing carpets, blanket and shawl etc. due to having properties like warmth, softness and flame retardancy. Specially, wool-based materials due to its protein content are prone to attack of moth and other insects. Moth is an insect and its larvae eat the protein present in wool. Cloths moth ( Tineola bisselliella ) and carpet beetle ( Anthrenus verbasci ) are common moths attacking the wool materials. DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), permethrin, permethrin/hexahydro pyrimidine derivative, cyhalothrin, etc. are some of the chemicals used as antimoth finishing agents. Nano TiO 2 particles were also utilized as an antifeeding compound on wool fabric against larvae of the carpet beetle, Anthrenus verbasci , feeds on protein fibers [ 133 ]. All the chemicals used for antimoth finishing are associated with ecological disturbance and so, natural colorants may be perfect substitutes for them. Shakyawar et al. screened saffron flower waste, onion skin, henna, myrobolan, silver oak leaf, madder, walnut, dholkanali and yellow root natural dye sources for antimoth finishing and found best results for silver oak leaves, walnut husk and pomegranate rind [ 134 ]. Natural dyes cochineal, madder, and walnut (quinines) and chestnut, fustic, indigo, and logwood (flavonoids) were applied on wool and tested for antimoth properties against black carpet beetles. All of the dyes, except indigo, increased the insect resistance of the wool fabric but flavonoid dyes were not so effective in enhancing insect resistance. Metallic mordants were found not having significant effect on insect resistance with all natural dyes used. The anthraquinone dyes including cochineal, madder, and walnut were found to be quite effective in protecting wool fabric against black carpet beetles [ 135 ].

Food Coloration

Foods are typically made colored so that they seem to be more appealing, appetizing and to match the flavors added. In the present era of eco-safety and eco-preservation, growing worldwide concern for food quality and safety, have been brought in by national governments. A particular country has its own basic regulations and acceptable standards for synthetic colors as additives for food and these can be up and down to other country. Natural originated colors are approved over the years and, scientific communities have devoted more attention in the development of greener substitutes, as they are generally more internationally accepted [ 136 , 137 ]. The use of bio-colorants in food coloration have gaining popularity among food manufacturers as well as consumers in determining the acceptability of processed food and, there has been seeking advancements of new natural colorants for use in food industry in the continuing replacement of synthetic food dyes, which are not found in nature and, often are azo-dyes that being unsafe, created a big challenge for scientific community. Currently, the European Union has authorized approximately 43 colorants as food additives, out of which approximately 30 color additives are approved in the United States [ 138 – 140 ].

Prominent academicians and R&D researchers all over the world, have keen to experiment and expand this interesting palette of natural food color choices to give distinguished look and quality to an array in bio-based food coloration. The sources of natural bio-colorants for food coloring and styling primarily are, certain species of plants, animals and microorganisms. Considerable increment of public awareness about the use of synthetic color additives for food products has augmented in the use of natural food colorants. In 1991, Japanese food legislation on the statement of natural food additives on labels was enforced due to the several impacts on public health and, call to reliable methods, especially natural food colorants, in food products. Systematic researches make available bio-colorants such as, carotenoids [ 141 , 142 ], anthocyanins [ 143 , 144 ], betalains [ 145 , 146 ], chlorophylls [ 147 , 148 ], tannins [ 149 ], quinones [ 115 , 150 ], biliproteins [ 151 ] etc. All, they have different auxochromic and chromophoric groups which directly or indirectly alters to produce different hues ranging from green through yellow, orange, red, blue, and violet, depending on the source of colorant [ 3 , 116 , 152 ]. Consequently, a great upsurge has been seen in biotechnological production of food grade pigments Colorants from microbial world such as fungi, bacteria and microalgae etc. are quite common in nature. Among the molecules produced are carotenoids, melanins, flavins, quinones and more specifically monascins, violacein, phycocyanin or indigo. Synthetic colors in limited quantities are permitted in various types of foods: fruit and vegetable products, hard-boiled confectioneries, bakery foods, instant foods, traditional Indian sweetmeats and other dairy products. However, synthetic colors are being replaced by natural colors in view of the health benefits as well as increased public awareness towards eco-preservation.

Future Prospective and Conclusion

In the present scenario, the growing concerns among the communities globally against the use of azo and benzidine synthetic dyes due to their carcinogenic, non-biodegradable nature and hazardous effects on environment and human health, re-established the needs of natural dyes to human society in terms of packaging and daily use products [ 41 , 94 , 153 ]. With increase in awareness for eco-friendly materials from sustainable resources, natural dyes attracted researchers in traditional and diversified applications to develop effective eco-friendly and cleaner process technologies [ 3 ]. Natural dyeing is gradually making its way in the global market and the production of naturally dyed eco-friendly textiles itself is a boon to save the environment from hazardous synthetic dyes. However, the color derived from raw plant materials is known to be very sensitive to the food processing conditions but, in general, eco-friendly criterion paid safely to reconsideration of technological parameters, with more attention to their effects on color stability, is therefore advisable and could be promisible alternate to artificial colorants. Furthermore, the fast moving inexpensive synthetic dyes stand as a big question before natural dyers. But, the non-toxic, non-carcinogenic, bio-degradable and eco-friendly characteristics of naturally derived colorants made its own way to reach the hearts of conscious consumers for healthy lifestyle, and can be achieved on a higher cost [ 1 , 93 ]. Hence, the applications of bio-colorants to textile substrates shall be helpful to entrepreneurs to take up this venture which have good potential and bright future in a number of applied sectors: leather, textiles and clothings, cosmetics, food, pharmaceutical, and paint industries etc.

Naturally derived pigments are available in nature with various hues and tones, currently exploited for the coloring of textile and food materials, and other several other biomedical applications. New sources of biomass biased pigments need to be available in sufficient quantities for stability during processing and storing for large-scale cultivation, industrial extraction, formulations, harvesting and storage and, application of biotechnological tools including cell and tissue cultures, genetic engineering, promoted by experts as a replacement for conventional growing techniques. Modem consumer’s demand for novel eco-materials tend to the expansion in bio-colorant list towards forthcoming future. Evenly, recent advances have been performed in the development and applications of natural colorants covering different aspects such as identification of new sources, formulations, extraction, purification and stability techniques. In spite of enthusiastic studies discussed the data for the socio-economic viability of natural dye production and applications at commercial scale for sustainable utilization of bio-resources, related to hygiene and eco-safety which have a great future scope for the discovery of relatively better and more stable natural pigments that may have wider industrial applications. More experimental implementations should be focused to adopt novel technologies for making natural colorants as a compatible as well as eco-safe alternative with synthetic colorants in different spheres of our life to make a greener world.

Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful to UGC, New Delhi, for BSR Fellowship (Mohd Shabbir) and Dr. M. I. Khan, Principal, YMD College for his valuable suggestions to this work.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Conflict of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Contributor Information

Mohd Yusuf, Email: moc.liamg@0201fusuy .

Mohd Shabbir, Email: moc.liamg@oemribbahs .

Faqeer Mohammad, Email: moc.liamffider@dammahomreeqaf .

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International Journal of Textile Science

p-ISSN: 2325-0119    e-ISSN: 2325-0100

2019;  8(2): 38-40

doi:10.5923/j.textile.20190802.02

A Review on Sources and Application of Natural Dyes in Textiles

Arun Kanti Guha

Department of Textile Engineering, Southeast University, Tejgaon, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Copyright © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Scientific & Academic Publishing.

Textile industries are very useful for human being but these are destroying eco system because of generation of huge wastewater containing toxic substances. Prime reason of toxicity is use of synthetic dyes. To save our environment there is no alternative of natural dye. There are many sources of natural dyes in the Universe. In this article possible sources of natural dyes are discussed (2008-2018). Prominent sources of natural dyes are onion, carrot, marigold, orange peel, rose etc. have been discussed gradually. Isolation techniques, dyeing methods and fastness properties have been discussed in this article.

Keywords: Synthetic dyes, Environmental pollution, Natural dye, Textiles

Cite this paper: Arun Kanti Guha, A Review on Sources and Application of Natural Dyes in Textiles, International Journal of Textile Science , Vol. 8 No. 2, 2019, pp. 38-40. doi: 10.5923/j.textile.20190802.02.

Article Outline

1. introduction, 2. discussion, 3. conclusions.

Researchers call for return of Sumas Lake following devastating 2021 floods

New paper finds restoring the lake will help in climate adaptation, endangered species restoration and indigenous reconciliation.

A new proposal has emerged in response to the November 2021 floods that swept Sumas Prairie in the Fraser Valley, British Columbia, causing mass evacuations and millions in damages.

Instead of rebuilding the dykes to manage water flows and prevent future floods, scientists at UBC, along with members of the Sumas First Nation and other research partners, suggest an alternative: let Sumas Lake, which was drained in the early 1920s and converted into the farmland known as Sumas Prairie, return to its natural state.

This can be done by buying out properties on the lakebed -- a solution that is projected to cost around $1 billion, less than half of the estimated $2.4 billion cost of repairing the dykes and installing a new pump station.

"Dyke rehabilitation programs tend to assume that future waterflows will be predictable, however climate projections show that flooding events are likely to increase in the future -- and the water needs somewhere to go," says study author Riley Finn, a researcher at the Martin Conservation Decisions Lab at UBC in a paper published today in Frontiers of Conservation Science .

"By restoring Sumas Lake -- Semá:th Xhotsa -- we can help the region adapt to future floods, facilitating climate resiliency in the long term. It is the most ecologically responsible solution for flood management in the region."

Ecological reconciliation

The authors note that restoring the lake will also promote healthy food systems and ecological reconciliation, addressing the ongoing harms caused by the loss of the lake to the Semá:th people.

Before its conversion to agricultural land, Sumas Lake supported thriving populations of salmon, sturgeon, ducks, and food and medicinal plants, many of which are now endangered.

Chief Dalton Silver, Sumas First Nation said "For the Semá:th people, the lake represented life and livelihood. In 1924, the lake was drained in an instance of land theft, decimating an ecology that supported a rich and diverse Indigenous food system and replacing it with a settler food system.

"My grandpa used to say that in the Coast Salish Territory, Semá:th was the central location where the people used to gather. The people gathered in the summertime as we had Semá:th Lake that once offered every species of fish right there at the front of our village and in the wintertime, people gathered there from all parts of the Coast Salish Territory for the winter ceremonies."

Managed retreat

The study integrates Indigenous laws and oral tradition and the concept of "managed retreat" -- the purposeful relocation of people and infrastructure to safer areas.

"In a time when climate-change induced flooding is predicted to increase, our study shows that incorporating Indigenous laws and knowledge is essential for developing more sustainable and just solutions," said Dr. Tara Martin, the study's senior author and a professor of forest and conservation sciences at UBC. "We need to explore innovative solutions, not just build more dykes."

Humans seem to want to build bigger and better infrastructure but it is always at the detriment of our ecosystem and environment, added co-author Murray Ned, a member of the Sumas First Nation and executive director of the Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance.

"Mother Nature signaled to us in 1990 and 2021 that the spirit of the Semá:th Xhotsa is alive and well, and ready to return with or without our cooperation. This research demonstrates that there are more economical and logical options that would allow us to reconcile some of the past harms of draining the lake a hundred years ago, and still maintain agricultural opportunities and the farming community in the region," said Ned.

• Environmental Issues
• Sustainability
• Environmental Policies
• Land Management
• Resource Shortage
• World Development
• Prairie Restoration
• Water scarcity
• Effect of Hurricane Katrina on Mississippi
• Hurricane Andrew
• Lake effect snow
• National security

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of British Columbia . Original written by Lou Bosshart. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

• Riley J. R. Finn, Murray Ned - Kwilosintun, Leah Ballantyne, Ian Hamilton, Janice Kwo, Rayanna Seymour-Hourie, Deborah Carlson, Kristen E. Walters, Jennifer Grenz, Tara G. Martin. Reclaiming the Xhotsa: climate adaptation and ecosystem restoration via the return of Sumas Lake . Frontiers in Conservation Science , 2024; 5 DOI: 10.3389/fcosc.2024.1380083

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