Cotton fabric modification through ceric (IV) ion-initiated graft copolymerisation of 2-methacryloyloxyethyltrimethyl ammonium chloride to enhance the fixation of reactive dyes

Abstract

An environmentally friendly dyeing method with highly enhanced dye fixation was proposed to reduce wastewater release in the dyeing of reactive dyes. Cotton fabrics were modified and prepared using the ceric (IV) ion-initiated graft copolymerisation of 2-methacryloyloxyethyltrimethyl ammonium chloride (DMC). These modified cotton fabrics were first applied to reactive dyeing without the addition of inorganic salt. Grafting was confirmed by obtaining Fourier transform infrared spectra. Reaction conditions, including the initiator concentration, DMC-to-cotton mass ratio, reaction time and acid concentration, were optimised to enhance the grafting amount of DMC and obtain high dye exhaustion. The surface morphological characteristics and strength properties of the modified cotton were evaluated. When the amount of the grafted DMC on cotton was 0.114 mmol/g, the fixation of C.I. Reactive Blue 19, C.I. Reactive Red 195 and C.I. Reactive Yellow 145 could reach 85.6, 96.5 and 98.5 %, respectively; these respective values were 24.0, 24.4 and 23.2 % higher than those obtained using the conventional dyeing method in the presence of inorganic salt. Wastewater indexes, including chemical oxygen demand (COD Cr ), colourity (extent or degree of colouring) and ammonia-nitrogen content, were determined. The recyclability of the DMC solution was also examined to show the applicability of the proposed dyeing method.

Salt-Free Dyeing of Modified Cotton through Graft Polymerization with Highly Enhanced Dye Fixation and Good Strength Properties

“…The decreases in warp and weft for the modified fibers were 2.4% and 2.7%, respectively. While the decreases in warp and weft when ceric (IV) ion was used as initiator were 4.5% and 4.2%, respectively [27], showing advantages of this modification method in maintaining the mechanical strength of the cotton fibers. Moreover, for tear strength in warp, only 1.8% decrease was obtained and that in weft was unchanged, indicating the influence of the graft-polymerization on tear strength was much less.…”

“…However, it was found that the fabrics turned a little yellow after graft polymerization mainly due to the orange color of the initiator-ammonium cerium (IV) nitrate. In addition, the tensile strength was decreased mainly attributed to glucose ring open during Ce (IV) initiated-graft polymerization in nitric acid as the cellulose backbone rather than the hydroxyl groups of the fibers is generally accepted as the major oxidation site [27].…”

Preparation of cationic cotton through reaction with different polyelectrolytes

“…It is estimated that the cationic process can reduce at least 70% of the concentration of salt in the reactive dyeing effluent (Arivithamani and Giri Dev 2018 ). Therefore, many authors refer to cationization as a salt-free or low-salt process (Chattopadhyay 2001 ; Ma et al 2015 , 2020 ; Arivithamani and Giri Dev 2017a ; Sadeghi-Kiakhani and Safapour 2018 ; Dong et al 2020 ). Even after extensive research and advancement in the field, cationization encounters barriers to industrial-scale applications due to nuisance odor (Farrell et al 2015 ), high costs (Aktek and Millat 2017 ), toxicity (Farrell and Hauser 2013 ) and limited commercial availability of the reagents (Hasani et al 2009 ).…”

Non‐aqueous dyeing of cotton fibre with reactive dyes: A review

“…Due to growing environmental concerns, several alternative methods for dyeing cotton fibre have been investigated and reported in the literature, including neutral pH dyeing, supercritical carbon dioxide dyeing, reverse micellar dyeing, low‐salt or salt‐free dyeing, clay nanoparticle dyeing, silicone‐based dyeing, two‐solvent miscible dyeing, dyeing with reused wastewater, dye‐solvent suspension dyeing and natural mordant dyeing . The addition of different dyeing methods, modifications of fibre properties (such as cotton cationisation and polymer grafting on cotton), inventions of new reactive dyes with reduced requirements for salt and soda ash, and advancements in effluent treatment technologies, have also been reported. These methods are still in their infancy and each has scope for improvement.…”