Studies on the influence of power ultrasound on dye penetration in leather dyeing using photomicrographic analysis

Ultrasound assisted enhancement in natural dye extraction from beetroot for industrial applications and natural dyeing of leather

There is a growing demand for eco-friendly/non-toxic colorants, specifically for health sensitive applications such as coloration of food and dyeing of child textile/leather garments. Recently, dyes derived from natural sources for these applications have emerged as an important alternative to potentially harmful synthetic dyes and pose need for suitable effective extraction methodologies. The present paper focus on the influence of process parameters for ultrasound assisted leaching of coloring matter from plant materials. In the present work, extraction of natural dye from beetroot using ultrasound has been studied and compared with static/magnetic stirring as a control process at 45 degrees C. The influence of process parameters on the extraction efficiency such as ultrasonic output power, time, pulse mode, effect of solvent system and amount of beetroot has been studied. The use of ultrasound is found to have significant improvement in the extraction efficiency of colorant obtained from beetroot. Based on the experiments it has been found that a mixture of 1:1 ethanol-water with 80W ultrasonic power for 3h contact time provided better yield and extraction efficiency. Pulse mode operation may be useful in reducing electrical energy consumption in the extraction process. The effect of the amount of beetroot used in relation to extraction efficiency has also been studied. Two-stage extraction has been studied and found to be beneficial for improving the yield for higher amounts of beetroot. Significant 8% enhancement in % yield of colorant has been achieved with ultrasound, 80W as compared to MS process both using 1:1 ethanol-water. The coloring ability of extracted beet dye has been tested on substrates such as leather and paper and found to be suitable for dyeing. Ultrasound is also found to be beneficial in natural dyeing of leather with improved rate of exhaustion. Both the dyed substrates have better color values for ultrasonic beet extract as inferred from reflectance measurement. Therefore, the present study clearly offers efficient extraction methodology from natural dye resources such as beetroot with ultrasound even dispensing with external heating. Thereby, also making eco-friendly non-toxic dyeing of fibrous substances a potential viable option.

Sono-leather technology with ultrasound: a boon for unit operations in leather processing - review of our research work at Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), India

Ultrasound is a sound wave with a frequency above the human audible range of 16 Hz to 16 kHz. In recent years, numerous unit operations involving physical as well as chemical processes are reported to have been enhanced by ultrasonic irradiation. There have been benefits such as improvement in process efficiency, process time reduction, performing the processes under milder conditions and avoiding the use of some toxic chemicals to achieve cleaner processing. These could be a better way of augmentation for the processes as an advanced technique. The important point here is that ultrasonic irradiation is physical method activation rather than using chemical entities. Detailed studies have been made in the unit operations related to leather such as diffusion rate enhancement through porous leather matrix, cleaning, degreasing, tanning, dyeing, fatliquoring, oil-water emulsification process and solid-liquid tannin extraction from vegetable tanning materials as well as in precipitation reaction in wastewater treatment. The fundamental mechanism involved in these processes is ultrasonic cavitation in liquid media. In addition to this there also exist some process specific mechanisms for the enhancement of the processes. For instance, possible real-time reversible pore-size changes during ultrasound propagation through skin/leather matrix could be a reason for diffusion rate enhancement in leather processing as reported for the first time. Exhaustive scientific research work has been carried out in this area by our group working in Chemical Engineering Division of CLRI and most of these benefits have been proven with publications in valued peer-reviewed international journals. The overall results indicate that about 2-5-fold increase in the process efficiency due to ultrasound under the given process conditions for various unit operations with additional benefits. Scale-up studies are underway for converting these concepts in to a real viable larger scale operation. In the present paper, summary of our research findings from employing this technique in various unit operations such as cleaning, diffusion, emulsification, particle-size reduction, solid-liquid leaching (tannin and natural dye extraction) as well as precipitation has been presented.

Design parameter investigation of industrial size ultrasound textile treatment bath

Design requirements for industrial size ultrasound bath for textile treatments have been determined. For this purpose, effects of sound pressure level, bath temperature, bath volume, textile material type and hydrophility degree of fabric were examined extensively. Finite element analysis (FEA) was used to investigate spacing and alignment of the ultrasound source transducers to reach effective and homogenous acoustic pressure distribution in the bath. It was found that textile material type, bath temperature and volume led to significant changes at sound pressure level. These parameters should be taken into consideration in designing of industrial size ultrasound bath for textile treatments. Besides, wettability of textiles is highly dependent to the distance from the transducers.