Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) Non-Ionic Surfactant-Based Reverse Micellar Dyeing of Cotton Fabric with Hot Type Trichloropyrimidine (TCP)-Based Reactive Dyes

This work aims to examine the feasibility of using poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based reverse micellar dyeing system for dyeing cotton fabric with the use of hot type trichloropyrimidine (TCP)-based reactive dyes and to evaluate the possibility of saving the dyeing energy used during the dyeing process. Experimental results show that fabrics dyed in reverse micellar system at 90°C can achieve higher color yield than the conventional water-based system at the same temperature. Further experiments using reverse micellar system for dyeing cotton at 80°C (a reduction of working temperature of 10°C) provided color yield comparable to that of conventional water-based system except the use of yellow dye. Both water-dyed and octane-dyed samples had good to excellent levelness, washing and rubbing fastness and 98.5% of octane could be recycled after distillation. Reflectance curves were identical in shape and the SEM images showed neither of the dyeing systems caused any significant damage to cotton fibers. These findings validated the possibility of using reverse micellar dyeing system for hot type TCP-based reactive dyeing of cotton fabrics at lower coloration temperature and energy consumption.