Effluent-free deep dyeing of cotton fabric with cacao husk extracts using the Taguchi optimization method

Textile dyehouses are under scrutiny because they discharge colored and hazardous effluents to waterways. There is a need to develop an alternative dyeing system that does not produce any hazardous effluent. The waterless dyeing method could be a viable eco-friendly alternative to the traditional aqueous dyeing method. In this work, cacao husk extracts were used as a natural dye in the decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5) medium for the dyeing of cotton fabric, and subsequently, the dyed cotton was treated by a fixation treatment with a cationic dye-fixing agent in the D5 medium. The cotton fabric dyed with cacao husk extracts exhaustion in the waterless D5 medium exhibited better exhaustion, fixation rate, color strength (K/S), and colorfastness to washing and rubbing compared to the fabric dyed with the same extracts using the conventional aqueous dyeing and dye-fixing methods. The dye exhaustion percentage and the dye fixation rate were 95.6% and 94.8% in the D5 medium respectively, which is significantly higher in comparison to a 48.2% dye exhaustion percentage and a 35.3% dye fixation rate in the conventional water medium. An orthogonal array design (L9) was adopted to optimize the dyeing conditions with respect to exhaustion percentage. The results indicated that the dyebath temperature was the most important factor for achieving the optimal dye exhaustion, and dyeing time also showed considerable effects. Linear regression was used to predict the exhaustion percentage, and the resulting p value of 0.000 demonstrated that a strong coefficient was proven among all selected factors. This study has demonstrated that dyeing of cotton fabric with cacao husk extracts in the D5 dyeing system can be a viable method for the textile industry with minimal environmental pollution.