Effect of enzymatic treatment on the dyeing of pineapple leaf fibres with natural dyes

Abstract

Naturally dyed garments are attracting increasing interest from environmentally-attentive consumers. While the lack of colour reproducibility is no longer of importance, issues regarding light fastness and dye uptake remain. While metal salts mordants may offer good results, they do not satisfactorily address environmental concerns. In this experimental work, pineapple leaf fibres, a by-product of the food industry, have been scoured with the naturally occurring enzymes pectinase and cellulase (separately) and dyed with a selection of 5 natural dyes. Morphological characterization, tensile tests, weight loss, dye uptake, colour measurements, and light fastness tests were conducted. Comparison of these results with those for fibres scoured in NaOH (with and without inorganic mordant) shows that enzymes lead to higher dye exhaustion, comparable or greater tensile strength, lighter shades, but similar light fastness. Enzyme-based scouring can therefore effectively prepare pineapple leaf fibres for dyeing with natural material without resorting to potentially toxic premordants.