Natural dye production from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Thermomyces</i> sp fungi for textile application

Abstract

The present study is aimed at evaluating and optimizing the dyeing potential of fungal pigment for different fabrics. The yellow pigment produced from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Thermomyces</i> sp. has been purified and used for dyeing processes. The effect of process parameters of dyeing, such as <i>p</i>H, temperature, time duration, mordants, colour intensity and fastness properties, has been studied and the conditions are optimized. The dyeing capacity of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Thermomyces</i> sp pigments is studied in cotton, silk and wool fabrics. The pigment shows high affinity with silk fabrics and is found to give good light fastness (rating 4), colour fastness to washing (rating 4-5) and colour fastness to rubbing (rating 3-4). The optimum conditions for dyeing are found to be 30 °C, 3 <i>p</i>H, Myrobalan mordant and 20 min duration. The pigment shows a maximum bacteria reduction in the silk dyed sample against <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Salmonella typhi</i> (51.05 %).