AbstractThe current research studied the dyeing

properties and spectroscopic characteristics of natural dyes on

PLA and PET fabrics. The natural dyes used were the dyes
extracted from turmeric and cassumunar powder and the
commercial dyes viz. Natural Orange and Natural Red Brown.
The water solubility and partition of the dyes in octanol and
water (logP) were studied. It was found that the dyes with poor
water solubility that were the turmeric and cassumunar dyes
exhibited a high degree of exhaustion and visual color yield (K/S)
than the readily water soluble commercial dyes viz. Natural
Orange and Natural Red Brown. Turmeric and cassumunar
dyes can be used for dyeing PLA and PET fabrics to a
medium-deep shade with the turmeric dye providing a deeper
shade. The fluorescence properties of the turmeric and
cassumunar dyes were examined on the PLA and PET fabrics
and it was observed that the dyes exhibited a stronger
fluorescence emission on PLA than PET for both turmeric and
cassumunar dyes. Cassumunar dye displayed less fluorescence
properties than turmeric dyes on both fabrics. The fluorescence
emission properties of the turmeric dyes at different K/S levels
were also investigated.

I ndex TermsNatural dye, polyester, polylactic acid,
turmeric, cassumunar, fluorescence.

I. INTRODUCTION
Polyester fiber (poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET) is an
important synthetic fiber holding a highest market share in
textile industry, both for apparel and non-apparel uses. As it
is a petroleum-based fiber, its life cycle is claimed to cause a
global warming. For this reason, a greener polyester fiber has
been developed to use for textile production. Poly(lactic acid),
PLA, is considered as the eco-polyester fiber. It is derived
from renewable materials e.g. corn, sugar and starch.
Fermentation of the materials yields lactic acid which is then
used for PLA polymerization. The properties of PLA as a
textile fiber have been confirmed to sufficiently serve the
textile clothing industry, although some of its technical
properties are still poorer than PET [1, 2]. PLA and PET are
hydrophobic fiber, so they can only be dyed with the less
water soluble dye, disperse dyes. Dyeing these fibers with
natural dyes has not been studied widely.
Dyeing textiles with natural dyes has long been studied,

Manuscript received April 24, 2012; revised May 31, 2012.
V. Sriumaoum is with the Department of Textile Science, Faculty of
Agro-Industry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand (e-mail:
vorabodee@yahoo.co.th).
J. Suesat is with the Department of Textile Science, Faculty of
Agro-Industry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand (Tel.:
66-2-5625064; fax: 66-2-9428663; e-mail: Jantip.s@ku.ac.th ).
P. Suwanruji is with the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science,
Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand (e-mail:fscipjs@ku.ac.th).
especially for natural fibers like cotton and silk. Majority of
the natural dyes are well soluble in water, so they can readily
dye on hydrophilic textile fibers. Natural dyes are rarely
found in use for dyeing synthetic fibers as these fibers are
rather hydrophobic, in particular polyester fibers. This makes
a marginal possibility to produce the natural-dyed synthetic
fiber textiles to fulfill a demand on a more eco-friendly textile
products. It was proposed that the solubility parameter of the
dyes and the textile substrates was the parameter took part in
dyeability of the dye on the textiles. The dye which has a
solubility parameter nearly similar to that of the fiber would
exhibit a good dyeing properties, then again, if the dye and
the fiber have a great difference in the solubility parameter,
the dye would exhibit a poor dyeing properties on the fiber.
This may be applied for studying polyester dyeing with
natural dyes having varying water solubility. It was expected
that the less water soluble, hydrophobic dyes would build-up
well on the polyester fabric, whilst the water soluble ones
would hardly dye on the fabric.
In this research, the dyeing of polyester fabric viz. PLA
and PET, with natural dyes was investigated. The
commercial natural dyes, Natural Orange and Natural Red
Brown, were studied against the extracted dyes from turmeric
and cassumunar rhizome powder. The dissolution percentage
and partition of the dyes in octanol and water (logP) were
determined in order to gain a vision of their correlation with
the dyeing properties of the natural dyes. The shade and
degree of the dye exhaustion were measured. The
fluorescence spectroscopic properties of the turmeric and
cassumunar dyes were also investigated on the PLA in
comparison with PET fabric.

II. MATERIALS AND METHOD
A. Materials
The interlock-knitted PLA fabric was prepared from 40Ne
PLA spun yarn purchased from Hebei Tianlun Textile Co.
Ltd., China and the interlock-knitted fabric of PET was
derived from 40Ne PET spun yarn purchased from Far East
Knitting & Spinning Co., Ltd, Thailand. Turmeric (Curcuma
Longa.) and Cassumunar (Zingiber cassumunar Roxb)
rhizome powders were supplied by Simaasoke community,
Thailand. The commercial natural dyes which were Natural
Orange and Natural Red Brown were supplied by Brenntag
Co., Ltd, Thailand. Sera Wash, a nonionic surfactant, was
supplied by DyStar, Thailand and Dypidol CRM, a
nonionic/anionic wetting agent was from Brenntag Co., Ltd,
Thailand.
Dyeing and Spectroscopic Properties of Natural Dyes on
Poly (Lactic Acid) and Poly (Ethylene Terephthalate)
Fabrics
Vorabodee Sriumaoum, Jantip Suesat, and Potjanart Suwanruji
International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics, Vol. 2, No. 3, May 2012
155



B. Preparation of the Natural Dyes from Turmeric and
Cassumunar Powder
The natural dyes from turmeric and cassumunar were
prepared by extracting the turmeric and cassumunar powders
using acetone as an extracting solvent. The extraction
procedure is described in our previous work [3]. The turmeric
and cassumunar dyes were oven-dried and kept in solid form
for dyeing. The two commercial natural dyes viz. Natural
Orange and Natural Red Brown were used directly in their
as-received powder form.
C. Study of the Solubility of the Natural Dyes
The solubility in water of four natural dyes was determined
by stirring 50 mg dye in 50 ml distilled water for 24 hr and
subsequently filtered to separate the insoluble solid portion
out and dried in the oven at 80
o
C for 4 hr. The weight of the
dried solid (W
1
) was used to calculate the %dye soluble in
water against the total dye weight (W
o
) as seen in equation
(1).
Water solubility of the dye % =
(Wo W1)
Wo
100% (1)

The partition ratio (p) of the dyes in the mixture of octanol
and water was also investigated in order to evaluate the
logP(octanol/water) of each dyes by following the
shake-flask method [4]. The 50 mg of each dye was agitated
in octanol/water mixture for 24 hr. The amount of the dyes
partitioned in octanol and water was examined by measuring
the absorbances of the dye solution in octanol and water. The
amount of the dye was analyzed against the calibration curve
of the dyes in octanol and water. The logP values were
calculated from equation (2) and the obtained values were
evaluated and their correlation with the dyeing behavior of
the dyes on the PLA and PET fabrics was analyzed.

logP
(octanol /water )
= log (
weight of dye dissolved in octanol
weight of dye dissolved in water
) (2)
D. Dyeing of the Natural Dyes on Polyester Fabrics
The PLA and PET fabrics were scoured in a bath
containing 1 g/l Sera Wash and 1 g/l sodium carbonate at
60
o
C for 15 mins. The scoured fabrics were taken to dye with
the natural dyes at concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 5.0, 7.0
and 9.0%owf at a liquor ratio of 10:1 using a Daelim Starlet II
infrared dyeing machine. PLA was dyed at 110
o
C whereas
PET was dyed at 130
o
C for 30 mins. After dyeing, soaping of
the dyed fabrics were performed in a bath containing 1 g/l
Dypidol CRM at 60
o
C for 15 mins and subsequently rinsed
with water and dried at room temperature. The visual color
yield (K/S) of the dyed fabrics was measured using a McBeth
ColorEye 7000 Spectrophotometer. The Build-up curves of
the dyes on PLA and PET fabrics were established by
plotting the graph between K/S values and the concentrations
of dye applied (%owf).
The degree of exhaustion of the dyes on polyester fabrics
was determined by measuring the absorbance of the dyebath
solution before and after dyeing. The %exhaustion was
calculated from equation (3).
Dye exhaustion % =
(A
0
A
1
)
A
0
100 (3)
where
0
is the absorbance of the dyebath solution before
dyeing

1
is the absorbance of the dyebath solution after dyeing
The K/S values and the color properties (L*a*b*) of the
dyed fabric was examined with McBeth ColorEye 7000
Spectrophotometer.
E. Measurement of Fluorescence Characteristics of the
Turmeric and Cassumunar Dyes on Polyester Fabrics
The PLA and PET fabrics were dyed with turmeric and
cassumunar dyes to the same level of K/S values of 5, 10, 15
and 20. The K/S values of the dyed fabrics were checked with
McBeth ColorEye 7000 Spectrophotometer. The
fluorescence spectra of the dyed fabrics were measured using
LS55 Fluorescence Spectrometer. The excitation wavelength
for the turmeric-dyed fabrics was set at 430 nm while
excitation wavelength of 360 nm was used for
cassumunar-dyed fabrics. The fluorescence emission bands
were monitored at 510 nm for both turmeric and cassumunar.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Interrelation of Water Solubility and Partition of the
Natural Dyes in Octanol/Water Solvent with Their Dyeability
The data on the % dyes dissolved in water and their
partition in octanol and water (logP) showed a varying degree
of such properties of the natural dyes studied (Table 1). The
commercial dyes exhibited very good water solubility
whereas the turmeric and cassumunar can only dissolved in
water to a small extent. The logP values indicated the degree
of dye partition between octanol and water. The higher the
logP values are, the more hydrophobic the dye is. The logP of
each dyes corresponded to their water solubility ability.
Natural orange and Natural Red brown had negative logP
values which indicated that these two dyes did prefer to stay
in water, whereas most of the turmeric and cassumunar dyes
went into octanol rather than water (high logP). This
difference in solubility of the dyes was correlated with their
dyeability, expressing by % dye exhaustion and the visual
color yield (K/S) obtained on the fabrics. The water soluble
dyes, viz. Natural Orange and Natural Red Brown, had
poor %exhaustion and K/S value. In the meanwhile, the
turmeric and cassumunar dyes which had very poor water
solubility, showed a very high degree of exhaustion and color
yield. This inferred that the dyes with poor water solubility
could dye very well on PLA and PET fabrics. Suesat et al. [5]
reported that the dyes with solubility parameter closed to
those of the polyester, PLA and PET, would dye very well on
the fabrics. From this study, it elucidate that turmeric and
cassumunar dyes are the natural dyes well suited for dyeing
polyester fabrics, while, the dyes which are readily soluble in
water are not recommended for dyeing these two
hydrophobic polyester fabrics.
The dye extracted from turmeric was reported to be
curcumin which can be used as a natural dye for dyeing
textile fibers both natural and synthetics. The curcumin,
turmeric dye, was studied in our previous work that it could
dye well on PLA and PET fabrics. Cassumunar dye was
reported to be cassumunarin, a complex curcuminoids [6],
however, it did not perform well on the polyester fabrics as
compared with turmeric dye.

International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics, Vol. 2, No. 3, May 2012
156



TABLE I: % DYE DISSOLVED IN WATER, LOGP(OCTANOL/WATER) OF THE NATURAL DYES AND THEIR DYEABILITY APPLIED AT 1%OWF
Dye Water solubility (%wt) LogP(octanol/water) Exhaustion (%) K/S
PLA PET PLA PET
Turmeric 0.690.08 1.900.44 72.421.85 56.400.55 1.95 1.84
Cassumunar 2.160.10 1.490.29 59.172.70 32.672.92 1.22 1.05
Natural Orange 89.121.83 -1.230.53 1.220.05 2.170.39 0.81 1.08
Natural Red Brown 96.701.63 -1.790.57 1.750.33 2.550.57 0.83 1.18
TABLE II: COLOR PROPERTIES OF THE NATURAL DYES ON PLA AND PET FABRICS AT SAME LEVEL OF VISUAL COLOR YIELD
Dye PLA PET
L* a* b* Shade obtained L* a* b* Shade obtained
Turmeric 85.94 -2.79 23.30 Very bright yellow 86.20 -4.39 23.17 Bright yellow
Cassumunar 87.45 -2.63 17.15 Bright yellow 88.33 -0.19 14.90 yellow
Natural Orange 69.82 11.28 17.37 Brownish orange 71.72 6.37 10.29 Brown
Natural Red Brown 71.28 9.20 11.48 Reddish brown 72.51 4.80 9.67 Brown

B. Color Properties of the Dyes on PLA and PET Fabrics
The shades of the dyes obtained on the polyester fabrics
are depicted in Table 2. At the same level of color yield, the
color properties of the dyes can be compared on PLA versus
on PET. A slightly different shade of each dye was observed
on PLA comparing with PET as seen from the different L*,
a* and b*. This shade variation occurred on different
polyester fabrics is explained by the influence of the
polyester polymer (fiber). The same dye applied on different
fiber type could display a shade variation due to the effect of
different dye-fiber interaction. Therefore, it points out from
the results that the shade of the natural dyes obtained on PLA
is slightly different from that on PET.


Fig. 1. Build-up curves of the dyes on PLA


Fig. 2. Build-up curves of the dye on PET

The build-up profiles of the dyes on PLA and PET fabrics
are depicted in Fig 1. and Fig 2., respectively. The turmeric
dyes exhibited excellent build-up properties on the PLA
fabric with attained color yield of about 35 and a fairly good
build-up on PET. A relatively poor build-up of cassumunar
dye was found on PLA and PET while the two commercial
dyes could hardly build-up on the fabrics. These results
corresponded with the results in Table 1. that the
hydrophobic dyes (turmeric and cassumunar) would dye well
on hydrophobic fibers. The dyeability of the natural dyes was
inversely proportional to their water solubility and directly
proportion to logP values. When the dyeing properties were
compared between the two polyester fabrics, better dyeability
was found on PLA for both turmeric and cassumunar dyes.
Form this result, it elucidates that turmeric and cassumunar
dyes can be used for dyeing PLA and PET fabrics to a
medium-deep shade, especially turmeric dye. Apart from
their good dyeability, it was also observed that under UV
light source, a noticeable fluorescence yellow color appeared
on the PLA and PET fabrics. The fluorescence yellow shade
was more pronounced for turmeric dye than cassumunar.
These properties will be mentioned in the next section.
C. Fluorescence Spectral Characteristics of Turmeric- and
Cassumunar-Dyed PLA and PET Fabrics


Fig. 3. Fluorescence spectra of PLA and PET fabrics dyed with turmeric dyes
at the same K/S level of 5.

Fig. 4. Fluorescence spectra of PLA and PET fabrics dyed with cassumunar
dye at the same K/S level of 5.
The fluorescence properties of turmeric and cassumunar
dyes were examined on the PLA and PET fabrics being dyed
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
K
/
S
Dye concentration (%owf)
Tumeric
Cassumunar
Natural Orange
Natural Red Brown
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
K
/
S
Dye concentration (%owf)
Tumeric
Cassumunar
Natural Orange
Natural Red Brown
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
450 500 550 600 650 700
F
l
u
o
r
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s
c
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s
i
t
y
Wavelength (nm)
PLA
PET
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
450 500 550 600 650
F
l
u
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r
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s
c
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Wavelength (nm)
PLA
PET
International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics, Vol. 2, No. 3, May 2012
157



to the same K/S value so that the fluorescence properties
could be compared. Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 show the fluorescence
emission curves of the dyed PLA and PET at the same K/S of
5. The fluorescence emission took place at the wavelength of
510 nm. A higher emission was observed on PLA as
compared with PET both for turmeric and cassumunar dyes.
The fluorescence properties of the dyes were influenced by
the fiber. It was reported that the polarity of the surrounding
environment affected fluorescence properties of fluorophore
molecule [7]. As a result of the difference in polarity of PLA
and PET, they influenced on the fluorescence characteristics
of the dyes to a different extent. It seemed that the dyes
exhibited a stronger fluorescence emission on the less polar
PLA fiber than PET for both turmeric and cassumunar dyes.
The yellow dye from turmeric is curcumin. This curcumin is
a fluorophore molecule, so it glows when exposed to UV
light and makes turmeric dyes be a fluorescence dye.
Cassumunar dye was claimed to be a complex curcuminoids
[6], however, it displayed less fluorescence properties on
both fabrics, especially the cassumunar dyed-PET,
fluorescence virtually disappeared.
The results from Fig. 3 showed that turmeric dye exhibited
a pronounced fluorescence properties on PLA. So, the work
was further studied the fluorescence emission properties of
turmeric dye on PLA at a higher K/S levels as seen in Figure
5. The fluorescence emission capacity of turmeric dye
increased with increasing K/S values. It means that the higher
amount of the dye is applied, the higher the fluorescence
emission obtains on the fabric. It can be said that turmeric dye
is a potential fluorescence dye for polyester fabrics, in
particular for PLA.


Fig. 5. Fluorescence spectra of turmeric dye applied at various K/S levels on
PLA fabric.
From this research work, it is conclusive that natural
dyeing of polyester fabrics is feasible and the natural dyes
recommended are the hydrophobic turmeric and cassumunar
dyes. The natural dyes which are highly soluble in water, are
not suited for polyester dyeing due to the poor dye-fiber
interaction. Comparing between PLA and PET, PLA was
better dyeable with the natural dyes studied.

IV. CONCLUSION
From the study, it suggests that dyeing PLA and PET
fabrics with natural dyes are practically realistic. The yellow
dyes from turmeric and cassumunar are recommended for
dyeing polyester fabrics. Apart from their good dyeing
properties on polyester fabrics, these dyes also render
fluorescence properties which may be useful for a production
of special textiles. Furthermore, the antimicrobial properties
of the turmeric and cassumunar dyes would help the fabrics
to resist microorganism. A further study on the color fastness
properties will be investigated to evaluate the performance of
these natural dyes on polyester fabrics and the improvement
of the color fastness properties of the dyes will be developed
to get a clear view on the potential of natural dyeing of
polyester in textile industry.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors are indebted to National Innovation Agency
(NIA) for their support on the research project C53-53. A part
of this research was funded by Center of Advanced Studies
for Agriculture and Food, Institute for Advanced Studies.
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0
50
100
150
450 500 550 600 650 700
F
l
u
o
r
e
s
c
e
n
t

i
n
t
e
n
s
i
t
y
Wavelength (nm)
K/S 5
K/S 10
K/S 15
K/S 20
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