Dyeing of Fabrics in Supercritical Fluid Using Plants

摘要

Dyeing of synthetic fibers with supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO{sub}2) containing dyes is an environment-friendly process because it requires no auxiliary, no drying process and recycle of CO{sub}2, resulting in no emission and low energy consumption. In this paper we first will discuss the dyeing mechanism by summarizing the solubility of some dyestuffs in scCO{sub}2, the swelling behavior of fiber (polymer) materials in scCO{sub}2, the dyeing isotherms and the diffusion coefficients of the dyes into the fibers from scCO{sub}2 medium. Furthermore, a mini dyeing plant having 2.65 l dye bath and a circulation system was constructed and tested for scCO{sub}2 dyeing of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fabric with commercially available disperse dyes. The effects of experimental condition e.g. the flow of the fluid in the dye bath and the speeds of bath circulation on the dyeing were investigated. Discussion will refer to the medium-size plant (with 100 l dye bath) and practical plant (with 350 l dye bath).