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Eco-friendly printing of natural fabrics using

natural dyes from alkanet and rhubarb

M. Rekaby , A. A. Salem & S. H. Nassar

To cite this article: M. Rekaby , A. A. Salem & S. H. Nassar (2009) Eco-friendly printing of
natural fabrics using natural dyes from alkanet and rhubarb, The Journal of The Textile
Institute, 100:6, 486-495, DOI: 10.1080/00405000801962177

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00405000801962177

Published online: 03 Aug 2009.

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The Journal of The Textile Institute
Vol. 100, No. 6, August 2009, 486–495

Eco-friendly printing of natural fabrics using natural dyes from alkanet and rhubarb
M. Rekabya∗ , A.A. Salemb and S.H. Nassara
a
Textile Research Division, National Research Centre, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt; b Department of Textile Printing, Dyeing and Finishing,
Faculty of Applied Arts, Helwan University, Helwan, Egypt
(Received 25 October 2007; final version received 3 February 2008)

In the present work, the suitability of printing natural fabrics (wool, silk, cotton and flax) with two natural dyes (alkanet and
rhubarb) using pigment-printing technique has been investigated. The effect of different factors, i.e. dye concentration, nature
of thickening agent, type of fixation, concentration and type of mordant, has been studied. The printed goods were evaluated
by measuring the K/S value and the overall fastness properties. Results show that the highest K/S value was obtained by using
Meypro gum as a thickener. The K/S increases rapidly as the concentration of the natural dye powder in the printing paste
increases from 10 to 40 g/kg printing paste. Moreover, results show that the printed goods, which were fixed via steaming,
have relatively higher colour strength than their corresponding samples fixed via thermofixation. The effect of mordants on
colour development was also studied and alkanet dye was chosen as an example for this investigation. The best results were
obtained by using mordant at a concentration of 20 g/kg printing paste. Different colour yields could be obtained by using
different mordants, and all of colour fastness results were ranging between very well and excellent.
Keywords: natural dyes; textile printing; alkanet and rhubarb

Introduction ing paste is an eco-friendly printing paste containing natural

Calls for the use of natural dyes have been just one of
the consequences of increased environmental awareness
(Chvan, 1995). Natural dyes are pigments derived from
mineral, animal or plant sources.
Nevertheless, dyes from the vegetable sources are in-
teresting because of the very low toxicity of dyes (Gogoi &
Kalita, 1999).
Natural dyes can be obtained from any part of the plant
like leaves, fruits, seeds, flowers, bark root, etc. (Ansari &
Thakur, 2000).
Alkanna tinctoria (alkanet) (Gulrajani, Gupta,
Aggarwal, & Jain, 1992; Tiwari & Vankar, 2001) belongs
to the family Borginaceae. The roots, which are often very
large in proportion to the size of the plant, yield in many
of the species a red dye (C.I. Natural Red 20).
The colouring matter in alkanet root is anchusin.
The main pigment is alkannin, which was earlier called
anchusin.
Rheum emodi (rhubarb) (C.I. Natural Yellow 23) be-
longs to the family Polygonaceae, the roots of which con-
tain gallic acid and tannins as the main colouring matter
(Cai, San, Xing, & Corke, 2004; Gulrajani et al., 1992).
The aim of the present work is to investigate the suit-
ability of using alkanet and rhubarb in the fine powder form
(i.e. without extracting the colour for the sake of economy)
as natural dye in printing natural fabrics (cotton, wool, silk
and flax) using the pigment-printing technique. The print-
dye and natural thickener.
Experimental materials
Substrate
Wool: mill-scoured wool fabric (100%) supplied by Misr
Co. for spinning and weaving, Mehalla El-Kubra, Egypt.
Silk: mill-scoured natural silk fabric supplied by Hussein
M. El-Khatib Sons Co., Suhag, Egypt.
Cotton: mill-desized, kier boiled and bleached poplin cotton
fabric (140 g/m) produced by Misr Helwan for Spinning
Co., Cairo, Egypt.
Flax: semi-finished linen fabric was supplied by textile in-
dustries Egyptian Co., Ointex, Egypt.
Natural dyes
Commercial grade alkanet and rhubarb powder, which are
natural dyes, were purchased from local market in Egypt
and used as pigment colours.
Thickening agents
r High-viscosity sodium alginate was supplied by Ceca
Kolloid Chemie, Paris, France, and used at a concentra-
tion of 3%.
r British gum was kindly supplied by Cairo Company for
starch and glucose, Cairo, Egypt, and used at a concen-
tration of 50%.

∗
Corresponding author. Email: mmrekaby@yahoo.co.uk
ISSN 0040-5000 print / ISSN 1754-2340 online
Copyright 
C 2009 The Textile Institute
DOI: 10.1080/00405000801962177
http://www.informaworld.com
 The Journal of The Textile Institute 487

r Meypro gum NP-16 (Meyhall), which is a non-ionic Fixation

thickening agent based on modified plant seed gum, was
used at a concentration of 8%.
r Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) sodium salt (high vis-
cosity) was supplied by BDH laboratory supplies (Eng-
land) and used at a concentration of 1%.
r Carboxymethyl starch (CMS) was kindly supplied by
Cairo Company for Standard Glucose, Cairo, Egypt, and
used at a concentration of 10%.
r Synthetic thickener: Daicothick was kindly supplied by
Daico Company, Cairo, Egypt, and was used at a con-
centration of 1%.
r Binder BD was kindly supplied by Daico Company,
Cairo, Egypt.
After printing and drying, the printed goods were subjected
to fixation either by steaming at 130◦ C for 30 min or by
thermofixation at 160◦ C for 4 min.
Washing
Washing of the fixed printed goods is carried out as follows.
r Rinsing thoroughly with cold water and warm water.
r Washing with a solution containing 2 g/L Hostapal CV-
ET (non-ionic detergent) for 15 min at 60◦ C.
r Rinsing with warm and cold water and finally air drying.

Measurements
Mordants
Colour measurements
The mordants used comprise
The colour strength of the printed samples expressed as K/S
r aluminium ammonium sulfate (NH4 Al (SO4 )2 ·12H2 O) was evaluated by reflectance technique (Judd & Wyszecki,
r stannous chloride (SnCl2 ·2H2 O) 1975).
r magnesium sulphate (MgSO4 ·7H2 O) The overall fastness properties (colour fastness to wash-
r ferric chloride (FeCl3 ) ing, perspiration, light and crocking) were assessed accord-
r ferrous sulfate (FeSO4 ) ing to standard techniques (Society of Dyers and Colourists,
r tannic acid (C14 H10 O9 ). 1995).

Results and discussion

Other chemicals
Present work is to investigate printing of natural fabrics
Urea and diammonium phosphates were of laboratory-
(i.e. wool, silk, cotton and flax) using an eco-friendly print-
grade chemicals.
ing paste; the latter is thickened with natural thickeners
and contains eco-friendly natural dyes from alkanet and
Methods rhubarb.
Preparation of the printing paste To investigate the suitability of using alkanet and
The pastes used for application of the powdered alkanet, rhubarb powder as natural dye in printing natural fabrics us-
saffron and rhubarb as a pigment colour in printing the ing the pigment printing technique, different printing pastes
aforementioned fabrics were prepared as follows: were prepared according to the recipe described in the Ex-
perimental section.
The printing pastes so obtained were employed for print-
Natural dyes powder Yg ing natural fabric samples (wool, silk, cotton and flax) via
Thickener 600 g screen printing. Given below are the results obtained along
Urea 40 g with the appropriate discussion.
Diammonium phosphate 12.5 g
Binder BD 120 g
Mordant Xg Effect of type of thickener used
Balance Zg To investigate the effect of type of thickener used, differ-
ent printing pastes were prepared for every dye. The latter
Total 1000 g was thickened with natural thickeners like sodium alginate,
Meypro gum, British gum, CMS, CMC or synthetic thick-
ener. The results of investigation are represented in Figures
1 and 2.
It is clear from Figures 1 and 2 that the type of thickener
Printing technique has a remarkable effect on the K/S of the printed goods. In
All the pastes were applied to the fabrics through flat screen most of the cases, the highest K/S value was obtained by
by manual technique. using Meypro gum as thickener.
488 M. Rekaby et al.

Figure 1. Effect of type of thickener on the K/S values of wool, silk, cotton and flax fabrics printed using alkanet as a natural dye and
fixed by steaming.

This may be because of the higher stability of the
Meypro gum pastes to the printing paste components and
fixations conditions.
Effect of dye concentration
To investigate the effect of dye concentration on the K/S
values of printing goods, different printing pastes thick-
ened with Meypro gum were prepared according to the
recipe indicated in the Experimental section, using differ-
ent amounts of the specified natural dye, viz. 10, 20, 30, 40
and 50 g/kg pastes.
The results obtained are represented in Figures 3 and 4
for the two natural dyes used, namely, alkanet and rhubarb,
respectively. The printed fabrics were fixed by steaming at
130◦ C for 30 min.
It is clear from Figures 3 and 4 that the value of K/S
depends on the nature of the printed fabrics as well as the
concentration of the dye used.
Generally speaking, it is clear from the data that the K/S
increases rapidly as the concentration of the natural dye
powder in the printing paste increases from 10 to 40 g/kg
printing paste. Further increase in the concentration, i.e.
from 40 to 50, is accompanied by either a relatively slight
increase or even a decrease in the K/S.
The increase in the value of K/S by the increasing con-
centration of the natural dye powder in the printing paste
is expected because the quantity of the coloured particles
in the print film increases. The opportunity of migration of
the dye component, i.e. the natural dye molecules, from the
printed film to the surface of the printed fabric increases till
it reaches the optimum concentration (40 g of the plant in
the powder form/kilogram printing paste).

Figure 2. Effect of type of thickener on the K/S values of wool, silk, cotton and flax fabrics printed using rhubarb as a natural dye and
fixed by steaming.
 The Journal of The Textile Institute 489

Figure 3. Effect of concentration of alkanet on the K/S of the printed wool, silk, cotton and flax fabrics.

Effect of type of fixation
It is clear from the data of Figure 5 that the value of K/S
of the fabrics printed and fixed via steaming is relatively
higher than their corresponding samples printed and fixed
via thermofixation.
This phenomenon holds true for both of the natural dyes
used regardless of the type of printed fabric. This may be
due to the condensation of water vapour on the surface of
the printed goods during the steaming process.
This condensed water vapour may accelerate the pen-
etration of the dye molecules into the fabric and hence
increases the K/S values of the printed fabrics fixed by
steaming than those fixed by using conventional hot air in
the thermofixation process.
Effect of temperature and time of steaming
Figures 6–9 represent the effect of temperature and time of
steaming on the K/S of the different fabrics printed using
each of the natural dyes (alkanet and rhubarb).
It is clear from the data of Figures 6 and 7 that irrespec-
tive of nature of the fabric used, and for the two natural dyes
used, the temperature of steaming has a remarkable effect
on the K/S. The highest K/S value was obtained at 130◦ C.
However, the data of Figures 6 and 7 show that higher
temperature may cause higher K/S values, but it would also
increase the risk of the textile yellowing (as in the case of
wool and silk), and also the difference in the K/S values is
not high enough to overcome the economical factors.
Hence, it may be concluded that the optimum temper-
ature for steaming of fabrics printed using (alkanet and
rhubarb) is 115◦ C in case of wool and silk and 120◦ C in
case of cotton and flax fabrics.
In Figures 8 and 9, data show that nearly for the two
natural dyes used (alkanet and rhubarb), irrespective of the
type of fabric used, time of steaming also has a remarkable
effect on the K/S. It is worth mentioning that longer expo-
sure of the fabric to high degree of steaming also entails
the risk of the textile yellowing. Thus, in this work the time
of steaming chosen to give satisfactory results was 30 min

Figure 4. Effect of concentration of rhubarb on the K/S of the printed wool, silk, cotton and flax fabrics.
490 M. Rekaby et al.

Figure 5. Effect of type of fixation on the K/S values of the printed fabrics.

Figure 6. Effect of temperature of steaming on the K/S values of natural fabrics printed using alkanet as a natural dye.

Figure 7. Effect of temperature of steaming on the K/S values of natural fabrics printed using rhubarb as a natural dye.
 The Journal of The Textile Institute 491

Figure 8. Effect of time of steaming on the K/S values of natural fabrics printed using alkanet as a natural dye.

at temperature of 115◦ C in case of wool and silk and at
temperature of 120◦ C in case of cotton and flax.
Effect of mordant
It has been reported (Chvan, 1995; Crews, 1982; Dalby,
1993; Prindle, 1994; Sekar, 1999) that mordants are often
added on using natural dye to (a) fix the dyestuff, (b) obtain
a full colour range, (c) keep natural dye from fading, (d)
improve their overall fastness properties and/or (e) brighten,
deepen or dull a colour.
In using mordant, the dye binds better to the fabric.
By using different mordants, a variety of colours may be
obtained from a single dyestuff (Dweck, 2002).
To study the effect of mordants on colour development
with the natural dyes used in this work, it was first necessary
to investigate the effect of mordant concentration on the
K/S of the printed goods. Alkanet dye was chosen as an
example for this investigation. Various mordants were used
in the printing paste of alkanet dye with different mordant
concentrations (viz. 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 g mordant/1
kg printing paste). Figures 10–13 show that out of the six
mordant concentrations used, the best results were obtained
by using mordant at a concentration of 20 g/kg printing
paste.
By using this mordant concentration (20 g/kg printing
paste), different printing pastes were prepared for each of
the natural dyes used in this work (namely alkanet and
rhubarb), using Meypro gum as a thickener and using dye
concentration of 40 g dye/kg printing paste. The prepared
pastes were then used in printing wool, silk, cotton and flax
fabrics. After fixation, using the optimum fixation condition
arrived at in this work (steaming for 30 min at temperature
of 115◦ C in case of wool and silk and at temperature of
120◦ C in case of cotton and flax), washing and drying, the
fabrics were then assessed for K/S and overall fastness prop-
erties measurements. The results obtained are presented in
Tables 1 and 2 for alkanet and rhubarb, respectively.
It was observed that the mordant has a remarkable ef-
fect on the obtained colours where different ranges could

Figure 9. Effect of time of steaming on the K/S values of natural fabrics printed using rhubarb as a natural dye.
492 M. Rekaby et al.

Figure 10. Effect of mordant concentration on the K/S values of wool fabrics printed using alkanet as a natural dye.

Figure 11. Effect of mordant concentration on the K/S values of silk fabrics printed using alkanet as a natural dye.

Figure 12. Effect of mordant concentration on the K/S values of cotton fabrics printed using alkanet as a natural dye.
 The Journal of The Textile Institute 493

Figure 13. Effect of mordant concentration on the K/S values of flax fabrics printed using alkanet as a natural dye.

be obtained on using different mordants. In case of alkanet Metallic mordants are water-soluble salts of metals.
dye, the colours obtained range from violet to dark brown. They help to bond fibre and pigment at the molecular level
Moreover, a range of colours including dark yellow, yellow- (Prezewozna, 2002). They are common salts of aluminium,
ish brown and brown was obtained on using rhubarb dye. chromium, iron, tin and copper. The upper limits of the

Table 1. Fastness properties of natural fabrics printed using alkanet.

Perspiration fastness
Washing Rubbing
fastness fastness Acidic Alkaline
Fabric Mordant Light
used used K/S Alt. St. Dry Wet Alt. St. Alt. St. fastness

Wool Without 5.46 4 4 4 4–5 4 4 4 4 3

Al 5.64 4 4–5 5 4–5 4 4–5 4 4 4
Sn 5.68 4 4 4–5 4–5 4 4 4 4 5
Mg 5.91 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 4
Fe (III) 5.50 4 4 4–5 4–5 4 4 4 4 3
Fe (II) 5.62 4 4 5 5 4 4 4 4 5
Tannic acid 6.35 4–5 4–5 4 4 4–5 4–5 4–5 4 5
Silk Without 4.9 4–5 4 5 5 4–5 4 4–5 4 5
Al 4.18 4 4 5 5 4 4 4 4 4
Sn 3.55 4 4 4 3–4 4 4 4 4 3
Mg 4.21 4 4 5 4–5 4 4 4 4 4
Fe (III) 4.65 4 4–5 4 3 4–5 4–5 4 4 3
Fe (II) 4.72 4 4–5 5 4–5 4 4–5 4 4 3
Tannic acid 4.54 4 4–5 5 4–5 4 4–5 4 4 5
Cotton Without 3.78 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 5
Al 3.63 4 4 4–5 4–5 4 4 4 4 4
Sn 3.53 4 4 4 4–5 4 4 4 4 4
Mg 3.53 4 4 3–4 4–5 4 4 4 4 5
Fe (III) 3.74 4–5 4 4 5 4–5 4 4–5 4 5
Fe (II) 4.13 4 4 4–5 4–5 4 4 4 4 5
Tannic acid 3.46 4 4 3 5 4 4 4 4 5
Flax Without 5.66 4 4 5 4–5 4 4 4 4 5
Al 4.68 4 4 3 5 4 4 4 4 5
Sn 5.13 4–5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5
Mg 5.17 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 5
Fe (III) 5.59 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 5
Fe (II) 5.77 4–5 4 4–5 4 4 4 4 4 5
Tannic acid 6.12 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 4 4
494 M. Rekaby et al.

Table 2. Fastness properties of natural fabrics printed using rhubarb.

Perspiration fastness
Washing Rubbing
fastness fastness Acidic Alkaline
Fabric Mordant Light
used used K/S Alt. St. Dry Wet Alt. St. Alt. St. fastness

Wool Without 5.30 4–5 4 5 5 4–5 4 4 4 5

Al 4.50 4 4 4–5 4–5 4 4 4 4 5
Sn 4.47 4 4 5 5 4 4 4 4 5
Mg 4.48 4 4 5 5 4 4 4 4 5
Fe (III) 4.49 4–5 4 4 5 4–5 4 4–5 4 4
Fe (II) 4.51 4 4–5 5 4–5 4 4–5 4 4 5
Tannic acid 4.52 4–5 4 3 4–5 4–5 4 4–5 4 5
Silk Without 4.57 4–5 4 5 5 4–5 4 4–5 4 5
Al 4.90 4–5 4 4 4–5 4–5 4–5 4–5 4–5 5
Sn 5.04 4 4 4 3–4 4 4 4 4 5
Mg 5.10 4 4–5 5 4–5 4 4–5 4 4 5
Fe (III) 5.05 4 4 4–5 5 4–5 4 4–5 4 5
Fe (II) 5.14 4 4 5 4–5 4 4 4 4 5
Tannic acid 5.05 4 4 5 5 4 4 4 4 5
Cotton Without 4.60 4–5 4 4 4–5 4–5 4–5 4–5 4–5 5
Al 4.64 4 4 3–4 4–5 4 4 4 4 4
Sn 4.80 4–5 4 4 5 4–5 4 4–5 4 5
Mg 4.87 4 4–5 5 4–5 4 4–5 4 4 5
Fe (III) 4.97 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 5
Fe (II) 5.00 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5
Tannic acid 4.66 4 4 5 5 4 4 4 4 5
Flax Without 5.01 4 4–5 5 5 4–5 4 4–5 4 5
Al 4.96 4–5 4 4–5 4 4 4 4 4 5
Sn 4.68 4–5 4 3 4–5 4–5 4 4–5 4 5
Mg 4.97 4 4 4–5 4–5 4 4 4 4 5
Fe (III) 5.25 4 4 5 5 4 4 4 4 5
Fe (II) 4.97 4 4 5 5 4–5 4 4–5 4 5
Tannic acid 5 4–5 4 3 5 4–5 4 4–5 4 5

presence of metals vary from product to product and are
different for different eco marks (Dweck, 2002).
Some transition metal ions can bond strongly with nat-
ural dye molecules, producing deep colours on the fab-
ric. Other non-transition elements can also produce colours
but with less intensity. The metal mordants used in this
study can be split into three groups as follows (Bliss, 1981;
Dweck, 2002; Shah & Bhattacharya, 2000).
Group 1: iron salts
Iron (II) and iron (III) form a large number of complexes,
mostly octahedral ones with coordination number 6. Some
coordination sites remain unoccupied when they interact
with the fibre. Function groups such as amino and car-
boxylic acid groups on the fibre can occupy these sites.
Thus, these salts can form a ternary complex on one site
with the fibre and in the other site with the dye. Such a strong
coordination tendency can enhance interaction between the
fibre and the dye, resulting in high dye uptake.
Group 2: magnesium salts
These metal salts do not have any tendency to form coor-
dination complexes. They can form only ionic bonds with
the dye. Hence, the dyeing produced tends to have only
moderate K/S values.
Group 3: aluminium and tin salts
These metals formed weak coordination complexes with
the dye, tending to form quite strong bonds with the dye
but not with the fibre (Cotton & Wilkinson, 1972). Thus,
they block the dye and reduce its interaction with the fibre.
This is in accordance with the observed low K/S values in
presence of aluminium and tin than those achieved with
transition metal mordants (e.g. iron salts).
On comparing the K/S values in case of using different
mordants (Tables 1 and 2), it was found that in some cases
the highest K/S value was obtained in using tannic acid (e.g.
in case of printing wool and flax fabrics using alkanet dye).
The improvement in the K/S values on protein fabrics (wool
and silk) could be attributed to the formation of
r Hydrogen bond: between phenolic hydroxyl groups of
the tannic and the free amino and amido groups of pro-
teins;
r Ionic bond: between suitability charged anionic groups
of the tannin and the cationic groups on the proteins and
 The Journal of The Textile Institute
r Covalent bond: formed by the interaction of any qui-
nine or semi-quinone groups present in tannins with any
suitable reactive groups in the proteins.
However, in case of cellulosic fabrics (i.e. cotton and
flax) the improvement in the K/S values on using tannic
acid as a mordant could be attributed to the formation of
hydrogen bond between phenolic hydroxyl groups of the
tannic and the hydroxyl groups of cellulose.
Tables 1 and 2 also show that the overall fastness prop-
erties, i.e. colour fastness to washing, rubbing and perspira-
tion of the mentioned printed fabrics, are nearly comparable
and range from good to very good to excellent. Thus, they
are quite satisfactory for practical purposes.
This phenomenon holds true regardless of (a) the nature
of the printed samples (i.e. in case of wool, silk, cotton or
flax) and (b) type of mordant used.
Finally, from the previous data it can be concluded that
alkanet, saffron and rhubarb can be used successfully as nat-
ural dyes in printing natural fabrics (wool, silk, cotton and
flax) using the pigment-printing technique, under suitable
condition of fixation.
Conclusion
The possibility of using alkanet and rhubarb in the fine
powder form in printing natural fabrics (wool, silk and flax)
using pigment printing technique has been studied.
The investigation shows that Meypro gum is the most
suitable thickener, which gave the highest K/S values and
K/S value of printed goods depends on the nature of the
printed fabric and the concentration of the dye.
The results also showed that steaming is more effec-
tive and gave higher K/S values than thermofixation. The
time of steaming chosen to give satisfactory results was
30 min at temperature of 115◦ C in case of wool and
silk and at temperature of 120◦ C in case of cotton and
flax.
Presence of mordant in the printing paste had also been
investigated with alkanet dyes and rhubarb and different
ranges of colours could be obtained by using different
mordants.
495
The overall fastness properties of printed fabrics ranged
from good to very good to excellent.
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