Dyeing wool and cotton fibres with acidic extract of Hibiscus rosa sinensis flower

Abstract

The focus of this work is to extract a natural dye for colouring camel wool as a substitute for synthetic dyes used in the Sadu House of Kuwait. Their target is to keep the tradition of tent and rug production natural in all its manifestations. Therefore, our task was to find an abundant source that provides a colour preferably red to purple. Hibiscus rosa sinensis (HRS) is an abundantly available plant in Kuwait that was explored for extraction of the red dye to colour camel wool permanently. The powdered petals of red flowers of HRS was extracted with 5% acetic acid which yielded a deep red colour that showed a great potential for woollen fibre dyeing. The use of mordants like alum and some metal salts manifested a wide range of fixed colours which intensified at 85 °C. The colours produced had excellent fastness and was accepted by the Sadu House.

Keywords:

• Hibiscus flower
• acetic acid extract
• Sadu house
• stannous chloride–anthocyanin complex
• red/purple permanent colour

Abbreviations :

• _{GAA: Glacial acetic acid}
• _{AA: Acetic acid}
• _{HRS: Hibiscus rosa sinensis}

Acknowledgements

The authors remain thankful to the ‘Sadu House’ for donating fibre materials providing support. The authors extend their thanks to Kuwait University for using the facility numbered GS 01/10.