Green natural dye from Buddleja officinalis and its ultrasonic dyeing on cotton fabric

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore a new eco-friendly green textile dyeing. Natural plant Buddleja officinalis is traditionally used as yellow pigment addition in rice. It is worth developing its application and dyeing performance in cotton fabric. Design/methodology/approach Buddleja officinalis dried flower was extracted with ethanol aqueous. The extraction conditions including ethanol concentration, material to liquor ratio, extract time and temperature were optimized. Then cotton fabrics were dyed with Buddleja officinalis extraction under conventional and ultrasonic conditions. The effects of dyeing time, bath ratio, pH value of dyeing bath, dyeing temperature and mordants on K/S values were studied and the resulting color strength obtained by conventional and ultrasonic dyeing were compared. The ultraviolet (UV) transmittance of Buddleja officinalis dyed cotton fabric was also evaluated. Findings The color strength of the fabric dyed with Buddleja officinalis under ultrasonic conditions was higher than that under conventional conditions. Alum, Fe and Cu as simultaneous mordants improved the K/S value of the dyed cotton fabrics. Both washing fastness and rubbing fastness were fairly good in all Buddleja officinalis dyed cotton fabrics, washing fastness = 3-4 and rubbing fastness = 4. What's more, the dyed cotton fabrics showed lower transmittance values as compared to undyed cotton fabrics and indicated potential UV protection capability. Practical implications Buddleja officinalis can be a new natural dye source for the ultrasonic dyeing of cotton fabric. Originality/value It is for the first time that Buddleja officinalis is used as a natural dye in cotton fabric dyeing with less water and the dyeing using ultrasound has been found to have an obvious improvement in the color strength and color-fastness.