Alternatives to Urea in Wool Printing Part 1 Sponge Printing Film Reducing Urea in Wool Printing with Reactive Dyes

In order to resolve the problem of water pollution owing to using a large amount of urea in wool printing with reactive dyes, a new paste for printing wool fabrics with reactive dyes was applied which resulted in reducing urea in the printing paste, providing maximum fixation of reactive dyes on wool fabrics. A sponge alginate film was formed on the surface of the wool fabrics. The film contained reactive dye, brewer�s yeast enzyme, ethylene glycol and formic acid. During steaming process the sponge film in its new physical properties absorbs a big quantity of water and gives an ideal status to transfer the dye and all the other chemicals into wool fabrics. The K/S of printed samples was increased by about 27.84 % for red dye and 21.71 % for blue dye which were applied, compared with those printed by the traditional printing paste that containing 200g/kg urea.