Dyeing of Woollen Fabric with Bixa Orellana (Annato Seeds)

Nowadays the environment aspects of effluent treatment are too complicated problems in processing industries. So due to overcome this problem, Eco-friendly process is required. If we used the natural colouring matters with natural fabric ineco-friendly process, there is no need of effluent treatment. Natural dyes and natural fabrics are eco-friendly to the environment. All natural dyes are not having good fixation to material. So, some dyes require mordant for fixation. In this project, I chosen annatto for a colouring matter and will also analyze the antimicrobial property. It is a natural dye obtained from annatto tree. Annatto possess good substantive towards cotton and protein material and give orange colour. If we use mordant means there is a chance of getting colour from light orange to orange red. It gives pleasant odour to textile material. Natural herbal products can be used for antimicrobial composition to be the effective candidates in bringing out herbal textiles. The plants and plant products are traditionally used for healing of wounds, burn-injuries and antimicrobial activity against skin infections. The growing interest in herbs and economically useful plant is part of the movement towards green economical life style. Raw wool fabric does not have any aesthetic appeal but after dyeing with bright and fast colours the appearance enhanced to a greater extend. Dyeing makes an important contribution to fabric decoration by producing many beautiful colours and the colour harmonies obtained by a combination of various dyeing methods. Protease treatments can modify the surface of wool and silk fibers to provide new and unique finishes. Research has been carried out on the application of proteases to prevent wool felting. Hence there are lots of efforts being made to replace the synthetic dyes with the safe and eco-friendly dyes i.e. Natural dyes. There are several classes of natural dyes that are suitable for dyeing of wool fabric in bright and fast colour. Annato (Bixa orellana ) is one of the best dye that produce bright and vibrant colours on wool found in this research.