BLEACHING

Bleaching --- What and When??

A process to remove The natural colouring material Any other colouring material from natural fibres or man-made fibres

When fibres are to be dyed to very dark shades, where fibres brightness is not so important no bleaching is required For light and medium shades , fibre brightness is important bleaching is an essential operation before dyeing and printing In case of man-made fibres if the process sequence causes slight dis-colouration that sometimes cannot be

How ????

The natural colouring material can be destroyed by oxidation by reduction

Bleaching Agents
Oxidation bleaching agents Chlorine Hydrogen Peroxide Reduction bleaching agents Sodium sulphite Sodium hydrosulphite

Oxidizing bleaching agents

Use oxygen directly or indirectly for the bleaching Nascent oxygen decomposes colouring matter completely into simpler compounds

Simpler compounds are washed away with water during washing Do not give any trouble at the later stage

Reducing bleaching agents The nascent hydrogen combines with the colouring matter in the fibre to produce a colourless compound The compound however remains in the fabric and gets oxidized back to the original colouring matter upon exposure to the air Hence the whiteness produced is not permanent

Sodium Hypochlorite (NaOCl)

It is the oldest industrial method of bleaching cotton Sodium hypochlorite is the strongest agent It is capable of giving oxygen at room temperature It is also economical in use Prior to bleaching with hypochlorite it is necessary to thoroughly scour fabrics to remove fats, waxes and pectin impurities This impurities will reduce the available hypochlorite, reducing its effectiveness for whitening fabrics

Mechanism
NaOCl + H2O HOCl NaOCl + HCl HOCl + HCl NaOH + HOCl

HCl + [O] NaCl H2O + + HOCl Cl2

Sodium hypochlorite dissolves in water to give the hypochlorous acid (HOCl) HOCl is unstable and dissociates to yield active oxygen and hydrochloric acid (HCl) To avoid the fibre damage it is advisable to maintain a pH of 10.5 to 11 and for that Sodium carbonate is added Small amount of NaOH is also added as pH stabiliser

Cellulose textiles are to be bleached very carefully with hypochlorite The four factors affecting the bleaching efficiency are: Concentration of the bleaching liquor Its temperature Its pH (pH between 10 11 is to be maintained; pH below 9 will accelerate the degradation of cellulose) The time of bleaching

The greater the concentration of the bleach liquor, the better the bleaching result but the greater the risk of chemical damage to the cellulose The time and temperature must be standardized to minimize the chemical damage The pH should be controlled in between 10 and 11, a fall in pH to below 9 accelerating the degradation of the cellulose material through the formation of oxy-cellulose

Advantages Low chemical cost Low energy output Low cost of equipment Disadvantages The formation of high level of AOX(Absorbable organic halogens) results in environmental hazards Rapid bleaching process is not possible with hypochlorite Danger of tendering of the material if pH and temperature is not controlled Cotton goods must be scoured before hypochlorite bleaching Imparts harsh feel to the bleached fabric

SOURING

It is an acid treatment generally given to hypochlorite bleached goods Dilute hydrochloric acid at room temperature is generally used It is very difficult to remove traces of alkali even after thorough washing. The alkali needs to be neutralized, otherwise it may get concentrated and result in the formation of oxy-cellulose during drying

In case of bleaching powder, the calcium carbonate formed during the bleaching is deposited on the fabric and cannot be removed by simple washing. It imparts a harsh feel to the cloth

Sulphuric acid may also be used for souring when bleaching is carried out with sodium hypochlorite But it is not suitable when bleaching with calcium hypochlorite because of the formation of calcium sulphate, which will deposited on the fabric yielding a harsh feel The reaction with the HCl will give the soluble chloride

Complete removal of acid is required after souring before the cloth is dried Any traces of acid will cause degradation of the cellulose material because of the increased concentration of the acid on drying Also the goods should not contain any hypochlorite because over bleaching may take place during souring Presence of hypochlorite is souring will cause intensive action of hypochlorite by decreasing the pH of the solution to the neutral level To avoid this the goods may be given antichlor treatment with a solution of sodium bisulphite or sodium thiosulphite, which destroys the residual hypochlorite in

Precautions during souring Concentration of acid solution to be controlled Control of process temperature Intermediate local drying of the fabric should never be allowed Optimum dwell period should be standardized

Antichlor Treatment

An antichlor treatment with reducing agent may be given after the hypochlorite treatment to ensure removal of any residual chlorine from the bleached fabric Chloramines are formed which cause after-yellowing of the material Reducing agents used Sodium bisulphite (NaHSO ) 3

Sodium thiosulphate (Na2S2O3) Sodium hydrosulphite (Na2S2O4)

Peroxide Bleaching (H2O2)

Universal bleaching agent Applicable for almost all textile material Including wool, silk and manmade fibres Bleaching is carried out at raised temperature Hence can be utilised for simultaneous scouring and bleaching H2O2 is colourless liquid, soluble in water, highly stable in acidic condition but stability decreases as the alkalinity increases

Stabilizers H O will decompose readily to form the bleach active 2 2 nascent oxygen

To ensure a fairly uniform availability of bleaching action, stabilizers are used The commonly used stabilizer is sodium silicate (NaSiO3) The use of slightly hard water is preferred for hydrogen peroxide bleaching as the presence of magnesium salts in water improves the effectiveness of sodium silicate stabilizer

Recipe for peroxide bleaching Hydrogen peroxide = 2 8% Sodium silicate = 3% Soda ash = 0.8 to 6% Sodium hydroxide = 0.4 0.6% Initial pH 10.3 12 Temperature 90 degree celcius

Peroxide Killers After peroxide bleaching and rinsing, if traces of peroxide are left on the fabric, it will affect the dye uptake and give rise to uneven dyeing

Hence peroxide killers are used to remove the residual peroxide from the fabric The various methods for removal of peroxide are Vigorous rinsing Treatment with inorganic reducing agents Enzyme treatment E.g Finostab, Basopal etc.

Advantages

There is generally no need for thorough scouring before peroxide bleaching It is environmentally acceptable as it has no absorbable halogen Hydrogen peroxide is compatible with optical brightening agents It involves low risk of chemical damage to cotton

Disadvantages

High cost High risk of local damage to cotton and wastage of peroxide due to possible metallic contamination in water

Sodium Chlorite (NaClO2)

It is versatile Can be used for cotton as well as other fibres and mixtures with manmade fibres Cannot be used for silk and wool More expensive than peroxide Little tendering due to the presence of metallic ions

Mechanism

Sodium chlorite is soluble in water to give a stable solution with a pH of about 10 An acidified solution of sodium chlorite contains chlorous (HClO2) acid, the amount of which depends upon the pH and the temperature of the bath It is to be noted that acidified chlorite solutions are very reactive and cause corrosion to commonly used metallic vessels For this reason vessels lined with resistant materials such as glass or ceramics are used Corrosive inhibitors like sodium nitrate can also be used in the bleaching solution

Bleaching process The bleaching liquor may be made up with the sodium chlorite ( 1 2 %) and a wetting agent and brought to a pH around 4.0 with addition of acetic or formic acid at 800C for 2-3 hours of bleaching action 5ClO23ClO2ClO22Cl + 2H+ 4ClO2 + Cl+ 2OH-

2ClO3 + Cl+ 2(O)-

Advantages Pre-scouring is not required Effectively bleaches the lignin present in the woody matter Soft fabric handle and good sewability due to nonremoval of fats Least risk of chemical damage to cotton in chlorite bleaching Least sensitive to metallic contamination in the process water

Disadvantages Possibility of liberation of toxic chlorine dioxide gas Equipment is expensive because of the need of corrosion resistant material Chlorite bleached fabric has poor absorbency and thus is not suitable for further dyeing and printing Sodium chlorite is very expensive It is incompatible with optical whitening agents

OPTICAL WHITENING

Certain organic compounds possess the property of fluorescence which means that they can absorb shorter wave length light and re-emit longer wave-length. A substance can absorb invisible ultraviolet rays and re-emit them within the visible spectrum. Therefore, a surface containing a fluorescent compound can emit more than the total amount of daylight that falls on it, giving an intensively brilliant white. Compounds that posses these properties are known as OBA. When OBA treated fabric are exposed to UV light bulbs, the fabric glow in the dark; thus conclusion can be drawn that the fabric is treated with OBA

There are several classes of chemicals whose structure serve the purpose. These structures have dye like properties and in essence are colourless dyes. They can exhaust onto various fibres. Anionic OBAs will exhaust onto cotton, wool and silk. Cationic ones exhaust onto acrylic and certain polyesters. Nonionic exhaust onto all synthetics

OBA,s are not a substitute for bleaching. They are used to obtain brilliant market whites. These "white" whites can be obtained without over bleaching and damaging the fiber. On cellulose, they have poor wash fastness but most commercial laundry detergents contain OBA's so they are constantly replenished. Some OBAs have poor washfastness - some nonionics types have excellent light fastness. Fiber producers can include OBA,s in their spinning process. These can have excellent durability to both light and washing.

BIO-POLISHING

The purpose of bio-polishing or bio-finishing is to get a soft handle and attractive clean appearance of the fabric Cotton or cotton blend fabric contains small cellulosic protruding fibres or microfibrils that make the surface of the fabric rough and fuzzy The problems associated with fuzz can also be eliminated by Singeing Applying silicon softner to soften the surface of the fabric By enzymatic bio-polishing

Drawback of singeing Chance of fire hazards Drawbacks of silicon softners Reduces the water absorbency They are washed out and the fabric becomes rough again Enzymatic removal of fuzz is absolutely safe, efficient and permanent as it is carried out in mild chemical and physical condition with accurate control Cellulase enzymes are usually classified by the pH range in which they are most effective viz. acid stable, neutral

The enzyme cellulase degrades the cellulosic fuzz on the surface thus increases the lustre and smoothness of the fabric Certain properties are however adversed Weight loss of the fabric Loss in fabric strength Recipe: Enzyme dosage = 1 5% on fabric weight (depending upon the activity of enzyme Liquor ratio = 1: 5 to 1: 15 Time = 60 120 minutes (depending upon amount of hydrolysis required) Temperature = 50 600C