Abstract

Bleaching is an essential process during the pretreatment of natural fibres. The major chemical component used for the oxidative decolourisation of natural impurities from the fibre is Hydrogen Peroxide. The effective performance of this bleaching agent depends on the uniform decomposition of the active component ‘perhydroxy ion’. Conventional processing requires boiling water at a temperature of about 980 °C and maintaining it at this temperature for about 1 hour to achieve the desired result. This is a highly energy-consuming step and tends to adversely impact the environmental carbon footprint. Therefore, the low-temperature bleaching pretreatment is expected to benefit and the researcher’s world over are attempting to devise products and processes to achieve this effect.

Keywords:Natural fibres; Oxidative decolourisation; Colouring component