Vegetable Oil Waste-Based Formulation as a Binder for Pigment Printing of Natural and Synthetic Fabrics

The used cooking oil has become a significant environmental concern, as it leads to water pollution and clogged drainage systems. A solution to this issue is recycling the used oil into useful products, such as binders for textile pigment printing. Herein, vegetable oil waste (VOW) was utilized in the synthesis of a nano-binder for the printing of cotton, wool, and polyethylene terephthalate fabrics by the pigment Printofix Orange using the flat-screen printing method. Before printing, the surfaces of wool and PET fabrics were activated by oxidation and saponification, respectively. The iodine and acid values for the VOW were evaluated, rheological properties, and physical properties of the synthesized binder were monitored. Transmission electron micrographs confirmed the binder nanosized, and 1HNMR was adopted to confirm its chemical structure. The color intensities of the printed fabrics using the synthesized as well as a commercial binder were assessed. The results revealed that the affinity of the aforementioned fabrics for pigment printing using the synthesized nano-binder was comparable with the commercial binder at any fixation temperature and time. The printed fabrics exhibited excellent lightfastness and good to very good fastness to washing, crocking, and perspiration. The smoothness of printed fabrics was not adversely affected.