Resumen de Development of a novel bleaching process for cotton

Changhai Xu, David Hinks, Renzo Shamey

• Bleaching is essential for creating a uniform white base of cellulosic fibers that enables level dyeing of pale or bright hues and. especially, the production of final white products. Unfortunately, high levels of energy and corrosive chemicals are consumed during most hot bleaching processes. In this work, a promising new cationic bleach activator, N-[4-(triethylammoniomethyl)benzoyl]butyrolactam chloride (TBBC), was used for cellulosic fiber bleaching. Bath pH and TBBC concentration had a significant efefct, whereas the temperature effect on bleaching performance was not as pronunced. TBB-H2O2 cotton bleaching was most effective at pH 7, in presence of 7.5g/L TBBC, and at 60ºC. Substantially reduced fiber damage resulted when compared with conventional H2O2 bleaching. The TBBC-H2O2 bleaching system may be a more environmentally-benign alternative for textile industry use.