Improvement in Natural Dyeing with the Aid of Atmospheric Pr essure Plasma Treatment: A Green Solution for Leather Processing

Objective: The present study address an environment friendly solution for leather dyeing by using at-mospheric pressure non-thermal plasma to improve natural dyeing. Method: In this study, changes in the surface properties of goat hide is studied after exposing grain surface of goat hide to atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge generated in ammonia as discharge producing gas. Resulting changes in the surface morphology and chemical composition of after the plasma treatments is studied by various characterization techniques such as Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscope and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy. Untreated and the plasma treated samples are dyed using three commercially available natural dyes (Eco Tiger Yellow, Eco-Sun Yellow, Eco- Mango Yellow) and as-sessed by spectroscopic measurements to check improvement in dyeing properties after the plasma treatment. Result: Out of thee dyes, significant improvement in color intensity of dyed sample is observed when plasma treated hide samples where dyed with Eco- Mango Yellow (Combination of Punica granatum & Curcuma longa).