Eco-friendly antibacterial dyeing of poly(lactic acid) with prodigiosins suspension produced by Zooshikella ganghwensis

Dyeing poly(lactic acid) (PLA) fiber with natural dyestuffs has attracted a lot of attentions due to the production of the fully eco-friendly textile products. In this study, PLA nonwoven fabric was successfully dyed using microbial prodigiosins as clean disperse dyestuff. Prodigiosins suspension with the mean size 243.6 nm was prepared by the fermentation of Zooshikella ganghwensis in the presence of nonionic surfactant. Meanwhile, the dyeing process to endow PLA nonwoven fabric with purplish red color as well as antibacterial performance was investigated in detail. The results indicated that the PLA nonwoven fabric exhibited good color strength, low strength loss, good bacteriostatic properties against Staphylococcus aureus when it was dyed under dyebath pH of 4-5 at 90 degrees C for 20 min. Additionally, the dyed PLA nonwoven fabrics showed excellent rubbing fastness and washing fastness. Overall, a clean dyeing process using microbial prodigiosins from renewable sources as functional disperse dyestuff for PLA nonwoven fabric is developed, which is beneficial to realize the further green production of PLA nonwoven fabric.