Abstract:

In order to promote the application of microbial dyestuff on the textile dyeing field, prodigiosins nano-dispersion was produced by adding nonionic surfactant to the culture media and fermenting in the presence of Serratia marcescens. Wool fabrics were dyed with the pigment nanosuspension. The influences of dyeing temperature, time and dye bath pH on dyeing effect were investigated. Moreover, the antibacterial property of the dyed wool was studied. The results indicated that the average particle size of nano prodigiosins is 285.8 nm and the size distributon is centralized since the despersity index is 0.193. The pigment concentration is 18.3 mg/L. The optimum dyeing temperature and time are  90 ℃ for 20 min, reapectively. In addition, the dyeing effect and antibacterial activity of dyed wool are influenced significantly by the pH value of dye liquor. When pH is 2.1, the dyed wool fabric possessed the highest antibacterial rate of 99.1% and 36.6% against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, respectively. The antibacterial property of dyed wool against Staphylococcus aureus is distinctly superior to Escherichia coli.

Key words: prodigiosin, microbial dye, wool fabric, antibacterial property