Search results

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the extract of Moringa stenopetala seed oil, by organic solvents (methanol and hexane), for its efficacy against microbial activity on cotton fabrics. The selected microbes for the study were two types of bacteria which are Gram-positive (S. aureus) and Gram-negative (E. coli).

Two types of bacteria, Gram-positive (S. aureus) and Gram-negative (E. coli) were used. The extract was applied on fabrics at a concentration of 5, 10 and 15 g/L using the pad-dry-cure method and antibacterial activities verified by the bacterial-growth reduction method. The treated fabrics were evaluated for antimicrobial activity against the bacteria before and after 15 washing cycles. The extract was examined for molecular structural change using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and physical properties of the fabric; tensile strength, elongation, air permeability, stiffness and wettability were evaluated.

Results showed treated fabrics reduces the growth of Gram-positive (S. aureus) and Gram-negative (E. coli) bacteria from 77.6%–100% before wash and 45.8%–85.2% after wash for both extract concentrations. Comparing extracts, hexane extract reduces all bacteria growth than methanol extract for both extract concentrations while S. aureus was more susceptible to antimicrobial agents than E. coli at a lower concentration. As result, the tensile strength and air permeability were relatively lower than untreated ones without affecting the comfort properties of the fabric.

This study indicates that the Moringa stenopetala seed oil extract has a strong antimicrobial activity.

This study aims to investigate the potential use of potato peel extracts as antibacterial finishes for cotton fabrics against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Potato peels are abundant as waste and provide a natural, cheaper and sustainable alternative means of preventing the spread of bacterial infections on cotton fabric.

This research included the characterization of potato peel extracts, application of the extract onto cotton fabric and efficacy testing of the treated cotton fabric against bacteria. Phytochemical screening, agar well diffusion antibacterial test, minimum inhibitory concentration and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) tests were used to characterize the extract. Antibacterial efficacy of the treated fabric was determined qualitatively using the disc diffusion assay and quantitatively using the bacteria reduction test.

Phytochemical screening confirmed the presence of several secondary metabolites including phenols and flavonoids. Antibacterial tests revealed a positive response in Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus with a zone of inhibition of 6.50 mm and 5.60 mm, respectively. Additional peaks on the FTIR spectroscopy confirmed the presence of potato peel extract on the treated cotton fabric. The treated cotton fabrics showed efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli up to 20 washes.

This study introduced the application of potato peel extracts onto cotton fabrics and assessment of the antibacterial properties before and after washing. Results of this study suggest that potato peel extracts can be used as an organic eco-friendly antibacterial finish for cotton fabrics.

The purpose of this study is to establish a suitable procedure for dyeing and multifunctional finishing on 100% cotton using extracts of eucalyptus leaves in an eco-friendly manner.

Box–Behnken design of experiments and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to optimise the conditions of extraction, dyeing and finishing. Phytochemical analysis was performed to determine the chemical constituents of the extracts. Colour strength, fastness properties were evaluated for dyed fabric samples. The effectiveness of eucalyptus leaves extract as an insect repellent, aroma, antibacterial finishing agent, was assessed. Pre-soaking and padding method was used for the application of active essential oil on the fabric.

Essential oil extracted from Eucalyptus globulus leaves have great repellent rate for insects to the extent of 90% and aroma intensity of 72% and antibacterial effect of 100% bacterial reduction up to five washings. The use of citric acid as cross-linking agent helps increase the durability of the finish. Natural dyeing to get light yellow shade is possible with extracts made with water, possessing good fastness properties.

Scaling up the extraction process and soaking larger quantities of fabrics in extracted essential oil solution before the pad applications are considered limitations of this study. However, smaller pieces of fabrics can conveniently be handled in this process. It has tremendous potential for practising industrially, to get yellow-shaded multifunctional finished cotton textiles.

Protection against insects, including mosquitoes, bacteria with additional aroma on cotton will be of great use in day-to-day life for the wearer.

Eco-friendly, renewable sources of ingredients from the plant were used to obtain protection against pathogenic or odour-causing microorganisms using this hygiene finish with multiple end uses.

This original work enables conducting dyeing and multifunctional finishing together in a single stage, which otherwise takes a number of steps, consuming large quantities of water, chemicals and energy to impart similar effects on cotton.

The aim was to prepare antibacterial microcapsules and transferred to denim and non-denim (canvas) trousers.

For this purpose, lavender and sweet almond oil as active agents were encapsulated with ethylcellulose shell with a spray dryer method and carried out capsule optimization studies.

The particle diameter of the capsules ranged between 0.61 and 8.76 µm, SPAN value was 1.608 and the mean particle size was 4 µm. The mass yields of capsules ranged between 35.0 and 75.4 %w/w. Denim fabrics were treated with prepared capsules by exhaustion and spraying methods. It was seen that microcapsules provided a reduction of bacteria by over 97% against both Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli and the fabrics still showed an antibacterial effect after five washing cycles.

When application methods were compared, the spraying method was found to be more sustainable process than exhaustion and could be used as an alternative for reducing energy consumption and capsules could provide antibacterial properties to the fabrics.

The purpose of this paper is to: investigate coating of polylactic acid by TiO₂ using low-temperature plasma technique, which is a clean and environmentally benign process; study the characteristics of the obtained samples; and survey the antibacterial effect of nano-TiO₂. This method, as an eco-friendly technology used on the biodegradable polymer, would be benefited by industries which want to set feet on the greener path and reduce the social costs resulting from the harmful effects of pollutants.

TiO₂ was coated on a textile by DC magnetron sputtering. In this study titanium as a pure Ti anode is coated on the sample surface in the plasma reactor by entering argon gas (Ar). Then titanium oxide appears through entering oxygen (O₂) into the reactor.

Scanning electron microscopy analysis is applied to show the morphology of the coated surface. The quantitative value of TiO₂ was evaluated as weight percentage using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and washing stability of the samples is measured using the XRF machine. The highest degree of antibacterial effects and washing stability are all observed in 10 min.

In this process, contrary to common methods, pure Ti is used for coating. Finishing of textiles via this method has been useful to be used as disposable hospital clothing due to its biodegradable and antibacterial properties. So it will be helpful in reducing negative environmental impacts.

Any change in physical performance of the fibre corresponds to a change in its molecular structure. Basically polyester is hydrophobic in nature due to the absence of attracting polar groups and the dense packing in its polymeric structure. Due to the dense packing in polymeric structure and lack of hydroxyl groups of polyester it does not absorb water hence breathability is poor. The possibility of using air and oxygen plasma treatments for fibre surface activation to facilitate the improvement of hydrophilicity is attempted and has been improved. The purpose of this paper is to study the possibility of engineering the multifunctional of fabrics.

The treated fabric is evaluated through measuring the ultraviolet protection factor, thermal resistance, and antibacterial activity properties. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy graphs show deposition of nano particles (NPs) of Chitosan, TiO₂ and ZnO onto the fibre after washing several times.

Air plasma-nano Chitosan treatment affects positively the antibacterial activity, thermal resistance of the fibre and air plasma-nano TiO₂ and ZnO the fibre protection against ultraviolet rays. Furthermore, the plasma treatment solves an environmental problem which offers safe production process and working place and decreases the unit cost.

The authors are confident that textiles will adopt this technology in the future.

Corrosion-producing microorganisms have different physiology and include sulfate-reducing bacteria, iron oxidizers and magnesium oxidizers. Biocorrosion has been seen in various industries, especially the petrochemicals and oil industries. One proposal to solve this problem is the use of bacteriophages to treat the bacteria-caused corrosion. The aims of this study were isolation and identification of corrosion-producing bacteria from petroleum pipeline corrosion as well as finding their specific bacteriophages for phage therapy purposes.

The sample pipes with the corrosion were obtained from the Gandomkar petroleum pipeline station, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Iran. For screening the corrosion-producing bacteria, the rusted pipe samples were cultured in a selective culture medium, manganese agar. The purified individual colonies were subjected to molecular examinations. For isolating bacteriophages from silversmithing workshops wastewater in Isfahan, whole plate titration methods and transmission electron microscopy were used to isolate and detect phages.

The cultivation of corrosion-based material on manganese agar after 18 hours incubation at 30°C resulted in the isolation of cream-colored colonies. The microscopic examinations showed Gram-negative coccobacilli. Based on molecular examinations, the isolated bacteria were identified as Stenotrophomonas maltophilia strain PBM-IAUF-2 with Genebank accession number of KU145278.1. The found bacteriophage was related to the Siphoviridae family of phages.

This paper is the first report of isolation and identification of corrosion-producing bacteria and its specific lytic phages from Gandomkar petroleum pipeline station, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Iran. The biological procedures for preventing the microbial corrosion could be an asset and considered as a potential in the petroleum and industrial microbiology. Phage therapy is considered as one of the economical methods for reducing the biocorrosion.

This study aims to compare the aptitude of pine as a softwood and beech as a hardwood, regarding their different retention and antimicrobial performances as compared to polyethylene.

Four sets of tests were carried out: recovery, cleaning, remobilization and survival experiments. For all experiments wood and control blocks or chippings were spiked with bacteria and tested at set intervals for bacterial counts using standard procedures.

Overall, wood performed at least as good as polyethylene. Polyethylene is not as easy to clean. The problematic cleansing capabilities of wood are compensated by its open structure. Pine exerted antimicrobial abilities faster than beech and showed better performance than both beech and polyethylene. The differences between beech and polyethylene were only marginal.

The findings may help along with further research to re‐establish the value of wood in some food processing settings and in the home. However, only new materials were used so that no statement on the performance of used wood and plastic utensils can be made. Besides, only two types of woods and one type of plastic were used in this study.

This article is written with the expertise of the authors and will be of interest to those in the field.

The use of lactic acid bacteria in food production is perhaps one of the oldest examples of biotechnology. It is probable that fermented milk has been consumed since man started milking animals, possibly as far back as 11,000 years ago. Over the years, numerous fermented foods have been developed, each with its own microbiological flora involved in production. These fermented foods have arisen without microbiological skills or knowledge; only relatively recently have we been able to understand the biological process underlying food fermentation by lactic acid and other bacteria.

The purpose of this paper is to establish a suitable procedure for producing antimicrobial 100 per cent cotton textiles using zinc pyrithione. Zinc pyrithione being bacteriostatic in nature is eco-friendly and safe, both for manufacturer to apply and consumer to use.

After conducting laboratory trials, bulk trial has also been conducted, and efficacy of zinc pyrithione as bacteriostatic has been quantitatively determined. The durability of antimicrobial finish was also checked before and after repeated domestic laundry.

The findings indicated that it is possible to produce durable antimicrobial 100 per cent cotton textiles in bulk using zinc pyrithione.

Any exporting textile processing mill can directly use the findings of this work and can produce antimicrobial textiles in their factory.

Any exporting textile mill can increase their export earnings by producing antimicrobial textiles. The antimicrobial textiles are in great demand in Asia-Pacific region and have already touched exports of US$497.4m in 2015 and is projected to reach US$1,076.1m by 2026.

The textile user can get protection against pathogenic or odour-causing microorganisms using this hygiene finish in different end uses.

The work is original. Very few references are available on zinc pyrithione. First, laboratory studies were done, and bacteriostatic properties of zinc pyrithione were determined quantitatively followed by bulk trial.