Verification of Biomass Substances in
Dyes and Products
Although biomass dyeing is attracting attention as a sustainable technology in the textile fashion industry, there is no certification system to verify the authenticity of biomass dyeing.
GREENWEAR provides an analysis of the dyes used during biomass dyeing and whether the dyed products are dyed with biomass dyestuffs.
Fabric Analysis
Natural origin analysis data of biomass dyeing fabric sample of GREENWEAR
KNIT
WOVEN
Analytical System Overview
There are two methods of use validation analysis of naturally derived substances:
A. Analysis of Dye used by GREENWEAR
B. Analysis of GREENWEAR products
To prove A, radioactive carbon (C-14) isotope analysis (ASTM-D6866) is used to determine the presence of natural substances(biomass).To prove B, we compare and contrast the results of the marker compound(index component) analysis (HPLC-DAD, LC-MS, etc.) of the product dyed by GREENWEAR and the dye proven to be of natural origin in A to confirm that it is a product dyed with natural substances.
In other words, a product with the same marker compounds detected by comparing it to the marker compounds of a dye proven by radioactive carbon (C-14) isotope analysis is a product dyed with a biomass dye.
A. Analysis of Biomass(C-14) in Dyes
Background of the Analysis
Most synthetic materials, including synthetic dyes, have been manufactured by extracting raw materials from petroleum. However, biomass materials that do not cause environmental problems have begun to be in the spotlight because using petroleum raw materials can cause various environmental problems. These biological resources are called bio-mass.
Although biomass materials are eco-friendly, the chemical structure of petroleum-derived synthetic materials and biomass materials can be the same, so infrared spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance analysis for general structural analysis cannot tell whether synthetic materials are bio-mass or petroleum-based substance. Therefore, this is now inferred from radioactive carbon isotope analysis.
What is a radioactive carbon isotope (C-14) ?
In the atmosphere, there's a constant ratio of C-12 (carbon, ¹²C), which is stable carbon, and C-14, which is radioactive carbon, which is made by nitrogen reacting with cosmic rays from the sun. Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while photosynthesizing, and animals absorb C-14 while eating plants or breathing air, and when living things die, they no longer absorb C-14, and the already absorbed C-14 collapses into nitrogen over time.
Therefore, if you make a biomass dye/biomass dye product from biomass that absorbs carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, you can analyze the mass of carbon present in it to analyze whether it is a bio-derived material or a petroleum-derived synthetic material.
B. Analysis of the Marker Compound of Dye and Dyed Fabric
What are marker compound(index component) ?
Among the components of dye used in biomass dyeing, representative substances are called marker compounds.
HPLC Analytic
HPLC(High-Performance Liquid Chromatography) is a method of analyzing the marker compounds of dyes used in biomass dyeing. Although HPLC analysis does not provide direct evidence of the natural origin of dyes, it can be used in conjunction with radioactive isotope analysis, a direct method of analysis the presence of synthetic components, to demonstrate the use of biomass substances(dyestuffs) in dyed products.
Radiocarbon isotope analysis shows that it is a biomass dyeing product by comparing and contrasting the marker compounds of biomass dyes identified as biomass materials with those of dyed products.