Wastage Tea (Camellia Sinensis) Extract: A Natural Green Flame Retardant and Suppressant for Cotton Textiles

The present study explores the use of a wastage tea extract, as a green flame retardant for application on cotton fabrics. The treated cotton fabric was characterized by limiting oxygen index (LOI), vertical flammability, Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FT-IR) studies and wastage tea extract was characterized by gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) analysis. Results revealed that the fabric treated with wastage tea extract demonstrated the LOI value of 29 as compared to LOI value of 18 observed for control fabric. Treated fabric also exhibited self-extinguishing behavior with specific char length of 30 mm. GC-MS study of tea extract revealed that it contains various large molecular weight polyphenolic compounds and the presence of tannin containing products, responsible for the fire retardancy action. Mechanism of fire retardancy unveiled the fact that the various nitrogen containing alkaloids, long-chain carbon molecules and polyphenolic compounds deposited on the cotton fiber surface, combinedly assist on the flame retardancy and stable char formation of the underlying cellulosic structure. This study opens up the scope for the application of wastage tea extract on cotton textiles, which is a promising and emerging field in sustainable flame retardancy.