Bronsted acidic ionic liquids: Innovative starch desizing agents

The possibility of using a synthesized inexpensive Bronsted acidic ionic liquids for starch desizing of a textile substrate for the first time was investigated under different conditions in terms of temperature, concentration and treatment time. The samples evaluation was carried out by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, microscopic studies, Tegewa tests, measuring weight loss, tensile strength, wetting properties and changes in the samples shades. The results indicated that the ionic liquids have strong effect on the cotton fabric starch desizing (Tegewa 6 or higher) with no adverse effect on the samples strength and whiteness. Thus, it was revealed that proper ionic liquids could be counted as novel starch desizing agents and alternative for the enzymatic process. In addition, it was observed that the acidic ionic liquids because of their specific structure do not have negative aspects of common acidic processes with no sensitivities and drawbacks of enzymatic treatments. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.