Bulletin of
Vitebsk State
Technological
University

Abstract

With increasingly stringent environmental requirements for textile production and growing interest in sustainable technologies, the use of natural dyes as alternatives to synthetic analogs is becoming increasingly important. However, the environmental safety of spent dye solutions based on natural raw materials remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to assess the ecotoxicity of aqueous dye solutions obtained from various plant and fungal raw materials used for dyeing textile materials.

It was found that the ecotoxicity of the dye solutions studied varied widely depending on the type of raw material. Oak bark and onion peel extracts exhibited the highest toxicity, due to their high content of hardening agents, tannins, and organosulfur compounds. Apple leaf and marigold flower solutions exhibited low toxicity at all concentrations tested. Nonlinear behavior of the test organisms was observed for the polypore extract: the observed hormetic effect of the mushroom raw material indicates complex mechanisms of interaction between natural substances and aquatic organisms. Dilution of the original dye solutions to a ratio of 1:8 or greater leads to a decrease in the toxicity of water effluents. These results support the use of natural dyes as an environmentally acceptable alternative to synthetic dyes in the textile industry, as they reduce the ecotoxicity of wastewater, provided the dilution regimes for the spent solutions are followed.