Chitosan microcapsules: methods of the production and use in textile finishing

Abstract

Biopolymeric chitosan is considered a promising encapsulating agent for tex-tile applications due to its biocompatibility, lack of toxicity, antibacterial activ-ity, high availability, and low cost. After cellulose, it is nature's most importantorganic compound. Also, chitosan has unique chemical properties due to itscationic charge in solution. Microencapsulation technologies play an impor-tant role in protecting the trapped material and in the durability of the effect,controlling the release rate. The app lication of chitosan microcapsules in tex-tiles follows the current interest of industries in functionalization technologiesthat give different properties to products, such as aroma finish, insect repel-lency, antimicrobial activity, and thermal comfort. In this sense, methods ofcoacervation, ionic gelation, and LBL are presented for the production ofchitosan-based microcapsules and methods of textile finishing that incorporatethem are presented, bath exhaustion, filling, dry drying cure, spraying, immer-sion, and grafting chemical. Finally, current trends in the textile market areidentified and guidance on future developments