Research on application of DMF for decolorization of polyester textiles

N, N—dimethyl formamide (DMF) was used for the decolorization of waste colored polyester fabric. The result showed that the decolorization rate was up to 30.91% after the fabric was treated for 10min under 140℃ with a 1:10 mass ratio of fabric/DMF. The decolorization rate of polyester fabrics dyed with disperse dyes was up to 87.49% after it was treated for 2 min. Higher decolorization rate of 99.01% was obtained by using refluxing steaming with DMF saturated steam for the decolorization of polyester fabrics dyed with disperse dyes. The DMF can be recycled after distillation process with the purity up to 94.28% as decolorising agent.