The study on suitability of palm esterquat and pelargonium graveolens essential oil in fabric softener as mosquito biorepellent / Aufa Adeela Anuar

Insect repellent-incorporated fabric softener was produced using geraniol oil from Pelargonium Graveolens plant as a potential natural source of repellent agent to provide efficacy against mosquitoes, and palm based esterquat as the plant-based conditioning agent. Four series of softener formulations were experimented. Batch 4 was identified to be the most stable formulation batch to produce the fabric softener, based on the physical appearance, emulsification, and thermodynamic stability of the resultant softener. Following that, 100% cotton fabric was treated using the fabric softener of the pre-determined formulation, with different percentage of geraniol content (0.6%, 0,8%, and 0.9%) and using DEET (N, N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide) as the comparative sample. The treated samples were tested to ascertain the repellence effect against mosquitoes by means of the Bioassay Repellence Assessment WHO Cone Test using Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Some physical attributes and hand properties of the treated fabric, i.e. the fabric weight, fabric stiffness, crease recovery angle, fabric hand sensory, and fabric moisture management, were also determined to ensure the main functions of the fabric softener are retained after the treatment. The Bioassay WHO cone test result showed that the fabric softener incorporated with the geraniol oil from the Pelargonium graveolens plant has the ability to drive away mosquitoes from the treated fabric, with the higher percentage of geraniol content in the fabric softener demonstrated better repellent activities. Sample treated with 0.9% geraniol-fabric softener exhibited higher 'percentage of mosquitoes reduction' than sample treated with DEET. However, DEET sample demonstrated the highest 'complete protection time (CPT)' compared to other treated samples. The physical attribute tests showed that the treated samples exhibited better fabric hand properties (fabric weight, fabric stiffness, crease recovery angle fabric hand sensory, and fabric moisture management) than the untreated samples. The treated fabric resulted in an increase in mass, thickness and density, and exhibited higher softness effect in comparison with the untreated fabric. The accumulative one-way transport analysis of fabric moisture resulted in good to excellent grade.