Quantifying effective bio based enzymes for textile applications
The results of a collaborative project between American DuPont Industrial Biosciences and Cotton Incorporated were recently revealed in Hong Kong at the “Great ideas in Cotton” conference
The project was quantifying the effectiveness of bio-based enzymes as an alternative to traditional chemicals in cotton textile preparation. The executed trials focused on integration and bio-optimisation of textile processing knits and to prove that bio-based enzymes, e.g. PrimaGreen® products (from Danisco), used in combination can eliminate the need for caustic chemicals and to reduce water and energy use as well as overall processing time. Mary Ankeny, Director of Dyeing Research at Cotton incorporated supervised these trials and commented: “We knew that bio-enzymes (derived from natural resources and in biodegradable quality) were effective at each individual stage of cotton textile preparation but we wanted to see if combining enzymes for scouring, bleaching and dyeing also could consolidate some steps in the process without sacrificing quality!”
Here are the forthcoming results: average reduction of 70 % water (by litre and the same water bath can be used for multiple process steps), 33 % stem (by pounds) and 27 % on energy (as kWh) and this across dark, medium and light shade ranges. Thus the bio-optimised process reduces total costs by an average of 66 % and reduces process time by 23 % for dark shades, 27 % for medium shades and 30 for light shades. The cotton knits produced showed good whiteness values, mote removal, maintenance of fabric strength and weight and were receptive to dark, medium and light dye shades.
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