Around 5000 B.C., local textile production began around the world. For example, the residents of the Nile River Basin in North Africa used flax for textiles; the residents of the Yellow River and Yangtze River Basin in China used kudzu and hemp for textiles; the residents of the Indus River Basin in South Asia and the people of the Inca Empire in South America used linen textiles. Cotton textile... With the progress of society and the progress of society, people's requirements for textiles are getting higher and higher. In order to reduce pollution and improve the quality of textiles, we have begun to use biological enzymes.
We all know that the textile process starts from the initial raw materials, such as cotton and hemp, and goes through a series of pretreatments to remove impurities from the raw materials so that the fibers meet the textile requirements, and then go through the steps of weaving and post-processing. A variety of fabrics.
Among them, in cotton fibers, pectin is bound to the outer layer of cuticle fibers, which affects water absorption. In the traditional method, we use alkali scouring to remove pectin, wax and pigment from cotton fibers. By low-temperature scouring with pectinase, the gum can be removed, so that the water absorption of cotton can be improved and the fiber softness can be maintained. The combined use of glue enzyme and cellulase can further increase the processing speed and increase the uniformity of cotton fibers.
When weaving, we also need sizing to ensure the textile performance of the yarn, but these sizing must be removed in the subsequent process. The oxidizing agent, acid and alkali used in the traditional process not only cause damage to the fabric, but also are not environmentally friendly. Enzymes can not only efficiently remove starch sizing without damaging the fabric; catalase can replace the traditional strong alkali high temperature process in the dyeing and finishing process to pretreat cotton fabrics. Its main function is to remove residual fabrics during bleaching. Hydrogen peroxide can avoid the problem of uneven dyeing in the subsequent dyeing process. The application of catalase also realizes one-step completion of bleaching and dyeing, which can not only save a lot of water, electricity and steam consumption, improve production efficiency, but also reduce waste water discharge, which is beneficial to environmental protection.
Cellulase is mainly used in biopolishing, improving luster, fabric properties, and stonewashing and other processes. After the fibrous fabric is treated with cellulase, the hand and appearance can be greatly improved, the stiffness and rigidity of the fabric are reduced, and the smoothness and drapability are improved, which can enable the fabric to obtain a better hand and appearance.
Cellulase can also remove fine fibers from the surface of fiber fabrics, and then a little mechanical processing can lastingly resist pilling, pilling and increase the finish and softness of the fabric. This treatment is the "bio-polishing" we mentioned earlier.
The fabrics treated by bio-polishing are brightly dyed and have a long color retention time, especially for printed fabrics. Not only that, another well-known application of cellulase is the enzymatic stonewashing of denim. It was first used in the washing and finishing of indigo denim garments to obtain the same fading and distressed effects of dye decolorization and whitewashing as stone grinding. Compared with the traditional stone grinding process, the enzyme washing process has mild conditions, lower energy consumption, reduced wear and tear of clothing and equipment, and high washing efficiency; Compared with the traditional chemical auxiliary finishing process, the enzymatic washing process greatly reduces sewage discharge and is more conducive to environmental protection.