Chapter 23
Enzymes for Wool Fiber Modification
Downloaded by NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIV on May 3, 2015 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: March 31, 1998 | doi: 10.1021/bk-1998-0687.ch023
E. Heine, B. Hollfelder, W. Lorenz, H. Thomas, G.Wortmann, and H. Höcker
German Wool Research Institute, Aachen University of Technology, Veltmanplatz 8, 52062 Aachen, Germany
With the aid of enzymes and combined processes handle, dyeability and degree of whiteness of wool were improved and the feltability was reduced. The molecular origin of these effects was studied by monitoring the wool protein pattern using gel electrophoresis. It was deduced that among others also peptide bonds in the intermediate filaments are cleaved by the enzyme catalytic action. Changes in wool morphology were documented by using TEM. By the protease catalytic effect the cell membrane complex is modified and the endocuticle of wool is removed.
Wool as a natural, animal derived product is an environmentally friendly, renewable textile material. There is a broad range of finishing processes aiming at converting wool into different kinds of clothing material and home textiles (/). Some of these processes still include the use o f chlorine as a fiber-modifying agent leading to environmentally unfriendly adsorbable organic halogen (ΑΟΧ) by-products in the effluent of these plants (2). Therefore research work to establish alternative processes for wool fiber modification is performed in the field of physical treatments like plasma and corona (3) but also in the field of biochemical treatments like enzymatic processes as forward-looking technologies. The application of enzymes for textile finishing processes was reviewed (
