Biobleaching of flax by degradation of lignin with laccase

Research on lignin biodegradation has become of great interest, due to the fact that lignin is one of the most abundant renewable materials, next to cellulose. Lignin is also the substance that gives color to raw flax fibers. In order to bleach the flax and to keep its tenacity high enough for textile applications, it is necessary to remove the lignin and partially to preserve the pectin. Lignin and pectin are the main constituents of the layer which sticks the flax cells together within the multicellular technical fiber. White-rot fungi and their oxidative enzymes, laccases and peroxid-ases (lignin peroxidases and manganese peroxidases), are being applied for the biobleaching of papermaking pulp, thereby reducing the need for environmentally harmful chemicals. Some data also suggest that it is possible to use other phenolytic enzymes, such as pure laccase, for this purpose. The objective of the present work was to study the possibility of bleaching flax fibers by pure laccase and combined laccase peroxide treatment, aimed at obtaining fibers with high whiteness and well-preserved tenacity.