Enzyme Treatment of Wool and Specialty Hair Fibers

Enzyme treatment is one of the most prospective eco-friendly processes, for treating wool. Although, extensive research has been conducted on the effectiveness of enzymes as antifelting agents for wool, the use of enzymes as scouring agents for wool, versus conventional soap-scouring has not been studied. Furthermore, limited studies have been conducted on enzyme treatment of specialty hair fibers. This study evaluated the efficiency of enzymes (xylanase, pectinase, savinase, and resinase) in scouring wool, (merino and rambouillet) and specialty hair fibers (llama, alpaca, mohair and camel), in comparison with control treatments with hot water, and conventional soap. Various physical, chemical, and structural properties of the treated and untreated fibers were evaluated. Xylanase, and pectinase were found to clean the fibers as efficiently as soap, but without causing any physical damage to the fibers. Resinase was however, not an efficient scouring agent.