Effects of enzymatic treatment with Savinase and papain on wool properties

For improving the anti-felting effect of wool by enzymatic treatment,the wool samples that had been subjected to pretreatment with cutinase were treated with Savinase and papain,respectively.The effect of synergistic action of the two-step process on the weight loss of the samples was investigated.The experimental results revealed that under the same enzymatic concentration,Savinase treatment showed a little higher efficiency of enzymolysis and imparted the sample higher weight loss percentage than papain;under the same weight loss percentage,papain treatment rendered the sample better wettability,lower alkaline solubility and felting shrinkage than Savinase,indicating that the extent of scale removal was more remarkable during cutinase-papain treatment.The data obtained by XPS verified that papain seemed to degrade the scales more efficiently in hydrolysis mode than Savinase during wool enzymatic treatment.