ENZYME TREATMENT TO ENHANCE WETTABILITY AND ABSORPTION ABSORBANCY OF TEXTILE

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To increase wettability and absorbancy of textile 64582 without using an alkali. SOLUTION: Cotton textile fibers or polyester textile fibers are treated with an enzyme in a water-soluble medium without a surfactant. The enzyme is pectinase, cellulase, protease, lipase or an arbitrary combination thereof. In the case of cotton textile, before the enzyme treatment, preferably the cotton textile is immersed in boiling water. The wetting properties of cotton fibers are found to be most substantially improved by treatment with a mixture of cellulase and pectinase. Four out of the five lipases studied improve the water wetting and absorbent properties of the regular polyester fabric more than alkaline hydrolysis under optimal conditions. Compared to the result with aqueous hydrolysis, the improved water wettability is accompanied by full strength retention.