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Proteases as Scouring Agents for Cotton

Extending from our previous work on enzymatic removal of the noncellulosics on cotton fiber surfaces, this paper reports the effects of proteolytic enzymes on improving the water wettability and absorbency of cotton fabrics. Ten proteolytic enzymes or proteases are used on greige cotton fabrics pretreated in 100°C water for 2 seconds twice. Reactions with four of the proteases significantly improve the wettability of cotton fabrics, and the resulting wetting behavior is similar or superior to alkaline scoured cotton. Several other proteases also improve cotton wettability, but to lesser extents. The optimized reaction conditions for the most effective proteases afford a range of moderate scouring conditions, including neutral to acid (pH 4) media, low temperatures (25 to 45°C), and short reaction times (10 to 30 minutes). The low temperatures of these protease reactions also lead to fewer changes in fabric thickness and porosity than in the alkaline scoured cotton fabrics.