JP2682717B2 - Solvent treatment method for animal hair - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for treating wool,
And in particular it relates to new solvent treatment methods.

“Prior Art” In general, the most common method for removing dirt, swear and grease from thick hair has traditionally involved the use of surfactants dissolved in hot or cold natural or alkaline water. It was an aqueous treatment method that relied on a combination of wool raking type agitation. These traditional water washing methods result in a “slumping” of wool (“slumpin”).
g ") results in fiber entanglement which results in fiber breakage during subsequent carding and combing processes. The average fiber length of a normally processed wool top is virgin or greezy wool. 70% to 80% of that, which in turn reduces the amount and quality of wool reported as a worthwhile wool top product.

Recent advances in water cleaning systems have been directed to reducing the consumption of cleaning chemicals, such as US Pat. No. 1,183,575.

Other advances have disclosed the use of pre-cleaning fleece fleeces to reduce fiber trauma, as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,708,262 to Kanegafuchi Spinning Co., Ltd. (Japan). In the above specification, the cleaning liquid is gently sucked down through the fleece to remove at least some grease and dirt from the wool.

Soviet Union Patent No. 996532 discloses ultrasonic agitation of cleaning media as an attempt to reduce physical damage to wool fibers. This disclosure is 100KHz and 250KHz
Between it and the ultrasonic vibrations of the aqueous medium, and at lower frequencies no complete removal of contaminants is obtained, whereas at frequencies above 250 KHz it is disadvantageous for spinning, as the wool fibers wind up. It has a great effect.

While the above disclosure represents a significant improvement over traditional hot water washing methods, all of the above methods clearly result in some loss of fiber length in wool tops as compared to raw wool. This loss of fiber length is generally believed to cause "slumping" of the wool fibers as a result of the use of aqueous systems.

As an alternative to the water washing method and in an attempt to overcome the inherent problems associated therewith, several solvent and solvent related methods for washing wool have been proposed in the past. For example, British Patent No. 1233901 and US Patent No.
Both 3,619,116 propose the use of trichlorethylene or perchlorethylene as a cleaning liquid with the usual intense sales expansion. The solvent used is then extracted with water / alcohol and distilled to recover the solvent and purified lanolin.

Among the advances using other solvent cleaning techniques is Australian Patent No. 40379/85 to Extraction de Smet, which involves cleaning using a water / alcohol solution. This method is followed by rinsing the wool in a hydrocarbon solvent.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,600,124 discloses a method of using a hydrophilic solvent or solvent mixture (e.g. acetone) as a post-wash over a conventional water wash. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,619 proposes to use a solvent afterwash to reduce the residual grease content of wool.

Japanese Patent Application No. 138032/76, on the contrary, discloses the application of the first solvent wash using a high flash point petroleum solvent prior to the water wash. The purpose of this described method is to reduce water consumption and at the same time increase wool grease recovery, thus the resulting washed wool would have the same properties as conventional washed wool. It is considered.

South African Federal Patent Application No. 5106/73 describes an aqueous medium,
It proposes to use an emulsion wash consisting of a nonionic surfactant and a non-volatile solvent selected from animal or vegetable oils. This method also has the original characteristics of water washing.

U.S. Patent No. 4,343,619 and Australian Patent No. 5
The wool washing method described in 33,117 is also cited. This method includes the following steps.

(I) treating the grease-containing wool with an organic solvent containing 1,1,1-trichloroethane and methylene chloride; and (ii) subjecting the treated wool after step (i) to the aforementioned water washing or scouring.

The above method used the organic solvent only as a prewash followed by conventional and traditional water washes. Therefore, it is considered that the disadvantages described above regarding the water washing also apply to this method.

However, it should also be noted that the above method only disclosed the prewash and the use of 1,1,1-trichloroethane prior to the water washing or scouring step.
The above method cannot be used in many applications because of the problems and costs in converting plants or equipment using current water washing processes to incorporate pretreatment of greige wool by soaking in organic solvents.

Moreover, this method still involves the use of a final washing or scouring step. Such a process still also results in "slumping" of the wool fibers, resulting in fiber rupture during subsequent entanglement and combing and / or carding.

U.S. Pat.No. 4,343,619 and Australian Patent No. 533,117 also describe crude animal already extracted from the same type of grease-containing animal hair which is treated in the first step of washing the greedy wool with said organic solvent. It states that hair grease of 0.1 to 10% is an essential condition. The inclusion of coarse animal hair grease is not required for the present invention, thus simplifying the method and apparatus of the present invention.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,619 and Australian Patent 533,117 also refer to the production of washed animal hair material which retains 1-3% by weight residual soap material and 0.3-5.0% by weight residual fatty material. Again, deliberate inclusion of these materials is not required in the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,619 and Australian Patent 533,117 also mention that they include an additional step of moving either one or both of the animal hair material and the wash liquor at a relative speed of 3-60 m / min relative to each other. This additional step is not essential to the invention, especially in batch processing. However, for continuous processing on a belt conveyor, this countercurrent flow of cleaning liquid and wool fleece is preferred, but the relative speed is not critical to cleaning performance.

[Brief Description of Drawings] FIG. 1 shows a flow sheet of the present invention.

FIG. 1A is a graph showing the optimum contact time between wool fiber and 1,1,1 trichloroethane in the process of the present application.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the method of the present invention by the batch method.

FIG. 2A shows the change over time in the strength of wool fibers without sonication when contacted with 1,1,1 trichloroethane.

Similar to FIG. 2A, FIG. 2B also shows changes in the wool fiber strength over time.

FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating the improvement in wool chip quality achieved by the present invention.

FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C are schematic views for continuously carrying out the method of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing another mode of continuous operation different from that shown in FIGS. 3A to 3C.

FIG. 4A is a graph showing the test results of fibers treated by the method of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a solvent recycling operation used in the method of the present invention.

One object of the present invention is to provide a method of washing wool which alleviates at least some of the problems associated with the prior art and also significantly improves fiber strength. This in turn can lead to an increase in the fiber length and subsequently the value of wool-top products for the production of yarns and fabrics. Increasing fiber strength can also increase the wool top to noil (short fiber) ratio due to lower fiber breakage.

Another object of the invention is to provide a suitable device for use in the above method.

The process of the present invention comprises the step of treating the wool with an organic solvent, optionally comprising a halogenated hydrocarbon, a halogenated ether or mixtures thereof, for optimum contact time to improve fiber strength.

What has now been discovered in the context of the present invention is that there is an optimum contact time with an organic solvent which is a halogenated hydrocarbon which is particularly preferred including trichloroethane and methylene chloride. In other words, there is an upper limit on the contact time and it is related to various factors such as the method of stirring, the particular solvent and the particular animal hair being processed. Also, the quality of animal hair could be a factor, such as, for example, fiber diameter, original fiber strength and fiber type.

Therefore, the upper limit for the contact time mentioned above is suitably of the order of 15 minutes, and for normal stirring methods 10 minutes is more suitable, and in some cases very vigorous stirring methods (e.g. ultrasonic waves). It has been found that a time of less than 5 minutes is suitable due to vibration.

In the case of the extremely vigorous stirring method (ultrasonic vibration), it was further found that after reaching the abovementioned upper limit, the strength of the fibers decreases with time and reaches its original value. Since the strength of the fiber decreases when the above upper limit is exceeded,
The fibers become increasingly brittle. The brittleness of this fiber has in the past been a disadvantage seen with solvent washed wool. The present invention not only increases the strength of the fiber, but also stops the solvent reaction process in that it does not cause any real damage to other fiber properties.

In the case of wool subjected to the usual stirring methods (including dipping and jetting with a low pressure high solvent jet of the dipped wool), the fiber strength gradually increases during the first 10 minutes. The actual fiber strength values become variable and unpredictable after 10-15 minutes, and the values may either continue to increase or decrease, or even remain constant. It is particularly preferred to use new or fresh organic solvents in the present invention, which may flow countercurrently to the wool in the bath. The contact time between the dipped wool and the organic solvent is particularly preferably 6 to 10 minutes, and the residual fatty substance content of the used solvent from the washing operation is 3% or less (preferably, in order to obtain desired washing conditions).
1.5% to 2.0%) is suitable.

If desired, a rinse step may be used in which fresh organic solvent is applied to the washed or cleaned wool to remove detergent residues added to the solvent in the bath.

The wool may optionally be first treated with an initial water or organic solvent washing step. However, more preferably the minimum contact time with the organic solvent mentioned above can be used as a washing step, especially when treating wool or greige wool.

The initial water washing step may include any suitable conventional water washing step as is well known in the art, and they are the steps generally outlined above. The initial water wash step may also include a tip wash to minimize wool slumping. A first wash with an organic solvent is especially preferred if the organic solvent can increase the strength of the fiber. A suitable initial wash step is one that does not cause fiber entanglement and / or breakage.

The preferred solvent for the process of the present invention is 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCE) because of its relative cost and ease of recovery. Surfactants are used to improve TCE performance in cleaning dirty fiber tops. The surfactant may be any compatible with organic solvents such as aliphatic liquid hydrocarbons.

Treatment with the solvent may be carried out either batchwise or continuously depending on the scale of operation. It goes without saying that for some types of processing, batch processing is more suitable in terms of equipment investment costs. It is believed that the continuous process will be chosen for large industrial scale applications.

If a batch method is used, it is advantageous if the wool is placed in a basket and it is impregnated with a bath containing a solvent.

Indeed, it is particularly preferred to lay the wool as a complete fleece in a dipping basket with the normally oriented outer part (tip) of the fleece facing down. If a continuous process is employed, the fleece is preferably placed on a conveyor belt, such as a perforated plastic plate or a wire mesh belt, the fleece is preferably chip down and partly immersed in a solvent bath or Let it all pass and let it pass. Such belts may require ribs or cleats to maintain motion relative to the fleece counter-current TCE solvent flow.

If desired, the wool can be placed in a flexible mesh or perforated plate container to facilitate access of the TCE to and removal from the wool.

Washing processes using trichloroethane (TCE), methylene chloride, or mixtures thereof also result in excellent drying performance of wool.

In common with other washing methods, it is advantageous that after washing according to the method of the invention the wool is dried before deburring, carding and combing. The use of centrifugation or other types of spin-drying processes is essential to achieve maximum physical solvent removal from the wool. This should preferably be done with a wool top oriented outwards or upwards in the direction of solvent flow to achieve a flushing action for the final removal of impurities. The wool is then dried, if necessary, to the optimum required for deburring or to the optimum required for effective carding and combing.

For maximum removal of mud or other impurities and traces of residual surfactant, it is appropriate to rinse the wool with TCE or other organic solvent in a centrifuge or tumble dryer.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the wool after soaking in a water wash is subjected to a final wash and then passed through a wringer or other suitable dewatering step prior to drying. For the present invention, the hot wool is preferably removed directly from the dryer and then immersed in TCE. The immersion time may be at least 2 minutes depending on the stirring method,
It doesn't need to be longer than 15 minutes. The wool can then be removed from the TCE bath and placed in a tumble dryer. The relatively high specific gravity of TCE and the relatively open shape of wool fibers allow for rapid and efficient solvent removal from wool. Residual solvent levels of up to 2% based on dry wool can be achieved. The size and g-force of the rotary dryer is typically 200-400, but may be in the range 50-1000.

Alternatively, wet water washed wool can be processed. The water carried from the water wash into the TCE medium can be separated using conventional techniques that take advantage of the difference in specific gravity of TCE and water. This allows the TCE to be recycled with minimal resulting loss.
But this method is not recommended.

To minimize costs and meet environmental regulations,
It is desirable to recover the solvent from each step of the method of the present invention. It is also desirable to minimize the rate of solvent recycle throughout the process. The solvent is recovered by distillation leaving wool wax as a residue, which is further refined into valuable lanolin products. Solvent cleaning maximizes wool wax recovery, typically 95% recovery.

The unexpected benefit provided to the washed wool by this method is an actual initial increase in the measured tensile strength of the wool compared to traditional water washed wool. It is believed that this increased fiber strength of the wash wool results in an increased fiber length of the wool top after further processing (ie, a more valuable wool top product).

The mechanism by which this increase in fiber strength occurs is linked to the internal transformation of the fiber following solvent penetration. Although these changes have to wait for biochemical elucidation, it is likely that proper solvent treatment causes a biochemical reaction of keratin with cell membrane complex (CMC). This complex is consistent with both cortical and superficial cells. It gives the matrix, the weakest component of keratin. The complex consists of proteins that are slightly cross-linked with lipids, and although it is only part of a small percentage of keratin (6%), it nevertheless determines the tensile strength of the keratin very significantly, so it is important. Is. Exposure of this CMC to a suitable solvent, on our part, led to an increase in tensile strength, and this probably triggered the removal of lipids (eg cholesterol triglycerides and free fatty acids) from the fibers early in contact. Reflect the changes that occur. After all, sphingolipids and phospholipids can be extracted under the extreme and optionally normal conditions of ultrasonic vibration, and this leads to a decrease in fiber strength after the initial strength increase period. It is believed that

The solvent proposed in the present invention has a higher vapor pressure than water and both lower specific heat and latent heat of vaporization. It thus requires less time and substantially less energy to dry the wash wool.
Even when the solvent of the present invention is used on wet wool after prewashing with water, the time and energy of drying is
The use of certain surfactants active in the solvent is significantly reduced by the formation of solvent / water hydrotropes. This facilitates physical removal of water in the spin-drying portion of the solvent recovery process as compared to water extraction alone. The water content of this hydrotrope is then recovered along with the wool wax product in a solvent recovery distillation process.

Another advantage of the present invention is the improvement in average color of washed wool, i.e. from the yellowish white of water washed wool to the pure white of wool washed according to the present invention.

After cleaning the experimental greedy wool, 25 individual staples forming each group to be tested were AWTA (Australi
an Wool Testing Authority) certified test equipment.

According to Table 1 attached hereto, each sample was proportioned to give an average tensile strength for its treated group. Table 1 reveals the extent to which trichloroethane (TCE) solvent and various treatment processes affect the tensile strength of water-washed wool. The unit of tensile strength is given in Newtons per kilotex. A pair of samples are then tested after various soaking times in TCE and the results are given as shown in Table 1. In this regard, each sample was dipped into an open container at the top and then dried before their tensile strength was measured as described above.

All wool staples were first washed using traditional water washing techniques as described below. These samples are
Treated as individual staples so that their tensile strength could be measured after washing (water washed control, Table 1).

Brisbane TAFE College's Wool Schoool is kindly designed to process our traditional water washing equipment (small test batches) using our KLEENIT detergent (from Campbell Bros. Ltd.) Has been made available).

After washing with water the wool is dried in a forced hot air stream,
And half of the staples were reconditioned to gain moisture. All staples were then dipped in 1,1,1-trichloroethane for various times (Table 1), air dried, conditioned and then tested for tensile strength. Prior to testing, the staples were spin dried in a centrifuge with a g force of about 300. The centrifuge used was a LIGHTBURN spin dryer serial number 6504. Therefore, Table 1 lists the traditional water washed sample (water control) and a similar sample with an additional treatment by immersion in TCE.
All of these samples were measured for tensile strength. And the following points summarize the major findings regarding the treatment of water-washed wool with solvents to increase tensile strength.

1.TCE treatment increases the tensile strength of wash wool.

2. This effect occurs after a minimum immersion time of 2 minutes.

3. The preferred immersion time is 2-3 minutes for vigorous stirring (ultrasonic) and 6-10 minutes for gentle and normal stirring methods.

4. Immersion in methylene chloride or TCE-methylene chloride mixture also gave the same result.

5. Immersion of water-washed wool directly from the open showed slightly improved tensile strength compared to that observed using dry, moderately conditioned wool.

Alternatively, the wet wool removed from the rinse bath at the end of the water wash can be squeezed dry and then treated in TCE as described above with similar results. table). Therefore an increase in tensile strength can be achieved by applying a TCE dip after this last rinse or after the drying step.

Also attached herein are drawings 1A, 2A, 2B, 3 and 4A, which illustrate the aforementioned behavior of wool treated in accordance with the present invention. Thus Figure 1A illustrates wool treated by vigorous ultrasonic agitation,
Figures 2A and 2B illustrate wool treated by conventional agitation, Figure 3 illustrates the improvement in wool chip quality achieved by the method of the present invention, and Figure 4A shows the results of fiber tests. Explains the graph analysis of.

Reference may also be made to Table 3, which concerns the testing of wool samples already described above in Figures 2A, 2B and 3.

25 KHz for cleaning glycidyl wool with solvent
According to the ultrasonic vibration of, the wool sample with the initial tensile strength of 35 N / Ktex increases to the peak value of 56 N / Ktex after 2-3 minutes and then decreases to 40 N / Ktex after 20 minutes. Was further understood.

It is also pointed out that in addition to the chlorinated hydrocarbons preferably used in the present invention, other halogenated hydrocarbons can be used, such as brominated or iodinated derivatives.

As for the stirring technique which can be used both in the water washing step and in the organic solvent washing step as described above, the air / water jet stream or the solvent jet stream (from the side and the bottom) in a specific direction is also used. It could be used, for example a large volume of low pressure solvent jets could be used in the bath or preferably over the soaked wool fibers. These jets may be used in place of conventional agitation raking mechanisms used in water scrubbing processes. This simplifies the device or equipment to be pushed.

In another possible embodiment, the wool washing process comprises gentle agitation, dipping, in a large automatic washer,
For the wash, rinse and spin dry cycles, for the first cycle to remove water or solvent (with surfactant) to remove dirt, and then to the dip, wash, rinse and spin dry cycle. Can be done using a solvent, or any combination thereof.

A special washer designed to minimize fiber entanglement by gentle agitation has a suitable automatic valve that is standard for removing solvent washes and residues by filtration or centrifugation. Of the cleaning liquid and then the solvent liquid to the processing steps of solvent distillation and lanolin recovery.

The method of the present invention is not only applied to greedy wool in need of washing, but may also be used to treat dry or wet water washed wool as deemed appropriate. The treatment with halogenated hydrocarbons may be carried out after the water wash, or may preferably be the actual wash process.

Also from the above, the term "wool" applies to animal hair in general, and the method of the present invention is directed to civet hair fibers, weasel hair fibers, raccoon hair fibers, astrakhan hair fibers, fox hair fibers. It will also be appreciated that it can be applied to animal hair fibers, including mink hair fibers, chinchilla hair fibers, sable hair fibers, angora and cashmere goat hair fibers, camel hair fibers and alpaca hair fibers. .

 Now, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described.

 FIG. 1 is a flow sheet of the method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic of the method of the present invention using batch mode operation.

3A, 3B and 3C are schematic representations of the method of the present invention using a continuous process.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the method of the present invention using a continuous operation different from that shown in FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of the recirculation operation for cleaning the solvent used in the process of the invention.

The drawing shows a flow sheet in FIG. 1, which is self-explanatory. The wool fleece is initially rolled separately from each other, but is unrolled and then placed on a net conveyor with the chips facing down and subjected to chip pretreatment and then washed in an organic solvent. This breaks a separate fleece into a wool clamp before drying the washed wool. The solvent used is then passed through a centrifuge to recover the used solvent and then filtered to remove dirt and lanolin oxide. The spent solvent is then distilled and the resulting recovered solvent is passed to the chip pretreatment medium. Wool wax is recovered from the distillation process and then shipped to a refinery for use as a lanolin product.

FIG. 2 shows a stack 10 of separate fleeces (ie,
Water-washed wool or grazing wool) are shown, placed chip-down in a basket 11 and carried by a conveyor 12, which conveys a head roller 13, a tail roller 14, and an intermediate idler roller 15 And approaches the chip pretreatment zone in the cleaning tank 9. The pretreatment zone is a descending slope 17, a horizontal portion 18
And the uphill ramp 19 delimits the range. The fleece tip can be subjected to a mild cleaning action as described above. The rest of each fleece is cleaning medium 20
Do not touch. The cleaning medium 20 is also used in the chip pretreatment zone 16
It may be sprinkled on the fleece with the stirring spray 21 inside. After passing through the chip pretreatment zone, basket 11
The fleece therein passes through a horizontal zone 22, where the fleece is removed from the wash medium before being carried into the wash zone 23. Also shown there is a descending ramp 24, which passes basket 11 into zone 23, where the fleece is dipped into wash medium 20, which is a halogenated hydrocarbon retained in bath 9. Is included. The contact time is as described above and is preferably 6-10 minutes. It is also provided with drains 26 and 27, in which the spent medium can be sent out for filtration and further purification. Also shown is a manifold 23A for supplying cleaning to the cleaning bath 20. Basket 11 after passing through washing zone 23
Can be carried up uphill 28. The ramp is fleece 10
Includes a manifold 28A for sprinkling fresh solvent as a rinse solution prior to being passed through the unloading zone 29. In zone 29 the fleece is lowered into a centrifuge 30 for drying. The fleece is then transferred to a second conveyor 31, where the fleece 10 passes separately through a dryer 32 and then a cooling bath 33.
And then applied to the grinding roll 34. The fleece 10 is then placed on the table 35 and stacked for convenience of further processing operations including, for example, carding.

Conveyor 31 is head roller 31A, tail roller 31B
And controlled as indicated by an intermediate idler roller 31C.

In Figures 3A, 3B and 3C, a number of fleeces 10 (water washed wool or greige wool) are shown on the loading and placement table in stacking order adjacent to the tank 9. The fleeces 10 are separately stacked on a perforated plate or mesh conveyor 37 and then fed into a chip pretreatment zone 38. The fleece is conveniently separated by ribs 37A (only a few ribs are shown for illustration, but ribs 37A
It will be appreciated that A is mounted along the entire length of conveyor 37). Zone 38 includes skimmer box 39, pump 40 and agitation sprayer 41, and drain
26 and 27, from which the used wash solution 43 is sent for purification processes including filtration. The skimmer box 39 and the pump 40 serve to clean the upper surface of the cleaning liquid 41 with dust. It also includes the idler roller 44.

The fleece 10 is then fed into the wash zone 45, where the fleece is completely submerged in the wash liquor 43, the latter containing halogenated hydrocarbons or ethers as described above, and the contact time there being 6-. 10 minutes. The wash zone 45 also includes a skimmer box 39 and a pump 40. A stirring sprayer 41 also serves in the wash zone 45, the latter also including an idler roller 44 as well as a manifold 45A for the supply of detergent.

The fleece 10 is then passed through the rinse zone 46 defined by the uphill ramp 47 of the conveyor 37. In the rinse zone 46, fresh recirculated solvent is sprinkled on the fleece 10 through the manifold 46A to remove residual traces of impurities. It also includes a separator 48, a head pulley or roller 49 and an idler roller 44 that breaks the fleece 10 into a clamp. Those clamps then pass through the chute 50 to the motor and gearbox equipment.
It is fed into a centrifuge 51 driven by 52.
The fleece 10 is collected in the centrifuge 51 to form an aggregate.

The wool and residual solvent are then sent from a centrifuge 51 up a conveyor 53 to a cyclone separator 54 where the residual solvent is raised up a chimney 55 and discarded. The residual solvent ascending through the chimney 55 will consist of about 3% of the original solvent used. The cleaned wool is then inspected for quality at inspection point 56 and then to the pneumatic conveyor 57.
Ascends through and enters a storage tank 58 equipped with a baffle plate 59 and a dust collector 60. The final clean and cleaned wool is at discharge location 61
Can be sent through for subsequent transportation and storage. There is also a motor 62, a suction fan 63 for the pneumatic conveyor and an air exhaust pipe 64.

Another continuous process is illustrated in FIG. 4, but without the chip pretreatment operation. The fleece 10 from the loading table 65 is fed to the conveyor 66 above the level of the washing liquid 43 and then into the washing zone 45. A continuous process as described in Figures 3B and 3C is then used.

Solvent recirculation is shown in FIG. 5, where tank 9 is supplied with clean detergent or solvent through line 67. The tank is equipped with outlets 26 and 27 from which spent or dirty solvent is sent via line 68 to a pressure filter 69 and then to a distiller 70. The pressure filter 69 may be precoated with diatomaceous earth, bentonite, acid activated clay, carbon or montmorillonite. It is also equipped with a pump 71 and a condenser 72 for delivering clean solvent through line 67. If desired, stabilizers may be added as shown. It is also provided with plumbing 73 for feeding the wool wax 74 or other material collected from the still for further purification. Cooling water is passed through condensers 72 through lines 75 and 76.

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. An (i) first washing of animal hair with water, (ii) an organic solvent such as a halogenated hydrocarbon or a halogenated ether containing a detergent for increasing the strength of the fiber.
Contact the animal hair with ultrasonic vibration of 25 KHz or less for ~ 3 minutes while stirring. (Iii) Rinse the animal hair thus treated with fresh organic solvent or unused organic solvent for 6 minutes to 10 minutes. (Iv) For the purpose of carding and / or top making except organic solvent so that the used organic solvent recycled from contact with animal hair does not contain residual animal hair grease substances in excess of 3%. Drying the animal hair by spin dryer or centrifugation to provide suitable animal fiber as: (v) providing a plurality of loose animal hair fiber masses, preferably in their original arrangement and shape; and vi) Wash multiple lumps separately from each other in a wash medium for an optimum contact time to improve fiber strength, and combine multiple lumps of animal hair fibers into aggregates before carding. Animal hair of processing method that includes. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the organic solvent is 1,1,1 trichloroethane. 3. The residual animal hair grease substance content is 1.5%.
The method according to claim 1, which is between 2.0%.