JPH08127960A - Method for scouring fiber - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To readily scour a cellulosic fiber at a low cost without deteriorating the strength of the cellulosic fiber. CONSTITUTION: A cellulosic fiber is immersed in an aqueous solution containing a lipolytic enzyme at 1-4500units/ml concentration to readily scour the fiber without deteriorating the tear and tensile strengths of the fiber. A protopectinase is more effectively contained together in the aqueous solution. A lipase extracted from Candida rugosa, etc., is especially preferred as the lipolytic enzyme. Mixed fibers of a cotton fiber with a synthetic fiber containing the cotton fiber, an unprocessed fiber or yarn of rayon, ramie and hemp or a processed product of a woven or a knit fabric, etc., may be used as the cellulosic fiber.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a raw cotton fiber, a cotton fiber-containing fiber and a process for scouring a cellulose fiber such as a yarn, a woven fabric, a knitted fabric and a non-woven fabric.

[0002]

Cellulose fibers, typified by cotton fibers, are composed of a secondary membrane and a primary membrane covering the membrane with a winding layer. The primary membrane is composed of a cuticle layer and a mesh layer containing wax, pectin and protein as main components, and the secondary membrane is composed of cellulose. (Yasuo Ohno, "Textile and Industry," Vol. 4, p. 325 (1971)
Year)). Before subjecting unprocessed cotton fibers, cotton fiber-containing fibers and processed products thereof to a processing step such as dyeing processing, the operation of removing the primary film to improve water absorption, decolorization and dyeability is called scouring.

Conventionally, cellulosic fibers such as unprocessed cotton fibers and cotton fiber-containing fibers and their processed products are refined into a mixed solution of sodium hydroxide and a refining aid containing a surfactant as a main component. Is used and the treatment is performed at a high temperature (90 ° C. or higher). However, such a refining method requires a lot of energy. Furthermore, since the waste water becomes strongly alkaline, a special treatment process is required for its treatment, which further increases the cost.

In order to solve such a problem, there has been proposed a method for scouring a vegetable fiber containing a cellulose component as a main component, which is treated with an aqueous solution containing a cellulose degrading enzyme and a pectin degrading enzyme (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 51-149976). ). However, there is a problem that the strength of the cellulose fiber is reduced by the cellulolytic enzyme. Further, a method has been proposed in which silk, which is an animal fiber, is scoured using a lipase (Japanese Patent Publication No. 55-41325), but such a method is not known for a vegetable fiber.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for scouring cellulose fibers easily and at low cost without impairing the strength of the fibers.

[0006]

That is, the present invention relates to a method for scouring a cellulose fiber, which comprises treating the cellulose fiber with an aqueous solution containing a fat-and-oil-degrading enzyme.

Examples of the cellulose fiber which can be treated according to the present invention include cotton fiber, cotton fiber-containing fiber (for example, a blended product of cotton and synthetic fiber), rayon, ramie and hemp fiber. By the refining method of the present invention, unprocessed fibers or processed products such as yarns, woven fabrics, knitted fabrics and nonwoven fabrics can be refined.

Any fat and oil decomposing enzyme may be used as the fat and oil decomposing enzyme in the present invention, but lipase extracted from Candida rugosa and Aspergillus niger is particularly preferable. One type of enzyme or two
A mixture of two or more species is used. Lipase is widely used in the field of food processing and is inexpensive and can be used in large quantities.

The concentration of the oil-degrading enzyme in the aqueous solution used in the refining method of the present invention is preferably 1 to 4500 units / ml. If the amount is less than 1 unit / ml, the scouring effect cannot be obtained, and if it exceeds 4500 units / ml, the scouring degree is not improved and the level is reached, which is not preferable. Here, 1 unit is the amount defined as the amount of enzyme that decomposes olive oil to release 1 μmol of fatty acid in 1 minute.

In the refining method of the present invention, a protopectinase may be further added to the aqueous solution containing the fat and oil degrading enzyme. Protopectinase is a general term for enzymes having the activity of releasing water-soluble pectin from insoluble protopectin present in plant tissues, and Bacillus subtilis, Chloiberomyces marxianus, Trichosporon penicillatorum, Trametes sangenina. It is an enzyme produced by microorganisms such as. The addition of protopectinase makes it easier to remove the primary membrane. 1 if protopectinase is added
~ Concentration of 5000 units / ml. 1 unit /
If it is less than ml, the effect of the enzyme cannot be obtained, and if it exceeds 5,000 units / ml, the degree of scouring is not improved and the amount is capped. Here, 1 unit of protopectinase is the amount defined as the amount of enzyme that decomposes the albedo layer of lemon peel and releases the amount of pectin corresponding to 1 μmol of galacturonic acid per hour.

In the refining method of the present invention, raw or processed cellulose fibers are immersed in an enzyme aqueous solution for treatment. The treatment time may be appropriately adjusted depending on the enzyme titer and the amount used. For example, when the titer of the enzyme is high and the amount used is large, the time is short, and when the titer is low and the amount used is small, the time is long, but usually 0.5 to 24 hours. The pH of the aqueous solution is adjusted to 5-10. For adjusting the pH, a buffer solution such as a phosphate buffer solution may be used as the aqueous solution. The immersion treatment is preferably performed at a temperature of 30 to 55 ° C. During the dipping treatment, the treatment liquid is stirred and shaken if necessary.

When treating the processed product of the glued fiber, it may be pretreated with a desizing agent or may be added to the enzyme solution for treatment. As the desizing agent, any of those used for ordinary desizing treatment is preferably used.

[0013]

The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following examples. The following examples do not limit the invention. Example 1 Two sheets of desalted thin plain weave cotton fabric (AB5272: Kurashiki Spinning Co., Ltd., 10 cm × 10 cm, 1.7 g) and Lipase AY30 (Amano Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) at 1% (w / v).
(300 units / ml) and a surfactant (Womin CS-3500, Tokai Oil Industry Co., Ltd.) 0.1% (w /
The solution was immersed in 100 ml of a 20 mM potassium phosphate buffer solution (pH 8.0) dissolved so as to be v), and treated at 50 ° C. for 22 hours while being reciprocally shaken at 100 rpm. As a comparative example, the treatment was carried out under the same conditions except that lipase was not added to the buffer solution. After the treatment, the cotton fabric was thoroughly washed with water and air-dried, and then the water absorption rate of each cotton fabric was measured according to Japanese Industrial Standard No. JIS L1096 Bayrec method, and used as an index of the degree of scouring. The results are shown in Table 1. Each value is an average value and standard deviation measured three times.

[0014]

[Table 1]

Example 2 10 treatment solutions obtained by adding protopectinase to the treatment solution used in Example 1 and the lipase-free treatment solution of Comparative Example at 33 units / ml each.
0 ml was used. A cotton cloth was treated with each treatment liquid in the same manner as in Example 1, and the water absorption rate of the treated cotton cloth was measured.
Table 2 shows the results. From Table 2, it can be seen that the degree of scouring was improved by the lipase treatment.

[0016]

[Table 2]

As the protopectinase, the culture supernatant of Bacillus subtilis IF03134 was used according to the method of Sakamoto et al., Bioscience / Biotechnology / Biochemistry 58, 353-358 (1993). The following protopectinase was obtained in the same manner.

Example 3 10 treatment solutions each prepared in the same manner as in Example 2 except that the amount of protopectinase added was 133 units / ml.
0 ml was used. A cotton cloth was treated with each treatment liquid in the same manner as in Example 1, and the water absorption rate of the treated cotton cloth was measured. The results are shown in Table 3. It can be seen from Table 3 that the degree of scouring was improved by the lipase treatment.

[0019]

[Table 3]

Example 4 In each of the treatment solutions used in Example 1 including the comparative example and the addition of lipase, 133 units / protopectinase was added.
It was added to make up to ml. Using 150 ml of the treatment liquid containing no lipase and 100 ml of the treatment liquid having a lipase concentration of 5% (w / v), a cotton cloth was treated with each treatment liquid in the same manner as in Example 1, and the treated cotton cloth was treated. The water absorption rate of was measured. The results are shown in Table 4.

[0021]

[Table 4]

Even when the amount of protopectinase used was reduced by about 30%, the degree of scouring was almost the same as that of the non-reduced group due to the addition of lipase. The degree of scouring obtained is equal to or higher than that of caustic soda scouring.

Example 5 To the treatment solution containing no lipase used in Example 3,
Cellulase T "Amano" (Amano Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., 15000)
150 ml of the treatment liquid added with 1% (w / v) of the unit / g) and 150 ml of the treatment liquid containing the lipase of Example 3 were used. A cotton cloth was treated with each treatment solution in the same manner as in Example 1. After washing the treated cotton cloth with water and air-drying, the tensile strength was measured according to Japanese Industrial Standard No. J.
The IS L1096 strip method and the tear strength were measured by the pendulum method. The results are shown in Table 5.

[0024]

[Table 5]

When treated with cellulase, both tear strength and tensile strength were significantly reduced, but when treated with lipase, it was hardly reduced.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, the scouring of cellulose fibers can be easily carried out without impairing the strength of the fibers. The fat-and-oil-degrading enzyme used in the present invention is an enzyme that is widely used in food applications, and can be used in large quantities at low cost. According to the method of the present invention, it is possible to obtain a good degree of scouring even if the amount of protopectinase, which is relatively expensive in scouring of fibers, is reduced.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Ryohei Yamamoto 14-5 Shimokita-machi, Neyagawa-shi, Osaka Inside the Technical Research Laboratory Kurashiki Spinning Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takuo Sakai 4-13 Harayamadai, Sakai-shi, Osaka No. 6

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method of scouring a cellulose fiber, which comprises treating the cellulose fiber with an aqueous solution containing a fat-degrading enzyme. 2. The method for scouring a cellulose fiber according to claim 1, wherein the cellulose fiber is treated with an aqueous solution containing an oil-degrading enzyme and a protopectinase.