WO2018178794A1

WO2018178794A1 - Natural fibre treatment process

Info

Publication number: WO2018178794A1
Application number: PCT/IB2018/051756
Authority: WO
Inventors: Cristina Isabel CASTRO ERAZO; Maria Victoria CORRALES TOBÓN; Piedad Felisinda GAÑÁN; Jorge Alonso MANRIQUE HENAO; Maria Clara RESTREPO RESTREPO; Johny Alejandro SÁNCHEZ RENDÓN; Lina María VELEZ ACOSTA; Robin Octavio ZULUAGA
Original assignee: Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana; Expofaro S.A.S.
Priority date: 2017-03-31
Filing date: 2018-03-15
Publication date: 2018-10-04
Also published as: BR112019020470B1; BR112019020470A2; US20200102694A1; CO2017003218A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a natural fibre treatment process that can be used to condition fibres for the optimal production of spun yarn and, subsequently, textile bases. The process comprises the steps of alkaline treatment, bleaching and addition of a softening agent.

Description

PROCESS OF TREATMENT OF NATURAL FIBERS

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is framed in the textile sector, particularly in natural fiber treatment processes for different applications.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

At present, the leaves of the Aspargaceae family are considered as a variety of fibrous plant materials with a high exploitation potential in the textile industry. Generally, these plant materials have a high cellulose content that can be used in the manufacture of textile bases for clothing. However, its use as a raw material in the construction of textile bases is limited due to its low fineness and roughness of the fibers, due to the presence of non-cellulosic components, which does not make it suitable for obtaining threads that can be spun with a traditional machinery for the construction of textile bases.

With the rise of the study of new applications of coarse natural fibers, the most recent advances have focused on developing cotonization processes, which refer to the processing of coarse or hard fibers to make them similar to cotton fibers in terms of their properties (eg length, smoothness, diameter or fineness). This cotonizing is achieved by totally or partially removing the pectins, lignin and hemicellulose without damaging the cellulose of the fiber and separating the elementary fibers that are bound to each other by these compounds.

In the state of the art natural fiber treatment processes of the Poaceae, Urticaceae, Malvaceae, Linaceae, Gramineae, Fabaceae, Cannabaceae families are described, with which fibers with different properties and characteristics are obtained. The processes that are disclosed generally include alkaline treatment, bleaching and drying stages.

Document US7481843 B2 describes a procedure for the extraction and preparation of coarse fibers of ramie (Urticaceae family), jute (Malvaceae family) and hemp (Cannabaceae family), with which fibers are obtained for the production of fine, pure spun yarns, in which the conventional spinning train is fed 100% with the selected fiber, or mixed, in which before the process of Different fibers are mixed in the desired proportions and at the end of the spinning process an intimate mixing yarn is obtained.

Document US5718802 discloses the use of the sugarcane by-product (Poaceae family) for the production of threads and nonwovens, in which for the extraction of the fibers an alkaline treatment with NaOH (caustic soda) and temperature is used. Combined mechanical treatments are also used such as steam explosion, gas pressure bubbles, strong boiling, among others.

US20070199669 discloses a method for the extraction of cellulosic fibers from leaves and stems of corn, grass, rice, barley (family Poaceae) sorghum, wheat, (family Gramineae), soybeans (family Fabaceae) and cotton stalks (family Malvaceae ), by an alkaline treatment to partially delignify the material and a subsequent enzymatic treatment to extract the fibers.

US 7624478 B2 describes a method for processing coarse fibers derived from the cotton stalk (Malvaceae family), which includes extraction, dewatering, preservation, cutting, opening, carding, sorting and packing. Document US 7526837 B2 discloses a process for the treatment of flax fibers (family Linaceae), which consists of cleaning, cotonization, enriado and drying of the raw material by means of an electro-hydraulic process.

The document US 4359859 B2 describes a thread formed with the fibers of the leaves and the pods of the corn, by immersing the leaves and the pods in a solution of caustic soda for the release of these and later it is dried, carded and spun. CN101041916 (A); It describes a process for obtaining a bamboo fiber blend yarn (family Poaceae) and ramie (family Urticaceae). In the extraction and preparation of fibers of the Aspargaceae family, improper processing can damage fibers to a large extent, generating low fiber yield and economic losses. Therefore, there is a need to design procedures for the extraction and preparation of fibers of the Aspargaceae family, which allow obtaining suitable fibers for the construction of high-quality apparel textiles.

The process of the invention allows to obtain natural fibers for new textile bases for the diversification of its applications in the apparel, expanding the portfolio of opportunities for these fibers within the textile world.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The process of the present invention allows to obtain modified natural fibers from the leaves of plants of the Aspargaceae family, by adding a softening agent to the natural fibers after being subjected to an alkaline and bleaching treatment. The fibers obtained exhibit excellent tactile properties due to the removal of non-cellulosic components, favoring the decrease of the diameter of the fibers and the increase of their flexibility.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG 1. Photograph of the natural fiber (a) and the cotonized fiber (b).

FIG 2. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of natural fiber (a) and cotonized fiber (b).

FIG 3. Photograph of a cotton / fique mix yarn (1: 1).

FIG 4. Photograph of fabric produced with a cotton / fique mix yarn (1: 1).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The hard fibers from the leaves of the plants of the Aspargaceae family are basically composed of cellulose (between 40-70%), hemicellulose, pectins and lignin, responsible for agglutinating and maintaining the integrity of cellulosic fibers. These other non-cellulosic components are responsible for these fibers being coarse, not very flexible, and with low hygroscopicity. These components must be removed with chemical, mechanical, enzymatic and / or physical cotonizing treatments to obtain softer and individualized fibers with applications in the textile sector.

Thus, the present invention relates to a process for the treatment of natural fibers from the Aspargaceae family, including fique, henequen and sisal, whose leaves and stems are initially defibrated and the fibers cut lengthwise in sizes between 10 mm and 1500 mm

Once the fibers have been defibrated and cut, they are subjected to an alkaline treatment that consists of immersing them in an alkaline solution of KOH or NaOH (1-20% w / w), with an alkaline fiber / solution ratio between 1: 5 and 1: 50, at a temperature between 20 and 90 ° C, for 1 to 24 hours. In one embodiment of the process of the invention, the fibers are immersed in an alkaline NaOH solution between 10% and 15% (w / v), at a fiber / solution ratio between 1: 20 and 1: 40, at a temperature between 60 ° C and 80 ° C, for 1 to 5 hours. In another embodiment of the process of the invention, the fibers are immersed in a 15% (w / v) solution of KOH at a temperature of 80 ° C, for 2 hours.

The fibers obtained are rinsed one or more times with water and subjected to a bleaching phase, which can be carried out by chemical treatment or enzymatic treatment at a temperature between 20 ° C and 90 ° C, for 0.1 to 168 hours , after which, the fibers are rinsed again with water. In one embodiment of the process of the invention, the bleaching phase is carried out by chemical treatment at a temperature between 60 ° C and 90 ° C, for 0.5 to 3 hours, preferably at a temperature of 80 ° C for 2 hours.

For the purposes of the present invention, the chemical treatment of the bleaching phase consists in adding a bleaching agent, a strong base, a catalyst to the fibers. and an antifoam. The bleaching agent is selected from chemical compounds such as chlorine in any state, chlorine-derived compounds and / or salts (eg sodium hypochlorite), sulfides or sulfuric compounds, oxygen or ozone or oxygen-releasing compounds such as peroxides, perborates, persulfates or perchlorates , alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, ammonium compounds, and mixtures thereof, in concentrations ranging from 1% to 30% (w / v). In one embodiment of the invention the bleaching agent is hydrogen peroxide.

The strong base that is added in the bleaching phase can be NaOH or KOH, at concentrations between 0.1 and 5% (w / w); The catalyst is selected from inorganic salts, hydrocarbons, alcohols, organic acids and their derivatives, in concentrations between 0.01 and 1.0%; and the antifoam agent is selected from silicone, non-silicone emulsions

0 stearic derivatives of alcohols or siloxanes, in concentrations of 1.0% to 10.0%. In one embodiment of the process of the invention, the strong base is NaOH, the catalyst is magnesium sulfate, the bleaching agent is hydrogen peroxide and the antifoam is a stearic alcohol.

The enzymatic bleaching treatment consists of adding one or more enzymes to natural fibers such as: peroxidases, lacases, catalase oxidases, pectinases, cellulases, at concentrations between 1 and 100 g / L, at a temperature between 20 and 60 ° C, during a time between

1 and 168 hours. In one embodiment of the invention, the enzymatic treatment is carried out by adding peroxidases and cellulases at a concentration between 0.01 and 5% (v / v) at a temperature between 20 ° C and 40 ° C, for 1 to 168 hours In another embodiment of the invention, the enzymatic treatment is carried out by adding peroxidase at a concentration of 0.3 (v / v), temperature of 25 ° C, for 168 hours.

Once the bleaching phase is finished, a softening agent selected from cationic, anionic, non-ionic, reactive, amphoteric, silicone or enzymatic emulsions is added to the fibers, in order to give the fiber smoothness and avoid hornification of the cellulose, which would hinder the carding process, in which the fiber opens, separates and cleanses of dirt and short fibers, in order to be individualized and parallelized to form a veil that will be converted into a card of tape at the end of the process.

The softening agent has a concentration between 0.1% and 10%, preferably between 0.5% and 2.0% and is added to the fibers at a temperature between 30 ° C and 80 ° C, with a fiber / solution ratio between 1: 5 and 1: 50 and for a period of time between 0.5 and 2 hours. In one embodiment of the invention, the softening agent is a siliconized nanoemulsion at a concentration of 1.0%, the fiber / solution ratio is 1:40, the temperature is 60 ° C, for one hour.

Finally, the fibers can be subjected to a drying stage, which can be carried out at room temperature (15 ° C to 25 ° C) or by convection in an oven at a temperature between 40 ° C and 80 ° C , for 0.5 to 36 hours.

The fibers obtained by the process of the invention have characteristics similar to cotton fiber, such as soft touch, white color, greater flexibility and fineness. By having these characteristics, the fiber can be intimately mixed with other fibers such as cotton, and with all kinds of artificial and synthetic fibers in the production of fine yarns, which facilitate the production of textile bases that can be used in clothing, accessories , upholstery and decoration in general.

The following Examples illustrate the invention, without the inventive concept being restricted thereto.

Example 1. Treatment of fique fibers

Fique fibers of a length of 35mm were cut with a guillotine. The fibers were subjected to an alkaline process at 80 ° C for 2 hours, using a solution of 666.6 g of potassium hydroxide and 3333.3 ml of water.

Subsequently, the fibers were rinsed and the bleaching phase was carried out, in which 2918 ml of water, 80 g of caustic soda in a concentration of 90%, 2.0 g of magnesium sulfate, 200 g of defoamer (alcohol) were added. stearic acid) and 800 g of hydrogen peroxide in a concentration of 10% (w / w).

The solution obtained was brought to a temperature of 80 ° C, held for one hour and then the fibers were rinsed 3 times by overflow. Finally, the fiber was subjected to a smoothing process, for which a solution was prepared with 3920 ml of water and 80 g of a siliconized nanoemulsion. This solution was brought to a temperature of 60 ° C to add the fiber and subject it to this process for one hour. The resulting cotonized fiber was dried in an oven at 40 ° C for 24 hours.

Example 2. Fique fiber treatment

Fique fibers of a length of 35mm were cut with a guillotine. The fibers were subjected to an alkaline process at 60 ° C for 0.5 hours, using a solution of 222.2g of potassium hydroxide and 3777.7 ml of water.

The solution obtained was brought to a temperature of 80 ° C, held for one hour and then the fibers were rinsed 3 times by overflow. Finally, the fiber was subjected to a smoothing process, for which, a solution with 3920 ml was prepared of water and 80 g of a siliconized nanoemulsion. This solution was brought to a temperature of 60 ° C to add the fiber and subject it to this process for one hour. The resulting cotonized fiber was dried in an oven at 40 ° C for 24 hours.

Example 3. Sisal fiber treatment

Sisal fibers of a length of 35mm were cut with a guillotine. The fibers were subjected to an alkaline process at 80 ° C for 2 hours, for which a solution of 666.6 g of potassium hydroxide and 3333.3 ml of water was used.

Subsequently, the fibers were rinsed and the bleaching phase was carried out, in which 2918 ml of water, 80 g of caustic soda in a concentration of 90%, 2.0 g of magnesium sulfate, 200 g of defoamer were added ( stearic alcohol) and 800 g of hydrogen peroxide in a concentration of 10% (w / w).

The solution obtained was brought to a temperature of 80 ° C, held for one hour and then the fibers were rinsed 3 times by overflow. Finally, the fiber was subjected to a smoothing process, for which a solution was prepared with 3920 ml of water and 80 g of a siliconized nanoemulsion. This solution was brought to a temperature of 60 ° C to add the fiber and subject it to this process for 1 hour. The resulting cotonized fiber was dried in an oven at 40 ° C for 24 hours.

Example 4. Characterization of Fique fiber

Fique fibers obtained according to Example 1 were subjected to the following characterization tests: length, diameter, tensile strength, final lignin content, final cellulose content, final hemicellulose content (Table 1).

Table 1

Property Rank

Length 20 - 35 mm

Fineness / Diameter 54 - 125 mm

Tensile strength 48-257 MPa Lignin content 4.2 - 7.6%

Cellulose content 60 - 80%

Hemicellulose content 0.0 - 13.5%

Example 5. Obtaining yarn from Fique fibers

From yarn fibers obtained according to Example 1, a spun yarn was developed with a cotton / cotonized composition (1: 1). For the development of this yarn, a 28 mm cotton with a fineness of 3.6 micronaire was selected. The fibers were mixed in a 50/50 ratio, passed to the opening process in Shirley opener and carding, in which fixed flat cards were used.

The card was passed three consecutive times on the handle in order to regulate the mass of the tape which had a weight of 3.3 g / m. The resulting manuar tape was processed in an industrial electro-jet burner in order to obtain a wick of 0.850 g / m. Finally, a thread from a rope was obtained in a Pinter ring spinning machine with a Z twist of 520 turns / meter with a Ne 14 title.

Example 6. Obtaining textile base

From the threads obtained according to Example 5, a textile base was obtained which was produced on a Jacquard loom. The loom, previously warped with polyester cotton blend yarn and cotonized cotton / fique yarn (1: 1), was inserted into the weft. Plain tissue was produced in the taffeta, twill and satin ligaments.

Claims

1) A process for treating natural fibers comprising the following steps: a) subjecting the natural fibers to an alkaline treatment;

b) subject the fibers obtained in (a) to a bleaching phase; Y

c) adding a softening agent to the fibers obtained in step (b).

2) The process according to Claim 1, wherein the natural fibers are from the Aspargaceae family.

3) The process according to Claim 2, wherein the natural fibers are selected from sisal, fique, henequen and abaca.

4) The process according to Claim 1, wherein the alkaline treatment of step (a) is carried out by incorporating the natural fibers in a solution of 15% NaOH or KOH (w / v) at a temperature between 25 ° C and 100 ° C and a period of time between 0.1 and 24 hours.

5) The process according to Claim 1, wherein the bleaching phase of step (b) is carried out by chemical treatment or enzymatic treatment.

6) The process according to Claim 1, wherein the bleaching phase of step (b) is carried out by adding an antifoaming agent, a strong base, a catalyst and a bleaching agent, maintaining a temperature between 20 ° C and 100 ° C, for a period of time between 0, 1 and 24 hours.

7) The process according to Claim 6, wherein the antifoam agent is a stearic derivative of alcohols or siloxanes, the strong base is NaOH or KOH.

8) The process according to Claim 6, wherein the catalyst is selected from inorganic salts, hydrocarbons, alcohols, organic acids and their derivatives. 9) The process according to Claim 6, wherein the bleaching agent is selected from hydrogen peroxide, sodium chlorite, sodium hypochlorite and mixtures thereof.

10) The process according to Claim 1, wherein the bleaching process of step (b) is carried out by an enzymatic treatment consisting of adding at least one ligninolytic enzyme selected from peroxidases, oxidases, lacases and mixtures of the same, at a temperature between 20 ° C and 80 ° C for 0.1 to 168 hours.

11) The process according to Claim 1, wherein the softening agent of step (c) is selected from silicones, silicone emulsions, silicone nanoemulsions, ligninolytic enzymes and mixtures thereof.

12) The process according to Claim 1, which additionally comprises a drying step, carried out at a temperature between 15 ° C and 80 ° C.

13) Natural fibers obtained by the process of Claims 1 to 12, characterized in that it has the following properties:

Property Rank

Length 20 - 35 mm

Fineness / Diameter 54 - 125 mm

Tensile strength 48-257 MPa

Lignin content 4.2 - 7.6%

Cellulose content 60 - 80%

Hemicellulose content 0 - 13.5%