Extremozymes for improving wool properties

The project 'EXTRETEX' funded by the German Federal Foundation Environment (DBU, Osnabrück, Germany) aims at the improvement of wool properties dyeability, handle, felting behaviour and degree of whiteness by means of enzymes derived from extremophilic micro-organisms. In this paper the effects of a commercial thermo- and alkalistable protease on wool with regard to the degree of whiteness, the dyeability and the felting behaviour are presented. A method to treat wool top and wool fabric was developed on a laboratory scale in which the protease was integrated into the pre-washing step of a dyeing process. This treatment method was than scaled up and tested on an industrial winch beck for fabric. With this method-the addition of enzyme in the pre-washing step-the degree of whiteness is generally enhanced. Dyeing untreated and the enzyme-treated wool with Lanasol Blue 8G leads to an improved dyestuff uptake and a distinctive difference in the colour shade for the latter. Microscopy pictures of fibre cross-sections of these samples display a more even distribution of the dyestuff and a better penetration in the enzyme-treated wool fibres but the colour fastness of the enzyme-treated wool is decreased. Though the felting behaviour of the protease treated wool is significantly improved the felting tendency is still too high for an antifelting finish. An increased damage of the enzyme-treated wool in comparison with the untreated one was not observed.