Cotton Incorporated and DuPont promote biobased enzymes
Speaking at the Great Ideas in Cotton conference in Hong
Kong, Cotton Incorporated and DuPont Industrial Biosciences presented the
results of a collaborative project quantifying the effectiveness of biobased
enzymes as an alternative to traditional chemicals in cotton textile
preparation.
The trials, which focused on ways to integrate and bio-optimise textile
processing in knits, show that biobased enzymes used in combination can
eliminate the need for caustic chemicals, while reducing water and energy use
and overall processing time.
The results illustrate an average reduction of 70% water (by
litre), 33% steam (in pounds) and 27% in energy (as kWH) across dark, medium
and light shade ranges. According to researchers, the bio-optimised process
reduces the total costs of these inputs by an average of 66%. The process is also
said to reduce process time by 23% for dark shades, 27% for medium shades, and
30% for light shades.
"Bio-enzymes, such as our PrimaGreen products, have for some time offered a
sustainable alternative to chemicals typically used in textile preparation,”
says Nico van Schoot, marketing manager, DuPont Industrial Biosciences.
"As these trial results illustrate, bio-enzymes also can provide practical business advantages in terms of processing time and associated costs."
Mary Ankeny, director of dyeing research at Cotton Incorporated, who supervised the trials, said: "We knew that bio-enzymes were effective at each individual stage of cotton textile preparation but we wanted to see if combining enzymes for scouring, bleaching and dyeing also could consolidate some steps in the process without sacrificing quality."
