A new bio-chemical scouring technique for cotton hand processing units

Abstract

The cotton woven fabric has been subjected to anaerobic treatment using a mixed microflora at room temperature followed by mild alkali boiling. The required enzymes are produced in situ by a mixture of microflora and hence does not need external supply of costly enzymes. The treated fabric is then peroxide bleached, dyed with hot brand reactive dye and evaluated for various parameters. The results show that the properties of treated fabric are at par with the conventionally processed ones. The colour values of the treated and dyed samples are in fact higher than the conventionally processed ones. The above process can be easily coupled to the existing hand processing units. The new process may result in considerable reduction in pollution load along with appreciable saving in energy.