A Comparative Evaluation of the Action of Savinase and Papain to the Cutinase-pretreated Wool

作者:Wang Ping; Wang Qiang; Cui Li; Fan Xuerong*; Yuan Jiugang; Gao Murong
来源:Fibers and Polymers, 2010, 11(4): 586-592.
DOI:10.1007/s00000-010-0586-9

摘要

The enzymatic anti-felting of wool with proteases is a promising eco-friendly alternative to the chlorine-Hercosett process. However, protease molecules could penetrate into the interior of fibers during wool processing, easily causing unacceptable damages. In this paper, the action and mechanism of two protease treatments, i.e. Savinase and papain treatments on the properties of cutinase-pretreated wool fabrics were investigated and compared. The results showed that the anti-felting processing based on cutinase and papain treatments seemed more effective. When the percentages of weight loss for the combined treated fabrics were similar, the improvement of wettability and shrink-resistance for the cutinase-papain treated sample was more remarkable, the strength loss was also lower than that of the sample treated with cutinase and Savinase consecutively. The mechanisms of the two different combined treatments were further evaluated by Allwoden's reaction and amino acid analysis. The comprehensive comparison proved that the hydrolytic activity of papain towards the scale exocuticle of wool was a bit higher than that of Savinase and less degradation of the interior of fibers occurred during the cutinase-papain treatment.