International projects
Enzymatic up-grading of wool fibres
Organisations (2)
Abstract
The market value of wool is limited by the fact that consumers place increasingly high demands on machine washability and soft handle. Felting shrinkage, which is a typical property of wool due to the configuration of the scales of the wool fibre, is a serious problem, especially during washing. Chlorination, followed by polymer deposition, is commonly used to modify the scales of wool fibres in order to confer shrink-resistance, but this involves major drawbacks with respect to contamination of the wastewater with absorbable organic chlorides (AOX) and the environment.The main innovative aspect of this proposal is to develop novel, genetically engineered proteases with increased molecular size for producing shrink-resistance and other improved properties on wool fibres and fabrics. The project is to develop machine washable wool by limiting the enzymatic degradation of wool fibres to their cuticle scales. Furthermore, other new environmentally friendly processes including efficient bio-scouring and bio-finishing processes, and low temperature dyeing processes for wool fibres will be developed via treatments with a range of specifically engineered proteases. The application of different specifically engineered proteases will also be extended to new detergent formulations for industrial and domestic washing and wool carpet cleaning and thus improve hygienic aspects of wool based textile materials.
