Hydrolysis of mercerized cotton fibers due to cellulase treatment

Abstract

Cotton fibers mercerized under the relaxed state were hydrolyzed with crude cellulase. The mercerization treatment examined included ammonia treatment, sodium hydroxide treatment, and two combined treatments using ammonia and sodium hydroxide. Crystalline regions of the mercerized fibers were hydrolyzed in the first step of hydrolysis. In this step, ammonia treatment decreased the crystallite size to a great extent due to the hydrolysis of the cellulose III crystalline phase. Cellulase treatment rendered the crystallite surface highly accessible to water molecules. The crystalline phase was closely related to water sorption of cellulase‐treated fibers. The sequence of treatment had an influence on the fiber structure in the case of the combined mercerization treatment with ammonia and sodium hydroxide. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 78: 364–370, 2000

Effect of swelling and reactive dyeing on the accessibility of cotton to cellulase enzymes

“…The S samples, because of their extraordinary level of intracrystalline swelling, enhanced the response of the enzyme to a higher extent 14, 19, 20. In the case of ethylenediamine also, intracrystalline swelling has been reported to occur;18 this results in a higher response of enzymes.…”

“…In the meantime, neutral cellulases are generally recommended because of their resistance to the backstaining of garments 13. Previous studies have indicated that mercerization is effective in increasing the accessibility of fibers to the cellulase enzyme,14, 15 but there is very limited information available4 on the effect of other intracrystalline swelling agents or an intercrystalline swelling agent on the enzymatic treatment.…”

Hydrolysis of cuprammonium rayon by endocellulases

“…3 This was because the crystallite surface was deaggregated by the cellulase complex and rendered greatly accessible to water molecules. 3 Water sorption of the fiber first decreased upon endocellulase treatment, as shown in Figure 4. This suggested the preferable hydrolysis of the disordered regions without the deaggregation of the crystallite surface, different from the hydrolysis with the cellulase.…”

“…Recently, we found that the crystallite surface of cotton fiber was activated and water sorption was considerably increased due to cellulase treatment. 3 The development of gene-cloning procedures has made it possible to produce a cellulase which attacks hydrolytic points in disordered regions 4 and which has endocellulase activity. The endocellulases can eliminate fabric fuzz, which probably includes a large number of disordered regions, to improve the appearance of fabrics.…”

Knit Fabric Mercerisation through the Use of High-Concentration NaOH in a Scouring and Bleaching Bath using an Exhaustion Method

“…It converts the cellulose chain from cellulose I to cellulose II [3][4][5]. A signi cant improvement in dye a nity, colour strength, lustre, tensile strength and the smoothness of cotton fabric also occurred due to mercerisation [1,6,7]. e degree of change depends on di erent parameters, such as processing time, processing temperature, tension, the concentration of caustic soda, etc.…”