Proteolytic enzyme degumming on silk fabrics for home textiles

摘要

Textile is a vast field ever growing with the improvement in the field of science and technology. Though varieties of fabrics are available in the market, silk continues to be the queen of fabrics due to comfort qualities and eco-friendly nature of the fibre. The aesthetic appeal of silk can be improved by better degumming. The fibroins of cocoon silk are naturally gummed together with impurities like wax, protein, sericin, pectin, and pigments. They are removed by conventional treatments with soap, alkali and oxidizing agents under rather general conditions of treatment such as high alkalinity, high temperature and highly oxidative environment for extended length of time. Thus, these processes are not only energy and time consuming but tend to degrade basic material.