Degradation of cotton during scouring

In the presence of air i.e. the reaction of oxygen with cellulose in presence of strong alkali (above 40 g/1), the degradation can be very serious and the oxidative attack may likely to follow the pattern suggested for alkali cellulose [22], The attack of oxygen at 20 C is slow, rapid at 40-50°C and is 1000 times higher at 95°C than at 20 C [22], A theory based on free radical intermediates i.e. the oxidative degradation which occurs with chain scission is shown in Fig. 12-5. It is shown that 

An ionic mechanism (Fig. 12-6) is also proposed for the auto-oxidation of al- 

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