Overview of Enzymatic Scouring

The scheme essentially contains the impregnation of cotton fabric with one or more enzymes in presence or absence of surfactants and chelators, followed by a high-temperature rinsing step. The enzyme incubation time used was up to 24 h depending on other process conditions and the density of the fabric. Lipases 

After enzymatic destabilization of a pectin structure, the different components present in the primary wall layer can be removed easily in subsequent rinsing steps [Hardin and Kim, 2000 Vigneswaran et al., 2012b]. A proper interpretation of the enzymatic action on cotton fibers on a molecular basis was not possible because of the lack of structural knowledge of cotton fiber. 

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