Abstract:

To enhance the performance of saving energy and reducing waste water effluent of cotton pretreatment, the processes of enzymatic desizing (ED), enzymatic scouring (ES) and activated peroxide bleaching (APB) were combined into one bath at neutral pH to pretreat cotton fabric at low temperature (e.g. 50 °C). The optimal combination of ED, ES and APB was achieved by investigating size residual, water absorbency, degree of whiteness and degree of polymerization of cotton fabric treated by various combined processes. For the purpose of comparison, cotton fabric was also pretreated by ED, ES and APB in a three-bath three-step process as well as by ED and traditional peroxide bleaching (TPA) in a two-step process. Experimental results showed that, in the one-bath combined processes, the one-bath two-step process that was constructed with ED in the first step and ES and APS in the second step exhibited the optimal performance on pretreatment of cotton fabric. In comparison with ED and TPA in the two-bath two-step process, the cotton fabric pretreated by this one-bath two-step process had equivalent residual size and degree of whiteness, slightly inferior water absorbency, and significantly reduced fiber damage.

Key words: cotton fabric, pretreatment, enzymatic desizing, enzymatic scouring, activated peroxide bleaching