TEXTILE & OTHER INDUSTRIES
Enzymes are protein catalysts produced by living cells that catalyze specific chemical or biochemical reactions. The use of enzymes in textile processes has gained increased interest due to the advantages of enzymes being non-toxic, biodegradable, and environmentally friendly. Enzymes can be safely used in textile wet processing like desizing, scouring, bleaching, dyeing, and finishing, while traditional chemicals can cause many problems including pollution of effluents when disposed into the environment. Advances in enzyme technology use in the textile industry have made it possible to explore the potential of single enzymes or enzyme mixtures for specific applications. Hydrolases (e.g., amylases, cellulases, pectinases, and proteases) and oxidoreductases have been employed for fabric preparation and finishing.
Enzymes are large high-molecular weight protein structures with highly specific active sites within the molecule that perform the catalytic reaction. Replacing enzymes with simpler compounds that mimic the behavior of these biocatalysts could significantly increase the reaction rate, facilitate the enzymatic process and decrease costs.
Enzymes can be used in order to develop environmentally friendly alternatives to chemical processes in almost all steps of textile fibre processing. There are already some commercially successful applications, such as amylases for desizing, cellulases and laccases for denim finishing, and proteases incorporated in detergent formulations. The textile industry was identified as a key sector where opportunities available from adapting biotechnology are high but current awareness of biotechnology is low. In textile processing the enzyme can be successfully used for preparatory process like desizing, scouring and bleaching. These enzymatic processes are gives the similar results as that of conventional methods. Though this enzymatic processes we can reduce the water consumption, power energy, pollution, time, and increasing quality.
