Process and Device for Chlorine-Free Shrinkproof Treatment of Wool Raw Material and Article Thereof

A shrinkproof treatment method for chlorine-free wool tops or wool products, which comprises the following steps:

• (a) providing chlorine-free wool tops or wool products to be treated, and a shrinkproof treatment agent for chlorine-free wool tops or wool products;
• (b) padding the chlorine-free wool tops or wool products to be treated with the shrinkproof treatment agent for n times, thereby obtaining padded wool products, wherein n is a positive integer of 2 to 20;
• (c) water washing the padded chlorine-free wool tops or wool products, thereby obtaining water washed chlorine-free wool tops or wool products;
• (d) conducting an enzyme inactivation treatment of the water washed chlorine-free wool tops or wool products, thereby obtaining shrinkproof treated chlorine-free wool tops or wool products.

The method according to claim 1, wherein the shrinkproof treatment agent comprises:

• (a) an optional solvent;
• (b) a protease;
• and (c) an organic phosphine compound represented by formula A;
• and an optional inorganic salt;
• P—(X)3 A
• wherein each X is independently selected from the group consisting of substituted or unsubstituted C1-C10 hydrocarbyl, wherein the term “substituted” refers to one or more substituents selected from the group consisting of —OH, —COOH (carboxy), C2-C8 ester group, —SH, —CN, C1-C3 alkyl, C1-C3 alkoxy;
• and at least one X is a substituted C1-C10 hydrocarbyl having a —OH or COOH substituent;
• the weight ratio of the protease to the organic phosphine compound is (0.2 to 10):
• (0.5 to 20);
• and the protease in the shrinkproof treatment agent is selected from the group consisting of a neutral protease, an alkaline protease, and combinations thereof.

A shrinkproof treatment device for chlorine-free wool tops or wool products, which comprises:

• a multiple padding apparatus which comprises n independent, continuously arranged padding machines, and every padding machine comprises a soaking tank and a rolling roller, wherein the soaking tank is used for placing a shrinkproof treatment agent for chlorine-free shrinkage treatment and the wool tops or the wool products to be treated are immersed in the treatment agent;
• and the rolling roller is used for rolling soaked wool tops or wool products, and the wool tops or wool products rolled by a rolling roller upstream enter into the soaking tank and the rolling roller of the padding machine downstream in turn, thereby repeating the soaking and rolling treatment, wherein n is a positive integer of 2 to 20;
• a water washing apparatus for water washing the padded wool tops or wool products to form washed wool tops or wool products;
• an enzyme inactivation apparatus for alkaline inactivation treatment of residual protease in the washed wool tops or wool products to form an enzyme-inactivated wool tops or wool products;
• an optional soft processing apparatus for soft processing the enzyme-inactivated wool tops or wool products to form a softened wool tops or wool products;
• and
• an optional dryer used to dry the softened wool tops or wool products obtained in the previous step.

A continuous processing process for shrinkproof treatment of chlorine-free wool tops and wool products, wherein it comprises following steps:

• 1) shrinkproof treatment:
• wool tops and wool products are arranged, and uniformly transported with a roller into a number of tanks filled with shrinkproof treatment agent and subjected to an alternate soaking and rolling treatment for 3 to 10 times, wherein process conditions comprising:
• pH of the shrinkproof treatment agent is 7 to 10.5, temperature is 40 to 50° C.;
• a rolling liquid-containing rate is 60% to 150%;
• process delivery speed is 3 to 15 m/min, and total time of soaking and rolling is 1 to 5 minutes;
• 2) water washing:
• the treated wool tops obtained in the previous step are transported by rolling into one to four water tanks for multiple washing, thereby removing residual biological enzyme activator and enzyme preparation to prevent them from continuously eroding wool;
• 3) inactivation of protease:
• the washed wool tops are evenly and quickly passed through a hot water tank filled with hot water having a temperature of 85 to 95° C. or a solution containing 0 to 1 g/L of hydrogen peroxide, thereby inactivating any protease which is not completely washed out;
• 4) soft treatment:
• the inactivated wool tops are soaked into a tank filled with a conventional wool smoothing agent or organosilicon softening-agent, and a common soft treatment is conducted to improve feel of wool fabric;
• 5) dehydration and drying;
• wherein the shrinkproof treatment agent mainly contains:
• trisubstituted organic phosphine, with a concentration of 1 to 10 g/L;
• calcium chloride, with a concentration of 0.3 to 2 g/L;
• protease, with a concentration of 0.5 to 5 g/L;
• and the rest is water;
• and the trisubstituted organic phosphine is at least one of tris(3-hydroxypropyl)phosphine, tris(3-carboxypropyl)phosphine, tris(2-hydroxyethyl)phosphine and tris(4-carboxybutyl)phosphine.