Process and apparatus for the purification and re-use of wool-scouring liquors

A wool scouring process in which wool is treated with at least one portion of an aqueous detergent scouring liquor to produce a liquor containing the suint, grease and dirt components of the fleece is aqueous suspension or solution, the process being characterized in that the said portion of liquor is used for scouring wool until the concentration of suint therein reaches a level of at least about 5%, so that the dirt and grease components of the liquor change from being in a condition of stability to a condition of relative instability in which they may readily be substantially completely removed from the liquor by centrifuging, the destabilized liquor is passed through at least one centrifuge to remove dirt and grease therefrom and then recirculated for use in scouring wool, said process being further characterized in that water is provided to said portion of liquor at a rate sufficient to make up for losses incurred in dirt, grease and wool removal, but insufficient to lower the suint concentration to a level where restabilization of the suspension occurs.