Method for enzymatic treatment of wool
AssigneeNovozymes A/S
InventorsLone Dybdal, Elisabeth Heine, Hartwig Hocker
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Abstract
The present invention relates to methods of producing wool or animal hair material with improved properties such as shrink-proofed (anti-felting tendency), increased whiteness, improved dyeability, increased softness and/or reduced pilling tendency, the method comprising the steps of treating wool, wool fibers or animal hair material in a process selected from the group consisting of plasma treatment processes and the Delhey process, and subjecting the wool or animal hair material to a treatment with a proteolytic enzyme (a protease), preferably a serine protease, more preferably a subtilisin, in an amount effective for improving the properties.
Claims26
A method of producing wool or animal hair material with improved properties comprising the steps of
- a. treating wool, wool fibres or animal hair material using a plasma treatment process, and
- b. subjecting the wool, wool fibres, or animal hair material treated in step (a) to a treatment with a proteolytic enzyme in an amount effective for improving the properties, with the proviso that the wool, wool fibres, or animal hair are not treated with a shrink-proofing resin between steps (a) and (b) and
- wherein said improved properties are selected from the group consisting of an improved shrink-proof property, an improved anti-felting property, an improved whiteness degree, an improved dyeability, a reduced loss of bundle strength, an improved softness, and a reduced pilling tendency.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.