Biotechnology is a set of sciences that deal with many organisms and their products to enhance human wellbeing. The most prominent application of biotechnology is genetic engineering. Genetic engineering changes genes in an organism by adding or removing any trait.
An organism or its products are the focus of biotechnology, which is a technology group. Our lives are improved through it. The global economy and society have been greatly affected by modern biotechnology. Genetic engineering is an example of that, in which genes in an organism can be altered to add or remove any characteristic. The use of biotechnology in textile processing is increasing, such as in enzymatic desizing and enzymatic scouring.
As an eco-friendly and non-toxic process, enzymes have gained global recognition. Textile wet processing is the main application of enzymes, but there are also a few other applications. As well as lower costs, enzyme technology saves energy and water and improves quality by reducing the processing time and energy. Enzymes are proteins made up of long linear chains of amino acids that produce products in three dimensions. They possess unique properties based on the amino acid sequences they contain. Recent life cycle assessments were conducted by Novozymes at two textile mills in China. It removes impurities from cotton through the process of bio scouring. Another cleaning process involves removing excess bleaching agents before dyeing.
The comfort of clothes can be improved by washing them. When washing a garment, a finishing treatment plays a pivotal role in determining the shade and mechanical properties. The finishing process for denim garments includes stone washing, moon washing, sand-washing, and mill washing, among others. Denim washing has recently become more popular due to enzyme treatment’s eco-friendliness and non-harmful nature.
There are a few steps to successfully run this technology. The procedures are discussed below:
- Denim Finishing: Decorative and functional properties are provided by denim finishing. Finishing treatments used to be performed chemically and physically in the old days. Nowadays, jeans are also treated dry to achieve the desired results.
- De sizing with enzyme: Denim fabric is first de-sized with amino acids. To maintain fabric stiffness and stability while weaving and sewing denim fabric warp yarns are sized with some compounds, such as starch, polyvinyl alcohol, polystyrene, gelatin, oil, wax, etc. Starch is broken down by amylases into water-soluble sugars. It is easy to remove natural sizes using amylases, which requires proper control over the type of enzyme, concentration, pH, temperature, and time. Although desizing can also be accomplished with oxidative methods, using hydrogen peroxide, enzymatic desizing offers superior results since no damage to the fiber and no hazardous chemicals are involved.
- Bio stone washing: The garment gets a faded look from this method of denim washing. This method uses pumice stones. By using the cellulose enzyme, an alternative stone washing method was developed. As a result of the reduction in pumice stone use, less damage will be caused to garments, machines, and the environment. Celluloses with a neutral pH has a special feature that allows them to stonewash the fabric without re-depositing indigo during treatment. The difference between white and blue yarns is, therefore, higher in jeans and other denim garments.
- Bio Bleaching: Lactase is the main enzyme used in bio bleaching. In addition to accelerating the oxidation of phenols, Lactase also reduces oxygen to water simultaneously. Denim will not wash down evenly due to laccase alone, it needs a mediator to transfer electrons from indigo to oxygen. It is also possible to do conventional hypochlorite bleaching, but it has disadvantages like being harsh on the material and the environment. Using enzymes to bleach can be done under controlled conditions and is very easy to control. Stretch denim can be bleached without affecting its elasticity. Following cellulose treatment, enzymes and mediators are used for abrasion to brighten denim further.
There are a lot of perks when it comes to the usage of enzymes. Several industries are using enzymes as biological catalysts to reduce the environmental impact of harsh chemicals. Energy can be saved by using enzymes, and they also have a positive environmental impact. As awareness about climate change and sustainable development increases, enzyme applications become increasingly important. In addition to the environmental burden of enzyme production, this process is also associated with the production of enzymes. The majority of denim finishing laundries use enzymes rather than pumice stones. It has some disadvantages like the intensity of the abrasion process is difficult to control. One disadvantage of stonewash is the difficulty of controlling the level of abrasion. When the fabric is abraded, its quality decreases, and the production costs increase. As an alternative to the starch and wax residues in raw materials, enzymes have been introduced to remove the residue from raw materials and to give a uniform finish to the fabric.
Source:
https://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/7578/application-of-biotechnology-on-denims
Image Courtesy:
- https://wallpaperaccess.com/biotechnology
- https://re-fream.eu/from-conventional-denim-to-bio-denim/
- https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/dp-jeans-20451087430.html
Written by Rafiad Ruhi
